Seems like solar-powered devices have inspired students to do some innovative things. Lately, a university student in the US has developed an inexpensive solar-powered lens that can purify polluted water.
The student’s name is Deshawn Henry. He is a Civil Engineering sophomore at the University of Buffalo. However, Henry has spent this summer developing a two-meter tall, self-sustaining magnifying glass, in other word – solar lens, using inexpensive supplies such as wood and plastic sheeting from a hardware store that can clean 99.9% of bacteria and pathogens (anything that can produce disease) in a liter of water in about an hour while the temperature is in between 54 and 65 degrees Celsius (130 and 150 degrees Fahrenheit).
Henry calls the solar lens as water lens. The lens is constructed by pulling a plastic sheet covered with water over a wooden frame. The frame holds a small container of water underneath the plastic lens, which has been lined up with a focal point created by a concentrated ray of sunlight. Because the Sun moves across the sky throughout the day, the water container needs to be manually shifted to ensure it remains in line with the focal point.
According to Henry, millions of people die every year from diseases and pathogens found in unclean water, and they can’t help it because that’s all they have. So keeping that in mind, Henry has developed this water lens. This water lens has been designed for communities in “developing countries” to very easily and quickly treat their water before using it.
The research project is practical and inexpensive, with the potential to be widely implemented and save lives. This is a small version of water lens. Now Henry is trying to develop a bigger version of water lens.
Source: University of Buffalo
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