DESIGN PROJECT 2: Cell Phone Tower in Chad, Africa

By: Joel ShulmanChad RosenzweigDevin SheldonChristian Haefner

Engineering Design 100Section 016Team 7

CHAD• Population: roughly

8,598,000 people

• Size: 495,755 square miles

• Desert climate in the north, temperate climate in the south

• Capital city: N’Djamena

• Population Density • South – 150 people

per square mile• North – less than 1

person per square mile

Abstract

For our project, we needed to develop a design for an alternate energy source that could generate power for a telecom cell phone tower and a diesel generator system, and sodium metal halide battery while maintaining a reusable energy source that is environmentally friendly. We decided that using solar power was the most optimal alternative energy source to complete this objective.

Introduction

In the past couple of years, cell phone usage has grown exponentially in almost all parts of the world. However, some undeveloped countries don’t have the means to power necessary cell towers. The General Electric Corporation asks engineering students to develop effective solutions to these problems, keeping in mind the effects on the environments.

Customer Needs

constant flow of 1.2 Kilowatts of power supplied to the cell phone tower

Sustainable alternate energy source

Environmentally friendly system and set up

Cost and energy efficient design

Design Matrix

No

Design Task

ProblemDesign a phone tower and hut that uses sustainable

energy sources (e.g., solar panels, a small wind turbine, geothermal, etc.), a diesel generator system, and sodium metal halide (NaMx) battery to optimize green power used to run the station. The system should optimize available power in areas with either no/unreliable energy. The design should be feasible and use minimal resources and be reusable across developing regions.

Mission Statement The cell phone tower will run completely off of

renewable energy and will have a backup diesel generator to power it if the renewable energy stored in the battery is depleted. The hut will shelter all of the equipment from any possible weather abuse.

Design Task (cont.)

Customer Needs Assessment: Our team is doing Project 2 on the country of Chad in Africa. This region of Africa has desert-like climate and terrain, with some fertile land. Chad’s economy is highly based on agriculture, oil, and foreign assistance. All in all, using solar power to power the cell phone tower in Chad will greatly benefit this already growing economic African country.

Design Specifications: Our team’s design will take advantage of the climate in Chad being mostly sunny. The solar panels will be able to properly power the country’s cell towers. This will increase the productivity of the country to boost its already growing economy.

Possible Energy Sources in Chad

Alternate Energy Sources?Water Power

This proved to be less then optimal for multiple reasons. In Chad there is no a surplus of

running water. There is, however, Lake Chad, which unfortunately has been gradually shrinking overtime

due to drought. Another issue is that this lake is located on the western side of the

country which limits where this cell phone tower can be built.

Wind Power

Due to research for wind statistics in Chad, it would prove to be ineffective to build Wind

Turbines as an optimal energy source. There is just not a sufficient enough amount of wind to

generate the minimal amount of power that is need to run the cell tower.

Solar Power

This proved to be the most optimal type of alternate energy to provide the power

needed to run the cell tower. The length of the day and amount of sun per year prove to

provide the solar panels with more then enough sunlight. Another important aspect is

due to how power is generated, there is no limitations of where these solar panels can

be built.

Our Solar Panel

3 kilowatt-hour solar panel (2) (9.3ft by 9.3ft)

GE Durathon Battery

- 20kw

Cost Analysis: List of Components

Cell Tower

Hut Controlling equipment

Cooling and Heating equipment

3 kw Solar Panel

Backup Biodiesel Generator

Inverter

GE Battery

Costs Initial

Construction of Cell tower, hut, and inverter-$150,000

Maintenance- $ 12,000/yr

1000/month

Diesel fuel- $160,000

$3.61/gal X 3gal/day X 365 days X 40 years

Salvage Value- $3,000

Resale of used metals, low payback

Generator- $2,000 3kw generator

Cash Flow Diagram

$175,000

$3.000

$ 160,000

40 yrs0 yrs

A1= $ 100,000/yr

A2= $ 12,000/yr

Revenue

PW=A(P/A,I,N)+S(P/F,I,N)+P

A=$100,000

S=$3000

P=$175,000

NPV= -175,000+ 100,000(1+.15)^(40)-1/(.15(1+.15)^40) +3,000(0.004)

=-175,000 + 664,178 + 12

= $489,190

Questions?

Sources Used

http://www.traveldocs.com/td/economy.htm

http://www.mapsofworld.com/chad/information/facts.html

http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/africa/td.htm