Solar Sound Solutions intends to design and develop an affordable solar rechargeable hearing aid system aimed at users in developing countries

我的商业机会是开发一个针对发展中国家的太阳能充电助听器系统。为了解决这个问题，我们不仅需要设计一种革命性的产品，而且还需要能够以低收入发展中国家的慈善机构和个人负担得起的价格制造它。在发展中国家遇到的主要问题是：1-助听器的可负担性和可获得性，2-助听器电池的可获得性、成本（和处置），3-由于潮湿和季风时期的湿气进入而损坏电子电路，4-缺乏足够的训练有素的听力学家或助听器技术人员来进行听力测试和安装助听器。该项目打算通过设计一个小型充电单元（每个助听器提供一个）来解决上述问题中的前3个，该充电单元将使用太阳能电池板来利用白天的太阳能为内部电池充电。助听器是助听器的一部分，助听器是助听器的一部分，助听器是助听器的一部分。充电单元也可以作为助听器的存储单元/干燥器，保护助听器免受损坏和灰尘，并在不佩戴时干燥它。我特别想给助听器里的电池充电，而不是必须把电池取下来，充电，然后再把电池换到助听器里。我认为这将是一个很大的改进设计，消除了fiddlybattery改变-一个很大的好处，老年人和年轻的用户的助听器。这意味着我们需要找到一种方法将电源从充电器电池传输到助听器电池-2个选项;外部标签触点和小连接器布置可能会加剧由于气隙小而导致的水分进入问题。我们想追求的一个设计理念是开发一个微型感应充电电路，可以安装到助听器中，这将使我们能够设计一个更密封的助听器。这是我的首选设计方案，我们将进行初步可行性研究，以评估是否可以使用这种方法，并将其与接触式系统进行比较。该项目将使我们能够提出创新设计，以优化太阳能电池板、可充电电池、充电电路、低功率微芯片和制造成本，以生产一种简单易用但价格合理的革命性产品。

My business opportunity is to develop a Solar Rechargeable Hearing Aid System targeted atdeveloping countries. To address this we will, not only, have to design a revolutionaryproduct, but also will need to be able to manufacture it at an affordable price for charitablemissions and individuals in low income developing countries. Major issues that areexperienced in developing countries are:1- Affordability and availability of hearing aids,2- Availability, cost (and disposal) of hearing aid batteries,3- Damage to the electronic circuits due to moisture ingress from humidity and monsoonperiods,4- Lack of enough trained audiologists or hearing aid technicians to carry out hearingtests and fit hearing aids.This project intends to address the first 3 of the above issues by designing a small chargingunit (1 supplied with each hearing aid), that will use a solar panel to utilise the sun’s energyduring the day to charge up an internal battery. At night when the hearing aid is not beingworn it is placed in the charger to re-charge the hearing aid battery. The charging unit alsodoubles as a storage unit / drier for the hearing aid, keeping it protected from damage anddust, and drying it when not being worn. I particularly want to charge the battery in thehearing aid rather than having to remove, charge up and then replace the battery into thehearing aid. I think this will be a great improvement in design by eliminating the fiddlybattery changing – a great benefit to the older and younger users of hearing aids. This meanswe need to find a way to transfer power from the charger battery to the hearing aid battery – 2of the options; external tab contacts and a small connector arrangement, could exacerbate themoisture ingress problem due to small air gaps. One design idea we would like to pursue is todevelop a miniature induction charging circuit that can fit into the hearing aid, which wouldallow us to design a more sealed hearing aid. This is my preferred design option and an initialfeasibility study will be conducted to assess if this method can be used and the estimated costscompared to a contact system.This project will enable us to come up with innovative designs to optimise solar panels,rechargeable batteries, charging circuits, low power microchips and manufacturing costs toproduce a simple to use, but revolutionary product, at an affordable price.