Cost-saving heater device lands Team Ruby into hackathon global Top 9
Electrical layout
Monash students have secured a spot in the global top 9 of the UNESCO World Engineering Day Hackathon thanks to a clever new design that can tell consumers the estimated real-time cost of running a 1500W electric heater at home.
Aligned with the theme ‘Build Back Wiser – Engineering the Future’, the World Engineering Day Hackathon encourages engineering students to work in teams to solve a global real-world problem. Tasked with creating a sustainable engineering solution inspired by nature, our ‘Team Ruby’ developed the concept of a thermo-electric cost indicator for household electric heaters, based on the temperature-regulating behaviour of the North American desert tortoise.
The novel design, developed by team members Duc Nhan Nguyen (Aerospace Engineering student), Gilbert Lik Yan (Mechatronics Engineering student) and Aidan Riri Tahi Nathaniel Wiringi Jones (Law student), will measure time and power consumption to estimate total energy usage, then obtain an averaged energy cost through a GPS module. The cost will then be displayed on an LCD screen in real-time, allowing consumers to monitor and control the cost of their heater usage on the spot.
Team Ruby estimates the cost savings to be approximately $20 per month if two hours of unnecessary use is prevented each day. The technology is also designed to consume enough heat to charge its internal battery, even further reducing wastage and costs.
“We’re very excited to be the only Australian student team to reach the global top 9 in the UNESCO World Engineering Day Hackathon with our proposal,” Duc Nhan Nguyen said. “The electric heater is one of the most wasteful appliances we have in our homes and offices, and we aim to provide a sustainable solution that helps solve this problem. We’re grateful to the Hackathon for giving us the opportunity to make an impact through clever engineering design.”
Congratulations to Team Ruby on their successful entry into the Hackathon! Watch the World Engineering Day 24 Hour livestream from 12pm Sydney time today to see the final results.
