“During my Master’s in Mechanical Engineering, I took a course on Humanitarian Engineering,” Gabe-Jan explains. “That immediately appealed to me: how can we use technology to make a meaningful difference in cases of need? I have always wanted to help people with my technical knowledge, both out of personal interest and because of my faith. In this course, those elements came together perfectly, and I quickly thought: this is what I want to graduate in.”
Clean cooking in Madagascar
Through his graduation supervisor, Gabe-Jan got in touch with RISE, a company based in Madagascar and founded by UT alumnus Rik Stamhuis. “They work on technologies based on solar energy and were developing a design for a new clean cooking technology. At the moment, the standard is cooking on wood or charcoal, which comes with considerable health risks.”
RISE already had a setup that made it possible to cook using solar energy. Solar panels generate electricity, which is stored in lithium batteries so it can be used whenever needed. For cooking, this energy is used to generate steam in a kind of cabinet known as a steamer. The steam then cooks the food. “However, the current batteries are expensive and not environmentally friendly,” Gabe-Jan explains. “My assignment was to come up with an alternative to these batteries that would be both more sustainable and cheaper. That’s how I came up with the idea of developing a thermal battery.”
Heat storage using sand
That turned out to be quite a challenge. On a large scale, there are plenty of options for heat storage, but the smaller the scale, the greater the losses. “The larger the surface area relative to the volume, the more heat is lost. As a result, small-scale heat storage is often considered very inefficient, especially in Western countries,” says Gabe-Jan. “But for the situation in Madagascar, it actually works very well. With so many hours of sunshine, you can recharge it for free every day. It was quite special to get to this realisation: the same product or design can be seen as worthless in one context and work extremely well in another.”
Using sand and bricks, Gabe-Jan designed a new type of battery. “Sand has insulating properties, so it stays warm for a long time. It is also cheap and widely available in Madagascar.” The setup consists of a container filled with sand and heating elements that directly heat the sand. By improving the thermal conductivity of the sand, heat can be extracted more quickly, and steam can be generated as soon as water is poured into the battery. “By using a height difference, you can let water flow without a pump, which generates steam whenever you need it. The setup is so simple that it can be built locally using readily available materials.”
Collaboration
To build and test his design, Gabe-Jan travelled to Madagascar for two months. “It was a truly special experience. I had never lived in another country temporarily before, which was already exciting, but the best part was working together with the people from RISE, my graduation supervisors, and the residents who will actually be using the setup,” he says. “That motivated me enormously, even at moments when things were tough. Graduating far from home can be challenging at times, but when you see the urgency of your design with your own eyes, that is all the motivation you need.”
His project has now ended, but that does not mean the end of his prototype. RISE is currently testing and further developing the thermal battery. Through the part-time job he gained as a result of his graduation project, Gabe-Jan is still able to stay involved from a distance. “In my role, I am still involved in several tests. That is really nice. You invest a lot of passion and time in a project like this, and you want to see the final result. A follow-up assignment has also come out of my project, so another student is now involved in further developing the prototype. It was a truly unique collaboration between RISE, my supervisors and myself, and that is what made this project so enjoyable.”
Future
And what is next, now that he has graduated? “In the future, I would really like to work in the field of humanitarian engineering. But I think it is wise to first gain more technical knowledge and experience, so I can apply that later on. This type of work suits me very well. It is much more hands-on. One moment you are using your engineering knowledge and skills for complex calculations, and the next, you are, as in my case, shovelling sand. You experience the entire design process from start to finish, and I really like that variety,” Gabe-Jan explains.
His graduation project has also given him valuable insights for his future career as an engineer. “As an engineer, it is essential to be able to truly empathise with other people’s situations. We are often inclined to think in terms of solutions straight away, but it is just as important to reflect on what the real problem actually is and how to approach it. I have now seen with my own eyes how technologies can function very differently in different contexts. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. So, it is important to make as few assumptions as possible and to carefully consider whether a solution is genuinely suitable for the situation and the people involved. I think that is one of the most important questions you can ask yourself as an engineer.”
