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种针对发展中国家的太阳能可充电助听器系统。为了解决这一问题，我们不仅必须设计一种革命性的产品，而且还需要能够以负担得起的价格为低收入发展中国家的慈善机构和个人制造产品。发展中国家遇到的主要问题是：1-助听器的可负担性和可用性，2-助听器电池的可用性、成本(和处置)，3-湿度和季风对电子线路的破坏，4-缺乏足够训练有素的听力专家或助听器技术人员来进行听力测试和安装助听器。本项目旨在通过设计一个小型充电装置(每个助听器附带1个)来解决上述前3个问题，该装置将利用太阳能电池板在白天为内部电池充电。晚上，当助听器没有佩戴时，它被放置在充电器中，为助听器电池充电。充电单元还兼有助听器的存储单元/干燥器的作用，防止助听器损坏和灰尘，不佩戴时将其烘干。我特别想给助听器中的电池充电，而不是必须取出、充电，然后再将电池更换到助听器中。我认为这将是设计上的一大改进，因为它省去了更换电池的麻烦--这对年长和年轻的助听器用户来说都是一个巨大的好处。这意味着我们需要找到一种将能量从充电器电池转移到助听器电池的方法-2选项中的2个；外部凸片触点和小连接器布置，可能会由于小气隙而加剧静音进入问题。我们想要追求的一个设计思想是开发一种可以安装在助听器中的微型感应充电电路，这将使我们能够设计出更密封的助听器。这是我首选的设计方案，将进行初步的可行性研究，以评估是否可以使用这种方法，以及与接触式系统相比的估计成本。这个项目将使我们能够提出创新的设计，以优化太阳能电池板、充电电池、充电电路、低功率微芯片和制造成本，以负担得起的价格生产一种简单易用但具有革命性的产品。

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.