ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Design and construction of a bicycle frame from heat-treated bamboo and composites: Stress analysis and joint optimization

This report details the design, fabrication, and testing of a bamboo bicycle frame reinforced with epoxy composites, bamboo sticks, and powder. The project aims to establish bamboo as a viable material for bicycle construction, addressing its potential and limitations through a comprehensive analysis. The methodology involved sourcing and treating bamboo, formulating composite materials, and fabricating a bicycle frame. A SolidWorks model was designed and analyzed through Finite Element Analysis (FEA) to evaluate the frame’s performance under various loading conditions. The composite formation process involved mixing bamboo powder with epoxy and resin, with varying proportions to assess their effects on material properties. Mechanical tests, including compression and three-point bending tests, were conducted to determine the composites' Young’s modulus, flexural modulus, and other mechanical properties. The results indicated that composites with a medium number of bamboo sticks exhibited the highest Young's modulus, while the flexural strength varied with stick composition. SolidWorks simulations revealed that the bicycle frame could withstand loads equivalent to the weight of four people, indicating its structural capability. However, limitations such as the lack of fatigue testing and physical testing equipment for the bike frame were noted. Future work includes testing different bamboo stick compositions, developing a low-cost testing machine, and investigating alternative fiber orientations to enhance composite performance.

Source: Ashesi
Design and construction of a motor-powered vegetable slicing machine

Motorized industrial vegetable slicers are machines used to efficiently slice large quantities of vegetables in a commercial or industrial setting. Traditional industrial slicers have been identified to be tiring to use, expensive as well as time-consuming. This project aims to address these issues by designing a motorized vegetable slicer, which provides itself as an alternative product that eliminates the limitations of existing designs. The proposed design employs a power motor and sharp blades. It also includes a conveyor belt system which makes loading easy and safe. Slicing results were compared to initial hypothesis which were confirmed. The findings demonstrate the potential of the device to improve food processing effectiveness in the kitchen and the industry.

Source: Ashesi
Design and Construction of a Smart Hand Sanitising Machine

Hand hygiene is one of the most effective ways of preventing infections by reducing the possibility of having disease-causing organisms on the hands. The rise in transmission of infectious diseases such as COVID-19 has led to increased awareness of the importance of hand hygiene and new methods of improving hand hygiene. Automatic hand sanitising machines were developed to combat the spread of disease-causing organisms, but their usefulness relies on them being operational. Most sanitising machines may remain depleted of sanitiser for long periods and dispense unequal amounts of sanitiser during each use. This project aims to implement a sanitising machine that can alert users of the level of the sanitiser and use usage statistics to predict when sanitiser should be kept on hand for refills.

Source: Ashesi
Design and construction of a smart shopping trolley

Shopping at a supermarket is an everyday human activity and with the increasing convenience to access supermarkets, overcrowding and the tired use of trolleys have become a problem. This project integrates many subsystems in the IoT domain to devise a solution to cut down on overcrowding and ease the burden of using shopping trolleys. A smart shopping trolley that automatically follows the user and provides opportunity for automated billing was designed in this project. The smart shopping cart is fitted with the ability to scan products to update an inventory, transmit data to a cashier point-of-sale and track where the shopper moves and directly follow. Added security to the cart ensures the cart is safe from being used by the wrong user and running into objects. The automated shopping trolley will make shopping easier and faster by providing a shopping experience that freesshoppersin supermarketsfrom directly handling trolleys and helps them circumvent the issue of long queues.

Source: Ashesi
Design and Construction of An IOT-Based Retrofitting Unit for Streetlight Monitoring

Streetlights in many parts of Ghana are manually controlled or have circuitry designed to switch the light at preset times. While these configurations allow the streetlights to provide lighting at night, there are cases where the lights remain on during the day when not needed. Due to this problem, electrical energy is wasted, and unexpected costs are incurred. In other cases, the streetlights may become faulty without the notice of authorities or technicians, and this problem may affect the safety of road users at night. This project seeks to retrofit intelligence to streetlights to gather insightful data, monitor and control streetlights, and reduce the energy consumption of streetlights in communities. The project explores a low-cost, energy-efficient system that allows streetlights to communicate in a network and transfer data required for remote monitoring and control of streetlights. The monitoring system implements the management of streetlights through a web application interface that enables an administrator to monitor, control and analyze data from any internet-enabled device. The results from the prototype implementation prove that the streetlight monitoring system is about 80.1% energy efficient when the light source is dimmed to about a fifth of its total capacity when the roads are not busy. The results also demonstrate the prototype fulfils the design requirement to monitor malfunctioning lights by alerting the administrator, technician or user to control or visit the streetlight site for servicing remotely. The testing of the various system components demonstrated the feasibility, functionality, and security of the streetlight monitoring system.

Source: Ashesi
Design and construction of an IoT-enabled bacteria bioreactor

This project is rooted in the field of synthetic biology, an emerging and disruptive technology that offers innovative approaches for engineering new biological systems or redesigning existing ones for useful purposes. Synthetic biology has the potential to deliver solutions to many of our present and future needs in medicine, food and energy production, remediation, manufacturing, and national security. Traditional bacteria cultivation methods such as shake flasks, T-flasks, and cell culture dishes are suitable for small scale cultivation but are time-consuming and take up a lot of space in laboratories when used for large scale cultivations. Bioreactors and fermenters are a good alternative to consider as they allow large quantity cultivations, increase efficiency of cultivation, and enhance reproducibility. However, commercial bioreactors are often not economically accessible to many start-up businesses in developing countries and many academic laboratories for research. This project aims to address this challenge by developing a low-cost IoT-enabled bioreactor for bacteria cultivation that facilitates remote monitoring and adjustment of bacteria cultivation conditions to ensure optimal growth. This paper discusses the various design requirements, including system and user requirements, and provides details on the circuit design and components used, including various sensors and actuators. This paper also discusses the mechanical structure of the system and the web application implemented for monitoring and control. Results from testing and verification procedures proved that the system supports bacterial growth and fulfills the user requirements. Overall, this project presents a comprehensive overview of the design and implementation of an IoT-enabled bacteria bioreactor.

Source: Ashesi
Design and construction of an optimized low-cost insulated solar powered electric cooker with thermal storage and regulation system

With the shift to renewable energy, solar cookers have proven to be possible substitutes of other forms of cooking such as firewood. Due to solar power intermittency, most producers of solar cookers have employed the use of batteries for storage of energy. This, however, increases the overall price of the solar cooker. Other producers have opted for thermal storage systems, but these also have their own problems in terms of heat regulation. This project's purpose is to design an optimized solar electrical cooker with thermal storage and heat regulation system. To do this, a wide range of literature reviews was studied to fully understand the problem and the attempts to solve it. Brainstorming to obtain a solution led to the coming up of several designs and the best was chosen. Software simulations were done to prove the feasibility of the design. Finally, the design was physically implemented and tests carried out. The result proved that the insulated thermal storage solar cookers could be a cheaper alternative to the battery powered solar cookers. However, improvements need to be made on how fast it can cook. In conclusion, the project was a success.

Source: Ashesi
Design and construction of smart indirect solar dryer for food processing in the agricultural sector

As the world population continues to increase with climate change, food insecurities remain one of the emerging challenges that require sustainable development and solution. Post-harvest losses happen to be one of the main causes that records massive quantities of food losses worldwide. Even though much research has been done in this area to produce multiple solutions ranging from different types of drying system utilizing different heating mechanisms, this problem is still prevalent. This project focuses on combining the most effective types of solar drying techniques to design and construct a solar dryer incorporating some basic electronics targeted at eliminating the possible problems to study the performance of the dryer to improve its efficiency.

Source: Ashesi
Design and construction of smart three-way change over switch and microcontroller-based pure sine wave inverter with remote monitoring solution

Intermittent power outages have rendered most developing countries' national grids unreliable. Consumers have installed alternative energy sources such as solar panels and wind turbines to combat this issue. Because of their nature, the output of these power sources must be converted to match the national grid's output. Additionally, consumers must be able to switch between these power sources when required quickly. Many inverter solutions have been developed and are readily available in the market. However, most affordable inverters produce a square wave, which is unsuitable for sensitive electronics; sine-wave inverters, on the other hand, are perfect for all appliances but are more expensive than square wave inverters. Furthermore, many switching solutions are available in the market to allow consumers to switch between power sources manually or automatically. These, however, can only switch between two power sources. This project has designed and developed a microcontroller-based pure sine wave inverter equipped with remote monitoring capabilities and a three-way intelligent changeover switch. The inverter converts 12V DC to a single-phase 230V AC at 50Hz pure sine wave. The three-way changeover utilizes a microcontroller to switch the power supply among three input power sources.

Source: Ashesi
Design and Construction of Water Filtration System for Ghanaian Households

Activities of illegal mining and improper waste disposal have mainly contaminated water bodies in Ghana with dirt, heavy metals, and other toxins, making it difficult for communities to acquire safe drinking water. The situation in rural areas aggravates due to the lack of decentralized water supply systems. Poor quality drinking water has numerous health complications and is more severe in children under five. In response to the challenge, a water filtration system was designed and modelled with SolidWorks software. A scaffold was built with extruded aluminium and covered with transparent Perspex glass before part assembling. Grey clay was obtained from the Savannah Region in Ghana for moulding a ceramic filtration unit for dirt and particulate removal. Activated carbon was obtained from coconut coir fibres fired at 900 for 30 mins for particulate and heavy metal adsorption. Other agricultural wastes produced from orange and banana peels were primarily used for heavy metal adsorption. Porous poly-dimethyl-siloxane (PDMS) membrane was obtained via solvent casting and leaching techniques to support the blockage of leaked particles from travelling through the filtration track. Experimental optimizations were done to reduce the turbidity and heavy metal levels in polluted waters. The filtration system proved to be effective in removing zinc, cadmium, copper and suspended particulates from contaminated water samples (compared with WHO recommended limits). Other water quality parameters: pH, conductivity, and turbidity, were regularly used to ascertain filter duration. The flow rates were determined and compared with the WHO limits. The result and implications were discussed to optimise a multipurpose water filtration system for affected communities.

Source: Ashesi
Design And Deployment Of A Portable Air Quality Sensor

Indoor air pollution is an increasing concern in urban areas across Ghana, with rising levels of harmful pollutants such as particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) posing significant risks to public health. This capstone project seeks to address the critical need for effective indoor air quality monitoring by designing and deploying a smart air quality monitoring sensor tailored for enclosed environments like homes, offices, and schools in Ghana. The sensor is engineered to measure key indoor pollutants, with specific attention to PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations, which have been shown to correlate with respiratory and cardiovascular health risks. In initial tests, the sensor recorded a PM2.5 mean of 5.2 g/mutings to 360 g/m for PM2.5 and 520 g/m for PM10. These findings demonstrate the sensor's ability to capture a broad range of indoor air pollution levels. By integrating cutting-edge sensor technology, data analytics, and Internet of Things (IoT) capabilities, this system offers real-time monitoring, empowering individuals and policymakers to make data-driven decisions

Source: Ashesi
Design And Development Of A Hybrid Electric Vehicle Charging Station

As electric vehicles (EVs) become increasingly prominent, the availability of sustainable and reliable charging infrastructure has become a critical challenge, particularly in regions with developing grid networks. Conventional EV charging systems often rely solely on grid electricity, leading to high operational costs and environmental concerns. This project addresses the problem by designing and implementing a hybrid solar-grid EV charging station that integrates renewable energy generation with grid backup through a manual transfer switching system. A complete system was developed, combining a solar photovoltaic (PV) array, a boost converter, an inverter, a manual transfer switch panel, and a custom-designed onboard charger capable of regulated 400V DC output for EV charging. PVSol simulations validated that a significant portion of the EV's energy needs could be met directly from solar energy, reducing reliance on grid supply. Physical testing confirmed stable 230V RMS AC inverter output, reliable manual source switching, accurate real-time monitoring, and successful voltage regulation through the onboard charger. Although full-load 16A current testing was not performed due to laboratory safety constraints, high-impedance testing validated the functional correctness of the voltage stages. The project demonstrates the feasibility of implementing decentralized, renewable-based EV charging systems in practical environments and provides a foundation for future enhancements including full-load testing, automation, and energy storage integration.

Source: Ashesi
Design And Development Of A Wearable EEG Device For Epileptic Seizure Prediction

The unpredictability of seizures is one of the most disabling aspects of epilepsy. Approximately one-third of people living with epilepsy continue to experience seizures despite the optimal use of anti-seizure medication. The design and development of an advance warning system for such people could drastically improve personal safety and independence. Previous efforts to predict seizures have involved traditional methods such as pen-and-paper logging and, more recently, machine learning approaches. Capitalizing on advancements in artificial intelligence and machine learning, this work details the design and development of a wearable electroencephalography (EEG) device for continuous brain activity monitoring and timely seizure prediction. The system incorporates a modified AD8232 signal conditioning block, an ADS 1115 analogue-to-digital converter, and a Raspberry Pi 5 for real-time data processing. Seizure prediction is performed using a two-dimensional convolutional neural network (2D-CNN) with three convolutional layers. In addition to the wearable device, a companion mobile application was developed to deliver push notification alerts and display a history of seizure probabilities to the user. This integrated system demonstrates the feasibility of developing personalized and proactive seizure prediction technologies that enhance quality of life for people living with epilepsy.

Source: Ashesi
Design and fabrication of a four degree of freedom robotic arm as an educational platform for robotics

Robotics and control strategies are two very abstract fields of engineering filled with mathematical equations. Students in higher levels of engineering education studying robotics and control systems find it difficult to visualize and practicalize what they are taught in class. They need a practical means to apply their learnings in class so they can better understand whatever they learn and easily apply it to real life situations. Robotic platforms have proven to be a good way of helping students improve cognitive and critical thinking skills, teamwork skills, and are a fun and practical approach to the learning process. This results in students being able to remember what they have been taught well through a hands-on learning process. This study provides a user friendly, low cost, practical robotics solution for students in this category, who need an easier way to learn and understand robotics and control strategies. The proposed solution is a four degree of freedom robotic arm with DC motors as actuators, and a MATLAB Graphical User Interface (GUI) for control of the robotic arm and visualization of forward and inverse kinematics. For the scope of this study, the system is designed, fabricated, and the control strategy to implement on all four DC motors is tested on one of the actuating joints as proof of concept. The system actuators will be controlled using PID controllers, which will be tuned by the students to see how the different controller gains affect the system s response through control response graphs. The results show that the manipulator control systems are accurate, low cost, user friendly, and able to produce results that make it capable to compete with other educational robotic arms on the market.

Source: Ashesi
Design and fabrication of a load-carrying unmanned ground vehicle for material transport

This project involved the design and construction of an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) capable of navigating, dodging obstacles, and transferring a maximum payload of 120 kilograms. The project was aimed at alleviating the stress imposed on laborers during material transport. Several hardware and software tools, such as sensors, microcontrollers, SolidWorks, MATLAB, and Kicad, were used in this project. The group took a methodical approach, conducting research, designing prototypes, testing them, and iterating until a final product was produced with desirable specifications and features. These specifications were determined by testing the vehicle s subsystems. The project prepared the team members for upcoming engineering and technological initiatives by providing them with useful experience in project management, teamwork, and problem-solving. In the future, this project may be expanded to make the UGV more adaptable, responsive, and efficient.

Source: Ashesi
Design And Fabrication Of A Low-Cost Fixed-Wing UAV For Aerial Imaging

Illegal small environmental degradation, demanding cost-effective monitoring solutions. Current methods, such as low-resolution satellites and short-endurance drones, lack the precision or coverage needed for real-time detection. This capstone project designed and fabricated a low-cost fixed wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to address this gap, focusing on aerial imaging for high resolution environmental monitoring. The UAV was optimized for endurance and stability through computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, wind tunnel testing, and iterative prototyping. Key design elements includeda rectangular Clark-Y airfoil wing, a tricycle landing gear, and a battery-powered propulsion system. Structural analyses validated wing strength (14 cm deflection reduced to 3.4 cm with dual spars) and landing gear durability. Despite successful simulations, flight tests revealed critical challenges: battery displacement caused instability, limiting flight duration to 30 seconds. However, the project demosntrated the UAV'S potential for scalable environmental monitoring, achieving a 19.4 km theoretical range and validating aerodynamic performance. Future work should prioritize robust component integration and enhanced stability controls. This research underscores the viability of low-cost UAVs for ecological surveillance in resource-constrained regions, providing a foundation for iterative advancements in drone-based monitoring systems.

Source: Ashesi
Design and fabrication of a low-cost greenhouse for small-scale farming in tropical climates

As the world's population grows, so does the magnitude of food insecurity. There is increasingly a need for sustainable methods of agricultural production, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Increasing production solves the problem of food insecurity and reduces dependence on imports, thereby increasing national and regional Gross Domestic Products (GDPs). This project aims to design and fabricate a low-cost greenhouse for crop production in Sierra Leone. This design is integrated with a control system consisting of appropriate sensors to simulate suitable optimum conditions for crop growth and photosynthesis. An appropriate prototype is fabricated with a detailed analysis of the design.

Source: Ashesi