Young man without a degree invents 'stream-generated electricity' machine to help people in highlands

After nearly a decade of wandering abroad, Nguyen Duy Khanh (34 years old) decided to return to Vietnam to create a generator that runs on spring water to help people in the highlands.

Sitting on the rescue flight from Angola back to his homeland in 2020, Nguyen Khanh Duy was lost in thought about where the future would lead.

Mr. Nguyen Duy Khanh with Angolan people at the time he came to this country to start a business.

A happy life, reunited with his family, did not last long, two big incidents from his family suddenly happened and changed his life. The pain of losing a loved one and a large amount of money made the young man want to live a meaningful life, volunteering in remote areas.

Angola - the "seed" that helps a young man try his hand at his passion

Why do you want to do charity work to soothe your soul?

- In 2011, I started working in Luena city, Moxico province, Angola. At that time, Luena was a city but people still had to live without electricity, or more accurately, without electricity. The main source of energy came from generators running on fossil fuels.

Having lived abroad for nearly a decade, I have worked in many different fields, from business, photography, to opening restaurants. I sympathize with the difficulties that people in African countries go through, living without electricity, all activities are affected.

While working in Angola, the difficult life of the people and children there made Duy want to do something to help people.

The sympathy is especially multiplied when witnessing the living conditions of the children here. It must be said that "even when hungry, eating salt is delicious", the children's daily meals are just white rice served in pots and plates. The lack of electricity also greatly affects the children's learning.

Since I was a child, I have had a passion for machinery. When I witnessed the difficult life in Mexico, I decided to learn scientific knowledge to research and convert generators running from gasoline to gas, to help the people here.

After returning to Vietnam due to the impact of the global Covid-19 pandemic, I decided to return to reunite with my family, but the happiness did not last long as a major event happened in my life, making me want to do more meaningful things.

Going to the mountains with my wife and children, witnessing the villagers living without electricity, I recalled the years living in Angola and the idea of ​​building a generator popped into my head.

Angola is one of the largest crude oil producers in sub-Saharan Africa, why are they running out of petrol to use?

- Ironically, at that time, people in this country were in a state of severe fuel shortage.

In 2011-2015, the people of Moxico province were in dire need of gasoline to run generators. Even myself and many others had to queue for half a day to buy a 20-liter can of gasoline to run the generator. Each person could only buy 1 can, enough for 1-2 days, at a very high price.

In particular, the lack of electricity means that children in Angola do not have the minimum conditions to ensure that they have the opportunity to study. I suddenly thought, gas is abundant and cheap here, why don't I convert the generator from gasoline to use this fuel source.

My journey began from there.

"Everyone thinks I'm a mechanical engineer"

Do you have any background in engines and machinery?

- Absolutely not. I did not go to university, nor do I have a degree related to machinery or mechanics. I learned everything myself through books and social networks.

How did you do that?

- There are two possible ways to convert a Diesel engine to run on gas, including a dual fuel engine and a spark ignition biogas engine .

For the first type, it works on the principle of a pre-mixed engine, but is ignited by a diesel injector instead of a spark plug. However, for this type of engine, we still have to use liquid fuel during operation.

Realizing this, I quickly switched to another solution, which was a forced-ignition biogas engine that used 100% gas as fuel.

The water dipper gets its kinetic energy from the spring water.

This conversion method can take advantage of the high compression ratio of traditional diesel engines. Its main advantage is that the combustion rate of the biogas-air mixture is lower than that of liquid fuel, so it is suitable for the design of diesel engines.

This transformation journey sounds easy in theory, but what about in practice?

- Too many difficulties. To make the gas-powered engine work well, I had to spend months researching and upgrading, experiencing many failures, each time I learned a lesson, gained more knowledge in the field of mechanics.

Initially, I succeeded in converting the carburetor from diesel fuel to gas, but I overlooked one major shortcoming: the kinetic energy it provided was not enough when I closed the load, connecting the belt to the generator head.

I had to start over and realized that the fuel supply was not enough. Happily, after months of research, the scene of people queuing all day to buy gasoline gradually disappeared in Luena City. They could now use electricity continuously, at a cheaper price.

I don't see how it could be cheaper, sir?

- With an industrial gas tank, people can generate electricity for up to 7 days, while with the same amount of money spent on gasoline, they can only run the machine for less than a day. When people here switched to using gas engines, they all thought I was a mechanical engineer.

Overcoming the shock of the Covid-19 pandemic, bringing electricity to the highlands

What made you want to bring electricity to the highlands?

- As I said, during my family trips to the highlands, I met the situation of a family of Mr. Nam, in Ru hamlet, Yen Quang (Luong Son, Hoa Binh).

His family is very poor, the house has no electricity. His main income comes from his job as a construction worker, while his wife only earns 30,000-40,000 VND by weaving items such as pot holders, cups, etc. The biggest asset in the house is the bed.

Mr. Nam's house in Ru hamlet is very poor and has no valuable assets.

A meaningful life is about giving. Coming to Mr. Nam's house or other mountainous areas, I realized that if we use generators that run on gasoline or gas, the cost is very high because their income is very low.

People here often live on high hills, small and steep dirt roads with many hairpin turns. Every time it rains, the roads are slippery as grease, on the cliffs, on the deep ravines, making travel very dangerous.

That's why I came up with the idea of ​​using energy from streams to generate electricity, converting the kinetic energy available here.

There are already generators running on water kinetic energy on the market, so why do you still make a similar product like this?

- Generators that use kinetic energy from water are already widely available on the market, but they are expensive, have poor durability and safety, and unstable power output. This can easily damage people's electrical equipment when used.

Therefore, I need major improvements to be able to produce a complete product that overcomes the known shortcomings.

Starting a product from upgrading existing equipment on the market, is it easier for you to do?

- Honestly, I have gone through many failed experiments with a huge initial investment, up to hundreds of millions of dong.

Every time I close my eyes, my mind is filled with thoughts about how to make my product perfect at a low cost. Whenever I have an idea, I write it down in my notebook at any time, day or night, in case I forget it when I wake up.

Every day, I only sleep 4-5 hours, always thinking about my brainchild. When I am passionate about something, I spend almost all my time on it, my wife and children also suffer. Many times my body is tired, but thinking about this product will be useful for the lives of people in the highlands, I have more motivation to continue.

This generator set consists of two main parts including the generator and the tractor water intake propeller.

The operating principle is simple, spring water flows down from above through the pipe, passes through the pressure valve and sprays onto the fan blades, causing them to move, pulling the generator to rotate thanks to the belt.

But to make the machine run stably and convert kinetic energy into electricity is not an easy thing. Except for the generator, all parts of this equipment were designed, manufactured and tested many times by me to create the complete product as it is now.

How did you improve it?

- I have to 3D print each part first to test, for example the fan blade is the part that changes the most, each blade is designed in the shape of a water ladle and must be adjusted so that the injector is at the right center to produce optimal kinetic energy.

The generator I used was an old Japanese engine that used a permanent magnet core, but it couldn't be used right away because the voltage in this country is 110v. I had to modify it so that it could reach 220v without using an external generator.

I had to remove and rewind the copper coil inside the generator to ensure the voltage is 220V and create an additional frequency controller to ensure the safety of electrical equipment, maintain a stable 220V voltage or protect the generator from overload or overheating and automatically shut down.

As in the case of Mr. Nam's house that I shared above, a stream only needs to be about 4-5 meters high to be able to install a generator with a capacity of 200-300w, enough for his family to use lighting equipment, rice cookers, fans or televisions.

What areas can you go to help the people in the mountains?

- A lot. My family and I often go to the mountainous provinces of Tuyen Quang, Yen Bai, Hoa Binh, Lao Cai or Cao Bang. Honestly, we don't go to tourist destinations, but only when we go to remote areas can I feel how many difficulties the people here still have.

There are areas like Cao Bang and Tuyen Quang where the entire village has only a few households. The road to get there is very small and dangerous, with mountains on one side and cliffs on the other. It is difficult for two motorbikes to pass each other, so bringing electricity to these villages is not an easy task. Therefore, I often install machines with a higher capacity of 20-30kW to support the people here.

Every time I come back for maintenance or machine inspection, they are always happy to welcome me, call me their son, and treat us like family members. I find life more meaningful.

Do you know you are contributing to the National Target Program for the Development of Ethnic Minority and Mountainous Areas?

- I really don't know that my volunteer work is contributing to this program. Everything I do comes from my heart, I am willing to help in difficult areas with difficult circumstances with the aim of improving and developing the living conditions of ethnic minorities.

After knowing that I am contributing to the National Target Program for the Development of Ethnic Minorities and Mountainous Areas, I am even more motivated and determined, even though I know that my actions are very small. I hope that the policies issued by the Government, the support from businesses, organizations, individuals. will help the lives of people here to be more prosperous, complete, and happy.

Thank you very much, I wish you further success!