TIP invention wins in Singapore Energy Innovation Challenge
TECHNOLOGICAL Institute of the Philippines (TIP) Quezon City took home first runner-up honors in Singapore’s annual Energy Innovation Challenge for an invention that generates electric power from seawater without the need for turbines or any other form of energy.
TIP’s “Sustainable Energy from Brine Flow Electrodynamics” entry bested other innovative inventions from 17 other colleges and universities from the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan, Indonesia and host, Singapore.
The entry was developed, fabricated and tested by TIP computer engineering students Chester Alan Cabia and Dennise Joyce Reyes, and electronics and communications engineering students Carrissa Joy Isip, Jacob Jewel Tabo and Testsunari Yabushita. The team was mentored by Dr. Dranreb Earl Juanico, director of TIP’s Research and Development Management Office.
TIP’s entry consisted of a 3D-printed prototype double duct with a circular region where a pair of strong permanent magnets is fixed. The invention essentially separates positive- and negative-charged ions from brine or saltwater using magnetism. Conductor plates collect these charged ions to generate voltage.
Energy recovery device
Dr. Juanico and the TIP students see a huge potential for the “brine fluid battery” invention for use in Singapore whose water desalination plant in Tuas district produces not only clean drinking water, but also brine as a waste product.
“The device can be scaled up through an array and installed in the brine pipeline of the desalination plant to generate at least 5kW of electricity which can power approximately 500 10-watt LED bulbs. This can help save 30 percent of their power consumption,” said Dr. Juanico.
Now in its second year, Singapore’s Energy Innovation Challenge provides a platform for students from elementary to college to work with professional engineers and business mentors to design or invent a product that will solve and demonstrate the use of alternative sources of energy.
This year, the Challenge was held at the HDB Hub Atrium in Toa Payoh, Singapore, bannering the theme “Engineers: Innovators and Creators of the Future.”