Integrating Solar Charging Capacity To Mobile Phone Cases

Solar Energy as a Free Source of Power

Question:

Write a report on charging mobile phone battery using the power of sun.
 

Innovative technology in the present world does provide a lot of scope for a business to rise in this competitive market. Businesses that can invent or can create a unique product with proper value for their customers are always a great success.  But it is critical that the report presented here discuss the how a phone case can be integrated or implemented with solar charging capacity. Sun is considered as the most dominant source of energy. It is often not properly utilized in case of charging phones. Solar energy is available in abundance, and easy availability of solar energy makes is very convenient to use it for the generation of electricity.  By the utilization of solar power many activities or task can be done, in this case, we are considering a phone case that has been built up with a solar capacity to make the phone battery chargeable when required. The purpose of present the report is to enhance the solar technology as the use of mobile phone chargers.  Nowadays mobile phone is very common globally, and there is a huge amount of power that is utilized for only charging the mobile phone. So to limit the power usage and to have a healthy planet, a green earth there is no other alternative for solar energy.  To provide users with an alternative option for charging their mobile phones with their phone case with solar charger capability concept is presented in this report. 

The purpose of the report is to present an idea about charging mobile phone battery using the power of sun. The solar energy is a free source of power and the purpose of this research is to showcase how it can be properly utilize for converting to electrical energy to charge the battery. The idea is been implemented in the mobile phone case to charge the batter with the renewable source of energy.  The main purpose of this research is to decrease the utilization of electricity and reduce the cost for both manufactures and as well as end users.

There are various objectives that need to be met by using this phone case with solar charging capability such as the solar power as the most powerful source which is free to use. By using the solar energy, the phone battery needs to be charged. To reduce the usage of electricity that is generated by other means. Moreover, it will be eco-friendly as well because the power that will be generated is a natural resource and it does not require having a large set up to generate power and then use for mobile phone charging. The charger is itself been placed in the phone case and by utilizing that generate power the phone battery will be charged.

• To understand the effectiveness of Solar Energy for charging
• To design the phone cases with solar charging capability
• To identify the user-friendly of phone cases with solar charging capability

Some research questions need to be addressed in this report based on the above objectives that are mentioned. The research questions are as followed:

Q1. How user-friendly are this phone case and it reduce the utilization of electricity and other costs?

Objectives of Integrating Solar Charging in Mobile Phone Cases

Q2. How does the solar charger is integrated into the phone case?

Q3. How solar power is converted into electrical energy on the phone case?

ome variables need to be addressed in this reports that are mentioned below.

Scope:

The extent of the report is to design and implement a phone case that will be utilized to charge the mobile phone battery.  The purpose of this project is to utilize the sun as its most powerful and available power source that is completely free. The researcher has developed an idea about how it can be done with a well-presented report below.  The focus is to use the solar power energy and to leverage the power to charge the mobile phone. The aim is to reduce the manufacturing cost and moreover to provide the user with better battery charging option that will decrease their electricity usage by the users.

Time: The time is a critical factor in any project so in this report the time needs to be calculated how much time it will take for designing, implementation and distribution. 

Risk:  The risk in every project needs to be considered initially otherwise it can create some critical issues at any point of time during designing or development or distribution. 

Concept:

Solar energy is one of the renewable energy. It is heat and light from the sun that is used in various ways. It reduces the dependencies upon fossil fuel (Kalogirou, 2013). Solar energy is seen as an alternative to non-renewable energy. Extensive use of solar power will also reduce the use of fuel energy. Solar energy can be of two type passive solar or active solar. This categorization depends on upon how it is captured, converted and distributed (Twidell & Weir, 2015).  The active solar technique consists of heating of solar water, the concentration of solar power and a photovoltaic system to bind the energy whereas on the other hand passive solar technique consists of orienting a building to the Sun, selecting materials with suitable thermal mass and to design a space that circulates air naturally.

Solar energy is available in abundance, and easy availability of solar energy makes is very convenient to use it for the generation of electricity (Granqvist, 2013). The United Nations Development Program did conduct World Energy Assessment and found that potential of solar energy is much higher that the total energy consumed. To have a healthy planet, a green earth there is no other alternative for solar energy. By using solar energy, pollution gets reduced, minimizes global warming and also keeps fuel price lower (Tang et al., 2013). There are the global advantages. To keep ecosystem and earth’s environment in harmony solar energy is an important factor. The International Energy Agency has claimed that more using of solar energy will have effect in long term.

Cell phones are widely used across the globe. Trillions of people are using a cell phone and use electricity to charge its battery (Goggin, 2012). Sun is considered as the most dominant source of energy. It is often not properly utilized in case of charging phones. The introduction of solar charging has opened up a new era of charging.  Beginning of solar cell phone charger has added a new revolution towards green earth. The solar cell phone charger which is using a solar panel to charge the battery. Conventional electrical chargers are used broadly, but this new invention will break the stereotypes. It is an alternative way to charge cell phones (Schuss et al., 2014).  Strawberry Energy Company is the first inventor of public solar cell phone charger. Public solar chargers can be easily installed in public places and can be used by people. There are few models of cell phones those are exclusively designed, and they have a solar charger built in themselves. There are many different shapes and forms of solar charger. Currently, solar cell technology has several limitations in day-to-day use (Becker et al., 2016). The time required for charging varies depending upon the capacity of the battery. More heavy and powerful battery installed is more time taken to charge up. Cell phone accessories are also can be charged from solar charger.                                                     

Research Questions

Diagram

Below diagram displays that how we can use the mobile case as a solar panel which can be utilized for battery charging.

 

Figure 1:  Circuit Diagram

The above diagram is a phone case with a solar panel which works as a battery charger whenever needed. The solar panel input is been connected to the IC 7805 please check the figure 2 for IC 7805. It is a voltage regulator IC, it will be used to maintain the output voltage at a steady value and as per the diagram a suitable capacitor has been connected at the input and output pins depending upon the voltage levels (Duncan et al., 2015). Then the output of the IC along with the capacity is been connected as an input to the USB which is a data cable as shown in the figure is connected to the mobile charger.

Figure 2: IC 7805 Voltage Regulator

The solar panel that is been connected should be a small size and It will be like a phone case cover and the solar panel is been integrated on it. The solar panel will observe the solar energy and then it will then convert that energy into electrical energy and send it as an input to the IC 7805 as you can see in the figure 1 and figure 2. In this whole design the critical components is the IC and its respective capacitors. Because the energy that is been received by the solar panel is converted into suitable voltage by the help of IC 7805 and then sent it through USB to the phone battery. The working principle is simple the generated energy is converted into electrical form and that voltage is been regulated as per our need.

The materials that are required to prepare it are listed below:

1. One Altoids Tin Case
2. One Solder
3. Two Mini Solar Panels each 3 volt and 20mA
4. One small and large Heat shrinks tubing
5. One Oz Flux
6. One double side tap
7. One heat gun
8. One Solder iron
9. One cellphone charger
10. One wire stripper

Step1: Take the two mini solar panels and the four wires needs need to be cut down about 1 inch in ¼ inch of plastic off from the tip of single wire.  The lead wire is the one that is exposed and it need we need to cut the heat shrink tubing (small one) into equal pieces in four numbers as one for each and then slide it to the black wires.

Step2: Now use a small toothpick and then paint the red wire leads with the flux  from one of the panel (solar) and the wire which is black from the another panel (solar). Now solder those two wire leads by putting them altogether using a soldering iron.

Step 3: Slide the heat shrink tubing (small) on top of the leads that we just have soldered. Now heat it with the heat gun just enough to for shrink.

Step 4: now cut of the old charger wire from it and it should be about 2 feet or plus till 2.5 and then strip that off with 2.0 inch of the outer plastic from the end that is loose. Cut 0.25 inch of single wires from inside to make the leads slide the entire lengths of the heat shrink tubing (large) onto the primary wire for later usage in step number 6.

Variables Addressed in this Report

Step 5: The primary wire, now slide a single piece of heat shrink tubing (small) onto the wire that is red. Flux all the loose leads of the primary wire and also the solar panels with the toothpick. Now solder the leads that are red from the primary wire and with the solar panel. Now repeat this with the wires which are black. Now slide the heat shrink tubing’s over the soldering leads and using a heat gun to shrink them.

Step 6: Now it’s time for testing, test the connected charger to charge the phone under the bright light.

Step 7: On the primary wire, slide the heat shrink tubing (large) over the two leads that are soldered and which are connected to the solar panels. Now use the heat gun for shrinking the tubing.

Different devices have different charging capability and functionality. Many of them do not have a relationship with the panel but directly gets charge form the battery. So battery capacity, battery type and output as a whole play an important role for each device (Lu et al., 2015).

First generation crystalline silicon are used in the production of solar charger, and it is observed that it is very much efficient at generating electricity, even in little sunlight (Hosenuzzaman et al., 2015).

Portability is considered one of the key factors of solar phone charge. It is not at all convenient for day-to-day use if the panel is much bigger than the cell phone (Almeida & Brito, 2015). However, it is good for the phone as bigger solar charger are intended to use durable metal frames, thick panels, and recycled materials. As a result, this is environmentally viable technique.

Warranties of the product and after sale services are one of the ways to enhance its production and acquisition of consumer. As many as info company will have, it would be better for them to serve more.

The main disadvantage of solar power charger is that it is not able to work on a cloudy or rainy day as direct sunray is the main raw material for it to use efficiently (Yilmaz & Krein, 2013). So keeping in mind that charging cable cannot be overlooked. That can be seen as a substitute only when there is an adverse climatic condition. So both solar charger and cable are two sides of the same coin.

7.1 Data Collection and Sampling

Data collection is the process of gathering information which mainly encompasses the area of interest. The collection of data is conducted methodically and meticulously. The entire process from the data collection to sampling and analyzing the data, allows one to evaluate the data and also in clarifying the queries aroused due to its assessment, in the survey (Bryman & Bell, 2015). The collection of data is not necessarily confined to a précised field of study. The technique for collection of data may differ, but the basic principle lies in the unbiased nature of data collection to enhance the accuracy of the data (Palinkas et al., 2015). Improper collection of data could lead to an erratic and obscure report. 

Task Name	Duration	Start	Finish
Approval of  Proposal	8 days	Fri 4/3/16	Sat 12/03/16
Preliminary Research	9 days	Sun 13/3/16	Tue 22/3/16
Framing of Questionnaire	10 days	Wed 23/3/16	Sat 2/4/16
Data  Collection	7 days	Sun 3/4/16	Sun 10/4/16
Compiling Data and Analysis	12 days	Mon 11/4/16	Sat 23/4/16
Derivation of Results	9 days	Sun 24/4/16	Tue 3/5/16

Scope and Time Factors

The main function of the research conducted lies in the launch of a new product in the market. In this case, it is a phone with an added advantage of solar charging capacity. The aim of this research is to find out the rate of acceptance of the new product in the market. This research also puts up questions like, is the market ready for such products?  The rate of market penetration of such a product as well as understanding the influence this product will have on the masses, so as to revolutionize the present industry (Singh, 2013). Arch work requires a lot of forethought, and the principle step involves the introduction of Critical Path of research. A path usually defines the sequence of events that follows a research, and the longest path of such events is termed as The Critical Path.

Task Name	Duration	Predecessors
Approval of Proposal	7 days
Preliminary Research	10 days	1
Framing of  Questionnaire	10 days	2
Collection of Data	8 days	3
Compiling Data and Analysis	10 days	4
Derivation of Conclusion	10 days	5, 3, 4

The network diagram above circumscribes all the activities in the critical paths which are main activities, and would require the maximum time to complete the research. According to the given time, the research would take approximately 55 days to complete, 4^th March 2016.

Survey has an important function in the development of a new product. Various aspects of product development need to be taken into consideration, during the survey (Stark, 2015). Thus, it entirely depends on the surveyor to decide the progression of the survey.It may be stated that the product survey mainly involves the positioning, pricing strategy, branding strategy, and concept strategy of the product.  

As opinioned by Grant (2015), the development of new product requires the employment of several strategies. A standard questionnaire is prepared, with relevance to the mentioned aspects of new product development. Questionnaires can be of different types and is broadly classified into three main categories:

Open-ended Questionnaire – Mainly used to identify the depth of the individual opinion related to the research topic. Here the respondents can clarify the aspects in their way.

Partially categorized questionnaire – Here the respondents are guided by certain pre-categorized options. An example is shown below as:

“Do you think motivation plays an important role to enhance the performance level of the employees?”

• Significant effect
• Moderate effect
• Affect to a certain extent
• Negligible effect
• Not at all affects

Closed Questionnaire – Such questionnaire are often used during a consumer survey for the development of a new product. A closed questionnaire includes certain definite answers to a particular question, and the respondents need to tick the appropriate responses according to their opinion.

There are also different types of scale which are used to collect information, like Likert scale, Numeral scale, Ordinal scale, and Categorical scale (de los Ángeles Morata-Ramírez & Holgado-Tello, 2013). In the present study, information is to be collected with relevance to the introduction of phone cases with solar charging capacity and are to be compiled using all the following scales mentioned above and evaluated in a closed questionnaire.

[1] Method of charging your phone:

• Home
• Car
• Computer
• Other …… (Please specify)

[2] How many times do you charge your phone?

• Once in a day
• Twice in a day
• Thrice in a day
• Several times in a day
• Every other day
• Other ……. (Please specify the numbers)

[3] How do you use your phone?

• For call and text purpose
• For internet purpose
• For social media
• For music and games
• For mixed purpose

[4] How much you desired to pay for a phone case with an inbuilt charger?

• $ 50 – $ 150
• $ 151 – $ 250
• $ 251 – $ 300

Risk Factors

[5] Rate the following aspects that attract you to use this phone case [1 = low; 5 = high]:

Particulars	1	2	3	4	5
Style
Protection
Quality
Price
Capabilities
Brand name
Other (Please specify)

[6] Have you ever encountered a situation where you couldn’t use your phone because it was not charged?

• Yes
• No

[7] If yes to question 6; how frequently does this occur?

• Almost
• Often
• Less frequent
• Rarely

A significant finding of the survey that has been conducted with the help of this questionnaire was in relevance with the launch of a new phone with a built-in solar charger. This survey was aimed to find out such a product that would help to generate new customers (Adams & Adams, 2014). The basic need of such a product originated due to the increasing number of smart phones present in the market, with poor retention of charge. The charge hardly lasts for a day and is out of power at the most crucial time. The new product will alleviate the existing problem of charge retain ability. This product will come in handy and with an inbuilt solar charger it will able to generate power from a natural source. (Ding et al., 2013) Thus, it can be derived that this product will be viable, especially with all the smart phone users. The primary focus of the survey is in the age group of the customers, which targets the employees of the business organizations and also the youth, who have the maximum access to smart phones, specifically belonging to the age group of 18-26 and 27 – 34.

Age Band	Respondent	Percentage
18 — 26	29	29%
27 — 34	34	34%
35 — 42	18	18%
43 — 50	12	12%
Above 50	7	7%
Total	100	100%

Being the main users of technology, they play a pivotal role in the survey. The following pie diagram shows an overview of the age band of the respondents.

Gender	Respondents	Percentage
Male	62	62%
Female	38	38%
Total	100	100%

From the above-conducted research, there were around 38% female and 62% male respondents.

Use of graph in data analysis:

Preferred Methods of Charging

Mode	Respondents	cumulative	Percentage
Home	40	40	40%
Car	22	62	22%
Computer	32	94	32%
Other	6	100	6%
	100		100%

It is observed that in generally follow the traditional method which is by charging their phone at home, and is usually a preferable method. It includes 40% of the population. The next most preferred way is charging via a USB (universal serial bus) cable, connected to a computer or a laptop (Williams, 2015). Another common way of charging is using a car charger kit, while traveling in the car, and includes 6% of the total respondents.

Age band based on gender

Age Band	Male	Female	Total
18 — 26	12	15	27
27 — 34	18	14	32
35 — 42	13	7	20
43 — 50	7	4	11
Above 50	8	2	10
Total	58	42	100

Female
Mean	8.4
Standard Error	2.619160171
Median	7
Mode	#N/A
Standard Deviation	5.856620186
Sample Variance	34.3
Kurtosis	-2.754209556
Skewness	0.23446592
Range	13
Minimum	2
Maximum	15
Sum	42
Count	5

The following statistics above show that the mean of the given data is 11.6, that is the average age of the male respondents distributed over the age groups. The median is 12, and it describes the middle value of the array of the age group. The standard deviation of data is ±5.856620126 from the normal value. All these three are the measurement of the central tendency of the data. The Skewness which portrays the asymmetric distribution of probability is 0.23446592 (Brys et al., 2012). The kurtosis value which represents the “peakedness” of the random variables used is -2.754209556.

The creation of financial tools is done mainly to assess the financial viability of the proposed project. To evaluate the various aspects of the proposed project, two methods are employed, mainly discounting and non-discounting methods (Healy & Palepu, 2012). It is observed that the non-discounting methods involve pay back periods and accounting rate of return, while discounting methods include net present value technique and internal rate of return. In this case, net present value and the payback period are used.

Benefits of Solar Energy

Following are the presumption of the net present value and payback period of the project:

Corporate tax rate	0.3
Amount in $ ‘000	Year 0	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3	Year 4	Year 5	Year 6	Year 7	Year 8	Year 9	Year 10
Investment flows	-490
Ship and install	-10
Annual cash flows
Operating cash flows		150	150	150	150	150	150	150	150	150	150
Operating cash flows after tax		150	150	150	150	150	150	150	150	150	150
Depreciation tax shield		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Disinvestment flows
Proceeds from disposals											0
Total cash flows	-500	150	150	150	150	150	150	150	150	150	150
Discount rate @ 13 %	1	0.885	0.783	0.693	0.613	0.543	0.480	0.425	0.376	0.333	0.295
Present values of cash flow	-500	133	117	104	92	81	72	64	56	50	44
Cumulative value of cash flows	-500	-367	-250	-146	-54	28	100	163	220	270	314
Net present value	314
Payback period	4.661	Years

From the above table, we can conclude that, the net present value of the project is positive and that it is financially feasible (Gorshkov et al., 2014). The calculation of the payback period also depicts that it is less than the project duration and therefore is financial.

The following study is aimed to interpret the implications of launching a new product into the market. This research has been conducted to calculate the number of respondents and their opinion (Persaud  & Azhar, 2012). It also focuses on the influence the product will have on the market, the requirements of the product and its penetration in the market.

After analysis of the above study, enlightened on the following aspects:

• Most of the users of the smart phone belong to the age groups of 18-26 and 27-34.
• There are greater numbers of male respondents are users of smart phones as compared to females and hence these issues of power consumption are faced mostly by the males as compared to that of females.
• Traditional methods of charging the phone at home are the most preferred method, irrespective of the gender.
• While the second most preferred way of charging the phone is via USB cable connected to the PC or laptop. 

11. Conclusion and recommendations

The survey and analysis reveal that, from the point of view of the consumers, this product is highly feasible in the market. Moreover from the evaluation of the data, it is evidenced that the NPV of the project is $314000 whereas the initial investment is $500000. Since NPV of the project is positive, so the development of the new product will be beneficial to the organization. Again the payback period also denotes that the organization will be able to acquire its initial investment within the tenure of the project. 

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