These Students Invented Portable Solar Chargers So That Their Friends From Rural Homes Can Study

What were you doing when you were 14 years old? Well, most of us were being emo going through puberty, adjusting to life in secondary school, and maybe, waste our time playing video games ('Counterstrike' FTW).

But for three Malaysian students, they have achieved something that would probably greatly benefit the society.

According to a report from The Star, three students from SMK Taman Mutiara Rini 2 – S. Dhivyesh Kumar, N. Kirthigaraj, and Muhammad Arif Farhan Halizan - invented ‘Green Charging Stations’, or portable solar charges, after thinking about students who live in rural areas not being able to study at night without electricity.

“We wanted to find a way to make electricity available to everyone, especially students in rural areas, and we want to do so in a way that is environmentally friendly,” S. Dhivyesh Kumar told the English daily.

“We also hope that this invention will be helpful to campers who need a source of energy when they are out in the woods,” Dhivyesh added.

Their smart invention won a gold medal at the World Young Inventors Exhibition (WYIE) in the environment category, beating 78 other inventions from countries such as Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Australia, and Qatar.

ITEX is an annual event that gathers inventors from all over the world.

The charging station is operated by a 10-watt solar panel and can produce up to 23V of energy.

The item, which took two months to execute and costed the students RM200, also features an energy inverter, solar charge regulator, USB ports and a rechargeable lead-acid battery to store energy in the event there is no sunlight when it is needed to be used.

Congratulations, young tech wizards! Who knows what else you’ll invent in the future that’ll greatly benefit everyone around the world.