Design of a portable hand crank generating system to power remote off-grid communities

Developed countries have become accustomed to having access to an electric grid and it is taken for granted that electrical power is available at any time. However, this is not the case in many remote villages in developing countries where insufficient infrastructure has left many people short of a basic energy supply. To address this need, a portable hand crank generating system is proposed in this paper to supplement alternative energy sources such as photovoltaic cells and wind power systems. An axial flux permanent magnet generator has been designed to provide a 50 W output and occupy a small space with a limited mass. A mechanical transmission scheme is also developed to drive the generator with two belt drive stages and a hand crank. Finally, a conceptual prototype system is presented to illustrate its applicability.