MechChem Africa November-December 2022

Award winning social innovation, sustainability and renewable energy projects

On the RS Components stand at Electra Mining this year, a student engineer from UCT, Kai Goodall, showcased a series of innovative, socially responsible and award-winning RS-Sponsored student projects. MechChem Africa takes a look.

A 3D-printed multi-tool manufactured in biodegradable PLA for latching onto and opening taps and door handles.

women have to be standing up to use it,” Goodall says. “So the competition invited student inno vations from universities around the world to improve the design, to make it more sus tainable and user friendly. What I did was to convert the drive system from a hand-crank system to a foot-pedal driven system, which can be operated while seated,” he explains adding that the mechanical design of the Pedal ‘n Spin was modelled in 3D using RS DesignSpark Mechanical software. In addition, Kai Goodall contacted a sustainable woodworking company with a core sustainability ethos, Forest Creations in Cape Town, who believe in upcycling ex isting wood instead of cutting down more trees, along with using recycled metal and other materials wherever possible. “Using Forest Creations enables this new washing machine to have a sustainable lifecycle. It is also very reliable and easy to repair, since only simple crank and push rods have been used,” Goodall points out. During the product testing phase, Kai Goodall observed a mother nursing her new-born child while doing her washing. “Using foot pedals frees up the user's hands to do other tasks, all while seated comfort ably. At the moment I am using the prize money I received from the competition to develop and donate new, improved versions to townships for field testing. I am also do ing scientific cleaning tests to compare the machine to hand washing and using electric washing machines, from a cleaning and sus tainability perspective,” he adds. He says his new washing machine can be used by anyone who wants an off grid washing solution: for sustainability, for use during load shedding, or for those without electricity or wanting to get completely off the grid whilst increasing their fitness levels. “It avoids the high costs associated with buying and running electric washing machines, he adds. Another Kai Goodall innovation high lighted on the RS Stand of Electra Mining was a multi-tool to help people open taps

RS-Sponsored student, Kai Goodall, showcases his innovative, socially responsible and award winning projects at the RS Components stand at Electra Mining Africa, 2022.

“I went to high school in Cape Town before going to UCT to complete a BSc in Mechatronics, which is a combination of electrical en gineering and robotics. What you see here today is my final year honours project,” says student engineer, Kai Goodall, pointing to a self-driving solar car. “This vehicle has solar PV panels that automatically align to the sun using simple light sensors (LDRs). The voltage either side of a divider is compared, and the panel moves to minimise the differ ence,” he explains. Two servo motors are used to align the PV panels, with a microprocessor-based feedback loop continuously repositioning the panels to best track the sun. “It works pretty well,” he adds. “The core purpose of this project is edu cational, the idea being to take the model to different high schools in the Cape Flats of Cape Town to encourage high school learn ers to do engineering,” he tells MechChem Africa. “The project highlights my love of social innovation, sustainability and renew able energy. I want to demonstrate the use of renewable energy technologies to young learners to steer them towards a cleaner energy future,” says Goodall. For this project, Kai Goodall was nomi

nated by UCT to enter the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers’ (SAIEE) national student project competition in 2019: and he won the award for the best honours project in South Africa, both for the technology involved and for the educational impact it could have in Africa. The project that real ly kick-started Goodall on his RS Components-sponsored development path was The Washing Machine Project, a global initiative with the vision of bringing together innovation, research and development to solve some of the world’s most pressing humanitarian and development challenges. “This is my Pedal ‘n Spin foot-cranked washing machine innova tion,” says Goodall, pointing to a photo of a woman sitting at a pedal-driven washing drum. “The project was entered into the RS Components People.Planet.Product stu dent design challenge in partnership with The Washing Machine Project and won an international award for social impact.” “The Washing Machine Project’s Divya washing machine had already been de veloped to help low income and displaced communities around the world who were burdened with the gruelling task of hand washing their clothing. But the Divya machine has to be hand-cranked and the

42 ¦ MechChem Africa • November-December 2022