POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES 1

Energy Harvesting from Smoke Produced by Gasoline-powered Vehicles

One of the major problems here in the Philippines is air pollution. Air pollution is
composed of different chemicals that can greatly affect the health of humans, animals and
plants. Air pollution can also add a severe damage into our atmosphere. With a tremendous
contaminated air trapped in the atmosphere, it makes the temperature warmer. This situation
is what we called greenhouse effect. Greenhouse effect is responsible for global warming,
making the ozone layer depleted. When the ozone layer is destroyed, we have a very much
problem ahead of us.
There are different sources of air pollution. One of the great contributors to air pollution
that our research will focus is on the hazardous air coming from the vehicle’s muffler. These
air pollutants produced by an automobile are composed of carbon dioxide and carbon
monoxide. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that keeps solar radiation trapped within the
atmosphere. Carbon monoxide is a poisonous gas that can cause health problems to humans
because it prevents blood to carry oxygen to the vital organs of the body. Thus, these
greenhouse gasses are serious matter and must be taken into action.
We, the researchers, want to solve this problem by making a device that can harvest
and filter the air pollutants coming from the automobiles’ muffler. The filtered gasses will be
converted into renewable energy.
 POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES 2

Energy Harvesting from Human Dynamics

Overview:
Energy sustainability has been a very important concept especially when it comes to
resources. The energy production has brought up issues to the environment as most of the
energy plants uses natural resources to generate energy like electricity. Most of these energy
generators releases carbon dioxide and waste heat, which are both potential threats to the
stability of biosphere.

Problems:
Now that the world is using the most advanced technology, battery life is one of the
most important aspects to consider. Without batteries, we cannot operate our gadgets making
it useless. Although there are a lot of powerbanks readily available in the market, still some
people don’t make the most use of it if they are in a hurry. We cannot deny the fact that gadgets
have affect millions of people on the way we live. Smartphones play an important role
especially on health of the users. With the most advanced and innovative applications readily
available on the market, we could track our fitness and health. Imagine being on training or
on your workout when suddenly your phone suddenly shuts down.

Background:
Sports play an important role in improving and maintaining good health and fitness.
With the emerging advancements in technology, fitness tracker applications on different
devices provide appropriate assistance to the user. Energy conservation is very important
because of the limited resources in the nature.

Specific Locale:
Ayala, Makati (a lot of joggers around Ayala triangle).
 POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES 3

Possible Solution:
Since mechanical energy can be converted into electrical energy, we thought of making
a device that could store energy to a powerbank by converting pressure and the bending
mechanism by the body movements into electrical energy.
 POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES 4

Plastic Decayer Using UV light

Overview:
Perhaps the most useful yet most harmful trash that is widely-used today is plastics.
Invented by Alexander Parkes in 1855, it was first called parkesine but later called it celluloid.
We cannot deny the fact that plastics has affected the life and health of the people very badly.
Millions of plastics are manufactured every year all over the world. Despite all of the policies
implemented by the government to reduce and recycle plastic waste, only 8.2 percent of
discarded plastics were recovered in 2012 due to the fact that plastics are often mixed up with
organic waste, making them difficult and expensive to separate and clean. Improper disposal
of plastics have been one of the leading cause of climate change and not only that, plastic build
up on canals blocks the path of water and thus making flood. The time decomposition of plastic
is also a big factor on why it is very hard to eliminate.

Problems:
Plastic, the wonder material that we use for almost everything, is the most harmful trash
when not disposed properly. We see plastics everywhere. Even in the different bodies of water,
we can see floating plastics that are very harmful to marine life.

Background:
Waste plastics that are improperly disposed causing canals to clogged are becoming
alarming issue since plastics brought different health concerns to human.

Specific Locale:
Payatas, Quezon City

Possible Solution:
Photodegradation using UV light
 POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES 5

Ambient Temperature Stabilizer for Crops

Being an agricultural country, farming has been the major source of income in the
Philippines. People from the rural areas mostly depend on the crops they are harvesting. The
soil quality greatly affects the production and yield of crops. Also, having an appropriate
climate condition that will suit the crops’ needs will have a great impact on the growth of plant.
Frost can decimate an entire berry crop, especially if the berries have been exposed to
warming temperatures. A freeze following warm spring weather can be devastating.
Moreover, strawberries are particularly susceptible to frost damage since they are often in
bloom before the last frost free date.
Strawberries are very well known product in Baguio City. Throughout the years,
farmers are facing issues regarding the yield of the crop due to changing temperature. The
problem arises when the ambient temperature doesn’t meet the required temperature needed.
We, the researchers want to solve this problem by making a device that can stabilize
and correct the ambient temperature and thus preventing the strawberries to wither.
 POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES 6

Determination of Ripe Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) Using Artificial Neural Network

Overview
Watermelon is one of the fruits that is hard to determine if it is already ripe. People find
a way to tell if it is ripe and it is by knocking the fruit itself. There are certain sounds of a knock
that will tell if the watermelon is already ripe. The problem is that not all people, especially
those who are in the farming industry, know that technique.
Through the use if the idea of Artificial Neural Network, wherein data and information
are compared to gather some certain stimuli, signals in the researcher’s case, and be used to
answer a question, the researchers will be able to determine if a watermelon is ripe or not.

Problem/ Objective
The objective specifically is to effectively and efficiently tell if a watermelon is ripe or
not using electronics and the idea of Artificial Neural Network

Background of the Study

People cannot easily determine if a watermelon is ripe or not based on its external
features. Some say that you can tell if a watermelon is ripe based on its sound when you knock
it. The problem is that not all people especially farmers know the right sound for a ripe
watermelon. Also, people cannot just base on the sound when they knock. Because of these
problems the researchers had the idea of making a device that will help people, especially
farmers on this field, on determining if the watermelon is ripe or not.

Specific Locale
The researchers wanted to make Bani, Pangasinan as the locale of this study because it
is said that here is where the largest watermelon farm is located, and sweetest watermelons are
harvested. The researchers wanted the watermelon farmers in this place to have a very efficient
and faster way of harvesting watermelons.
 POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES 7

Possible Solution
Artificial Neural Network is a framework for many different machine learning
algorithms to work together and process complex data inputs and sort different signals into its
own category. This idea will be used to sort signals of every feature of a ripe watermelon.
These data will be used to determine if a watermelon is ripe or not by taking a photo of it.
 POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES 8

Locating and Mapping Plastic Wastes in Pasig River by Echolocation

Overview
Plastic wastes in Pasig River is very abundant. Due to the large amount dirt in the river
plastic trashes can’t be clearly seen and made it hard for people to determine where in the river
these plastics can be found.
Echolocation is the use of sound waves and echoes to determine where objects are in
space. With the use of this ideology the researchers wanted to make a device that will be used
to locate every plastic trash in the Pasig river and make these data appear on a map for
information gathering and reference. In addition to these, the depth of the plastic from the water
surface will also be determined.

Problem/ Objective
The researchers found a problem wherein the abundant plastic trashes in the Pasig river
are not visible due to large amount of dirt in it. These
made people unaware of the large number of plastic trashes lying under the water surface of
the Pasig river.

Background of the Study

Pasig river is now the world’s 2nd biggest source of plastic waste for its size. It dumps
to about 63,700 tons of plastic to the ocean each year. These causes the destruction of the
marine life environment. Pasig river rehabilitation started in 1999 but until now plastic trashes
are still abundant in the river. The researchers wanted to help and contribute in this
rehabilitation by making a device that will locate plastic wastes for better planning and action
in removing these wastes.

Specific Locale
The researchers wanted to make the whole Pasig river as a locale for this research
because the whole river contributes to plastic wastes being dumped to the ocean.
 POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES 9

Possible Solution
The idea of echolocation will be used to map plastic wastes in the Pasig river and record
it to provide 2D representation of the Pasig river with the detected wastes in its respective
locations with color coding depending on its depth from the water surface.
 POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES 10

HIV/AIDS Detector using Artificial Neural Network

Overview
Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome is a disease
where virus attacks the immune system of a person and weakens it until such time that this
person can no longer fight to other types of illness that can lead to his death. This disease can
be acquired through transferring of blood, semen, vaginal fluids, or breast milk of an infected
person to another. This illness can be known through blood examination and sometimes a
person with this illness does not show any symptoms of it immediately after infection. There
are studies that say that our fingernails can show our body’s health condition. With these ideas,
the researchers decided to make a device that will configure if a person has HIV by taking a
photo of his fingernails.
Through the use if the idea of Artificial Neural Network, wherein data and information
are compared to gather some certain stimuli, signals in the researcher’s case, and be used to
answer a question, the researchers will be able to determine if a person has HIV or not.

Problem
Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquires Immune Deficiency Syndrome is a disease
that can only be determined through blood examination and sometimes does not show
symptoms immediately after infection.

Background of the Study

HIV/AIDS in the Philippines is a serious matter. Philippines has the highest HIV
infection growth rate in Asia-Pacific as of April 2017. 32 Filipinos test positive for HIV/AIDS
daily in 2018 and this is an alarming situation for Filipinos. Some people with this disease does
not come up positive in blood testing immediately. The researchers would like to find another
way of knowing whether a person has HIV/AIDS or not.
 POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES 11

Specific Locale
The researchers wanted to make the Philippine General Hospital as the locale of this
research. It is because in this hospital many people don’t have enough time and resources to
get tested and even though they can, sometimes the symptoms don’t show up immediately.
This is to also help and improve the healthcare industry of the Philippines regarding
HIV/AIDS.

Possible Solution
Artificial Neural Network is a framework for many different machine learning
algorithms to work together and process complex data inputs and sort different signals into its
own category. This idea will be used to sort signals of every feature of a nail of a person with
HIV/AIDS. These data will be compared to the photo of nails of a person being tested to know
if he/she has HIV/AIDS.
 POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES 12

Energy Harvester from Rainfall Using Peizoelectricity

Overview
Philippines is a typhoon prone country. It is because of its location. It is the first
landform right before the Pacific Ocean. Typhoons build up in the ocean and due to the
behavior of the earth’s atmosphere, these typhoons lead to the nearest landform which is
usually the Philippines. Rainy season is very long in the Philippines because of this
phenomenon. Heavy rains usually occur in the northern part of the Philippines and in the area
nearest to the Pacific Ocean.
Piezoelectricity is the electric charge that accumulates in certain solid materials, such
as crystals, certain ceramics, bones, and other proteins, in response to applied mechanical
stress. This idea will be used by the researchers to harvest energy from the force given to roofs
of houses in areas where heavy rain occurs. This will be beneficial in times of calamities.

Problem
Electricity supply during typhoons can suddenly be cut off due to some troubles relating
to electricity connections.

Background of the Study

Philippine is located at the typhoon belt. There are about 15-20 typhoons that hit the
Philippines every year. Super typhoons usually occur in the country which causes heavy rains
in its northern parts. Due to these calamities, different tragedies happen that can cause the loss
of electricity to the areas where heavy rain occur. The researchers wanted to create a device
that will help victims of these calamities and tragedies during power loss. The device will
generate and store power from the force caused by heavy rains to the roofs of every house in
the area.
 POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES 13

Specific Locale
The researchers wanted to make the City of Manila as a locale for this research. This
locale has a large human population and often hit by tragedies caused by typhoons. Many
people in this locale will benefit from this research.

Possible Solution
With the use of the idea of Piezoelectricity, the researchers will make a device that will
convert the mechanical stress produced by heavy rain into electricity that can be used to
different emergency activities needed during and/or after calamities. This device will also
harvest energy from the sound created by the collision of the rain to the surface of the roof of
the house.
 POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES 14

Soil Acid Neutralization

Overview
The Philippines is an agricultural country, the people of the rural areas’ livelihood
highly depends on farming. A huge part of the farmer’s subsistence is the soil quality because
the abundance of their harvest depends on it.
As of now, many parts of the Philippines are facing problem about soil acidification
which is a manifestation of abusive use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. Negative
effects of soil acidification include low yield, crop failure, soil erosion and eutrophication.

Problems
Benguet is a province in the Philippines that is known for being the Salad Bowl of the
Philippines because of their good production of upland vegetables. However, some parts of
the province (Loo Valley, La Trinidad, Buguias, Kapangan and Sabangan) face soil
acidification because of excessive use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. The pH level of
the soil in the province rages from 4.1 to 5.16 which is far from the optimal range 5.0 to 7.0.

Background
Agriculture is a vital part of the country’s economy contributing 20 percent of the
gross domestic product. 40 percent of Filipino workers are involved in the agriculture sector.
Solving the problem of soil acidification will have make a huge impact not only in the
farmer’s lives but also to the country’s economic growth.

Specific Locale
We chose Benguet as our specific locale because it is heavily affected with soil
acidification.
 POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES 15

Possible Solution
Soil acid neutralizer. A device that analyzes the soil’s pH level and neutralizes it
through automated liming. Liming is the application of calcium and magnesium rich
materials that acts as base to neutralize the acidity in soil.
 POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES 16

Accelerating Wine Aging

Grapes are fruits which are rich in nutrients and are considered as versatile fruits.
Because of its versatility, these fruits are common all over the world. Even though Philippines
has a warm weather it is not impossible to grow grapes there, in fact, an expert in vintriculture
said that its a better place for the fruit compared to the world's most wine producing countries
which are Europe and United States.
Philippines is not only a country having a lot of people who loves to drink alcoholic
beverage but also one of the leading countries which are producing or making wines. The
pioneer grape farm in the Philippines is located at the province of La union. Wine is made
through the process of fermentation and aging. Aging should be taken in consideration as it is
one of the most delicate process in producing world class grape wines. It is said that wine gets
better with age but the problem is that wine aging consumes a lot of time and money. As a
solution to this problem, we think of making a low-cost device that could accelerate the natural
aging process of wine without compromising the taste. Based from the articles we've read, we
can speed up aging process by creating free radicals.