710065Solar Sound Solutions intends to design and develop an affordable solar rechargeable hearing aid system aimed at users in developing countriesClosedGRD Proof of ConceptInnovate UKMy business opportunity is to develop a Solar Rechargeable Hearing Aid System targeted at developing countries. To address this we will, not only, have to design a revolutionary product, but also will need to be able to manufacture it at an affordable price for charitable missions and individuals in low income developing countries. Major issues that are experienced 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 monsoon periods, 4- Lack of enough trained audiologists or hearing aid technicians to carry out hearing tests and fit hearing aids. This project intends to address the first 3 of the above issues by designing a small charging unit (1 supplied with each hearing aid), that will use a solar panel to utilise the sun’s energy during the day to charge up an internal battery. At night when the hearing aid is not being worn it is placed in the charger to re-charge the hearing aid battery. The charging unit also doubles as a storage unit / drier for the hearing aid, keeping it protected from damage and dust, and drying it when not being worn. I particularly want to charge the battery in the hearing aid rather than having to remove, charge up and then replace the battery into the hearing aid. I think this will be a great improvement in design by eliminating the fiddly battery changing – a great benefit to the older and younger users of hearing aids. This means we need to find a way to transfer power from the charger battery to the hearing aid battery – 2 of the options; external tab contacts and a small connector arrangement, could exacerbate the moisture ingress problem due to small air gaps. One design idea we would like to pursue is to develop a miniature induction charging circuit that can fit into the hearing aid, which would allow us to design a more sealed hearing aid. This is my preferred design option and an initial feasibility study will be conducted to assess if this method can be used and the estimated costs compared 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 to produce a simple to use, but revolutionary product, at an affordable price.