CPUT was proudly represented at the recent 2015 Hanover Fair.
On display was an automated solar oven power generator, an innovative device that was designed and manufactured by a group of Electrical Engineering students and lecturers.
The opportunity to showcase their innovative device was part of the team’s winnings after they scooped first prize in the Environment\Renewable Energy category of the International Xplore New Automation Competition earlier this year.
The team, which was supervised by lecturers Dr Wilfred Fritz and Deon Kallis, revamped an existing solar cooking device and turned it into an automated solar oven power generator, which operates off-grid and can be used to boil water, cook food and power a battery.
The Hanover Fair is the biggest Industrial trade fair in the world and Fritz says the CPUT stand received a lot of interest from visitors.
INNOVATORS: A group of Electrical Engineering students and their lecturers took first place in the Environment\Renewable Energy category of the International Xplore New Automation Competition
The CPUT stand also made headlines in the German newspaper Lippische Landes-Zeitung.
Lecturer Dr Wilfred Fritz says they will now look at further developing the device and explore how to make it more cost effective.
Operating off-grid, the device’s implications will be far reaching, given the current energy crisis facing South Africa.
*The student team is made up of Masters student Ben Dixon, BTech students Maahir Rahmna and Greyson Du Toit as well as second-year’s Werner Lotter and Brendon van Breda.
