Design and Development of a Hybrid Portable Emergency Energy Box System Based on a Solar Panel and Hand-Crank Generator with GPS Location Tracking

Abstract

The need for reliable portable power sources during emergencies continues to grow, particularly in disaster-affected areas and remote regions with limited access to the power grid. This study aims to design and implement a Hybrid Portable Emergency Energy Box based on a portable solar panel and a hand-crank generator as a lightweight, portable, and self-sufficient power source to support rescue team operations. The system uses a 40 Wp monocrystalline solar panel with a total weight of 9.6 kg and is capable of powering both AC and DC loads. Energy is stored in a 12 V 22 Ah LiFePO₄ battery and supported by a 50 W permanent magnet DC generator with a 6:1 pulley ratio. Test results showed that battery charging via the solar panel produced 225.28 Wh of energy after AC loading with a charging time of three days, as well as 109.67 Wh and 146.14 Wh after DC loading and combined AC-DC loading, respectively, with a charging time of two days each. In the hand-crank generator test, all subjects were able to generate power exceeding the GPS system’s requirement of 1.19 W, with a peak power of 2.91 W at 308 RPM and a minimum of 1.22 W at 133 RPM. Load testing showed that the battery was capable of supplying 109.03 Wh under an AC load with an inverter loss of 0.85%, 93.2 Wh under a DC load, and 112.57 Wh under a combined AC-DC load. The ESP32- and Neo-6M GPS-based system demonstrates good accuracy, with a minimum error of 1.35–1.56 meters in open to semi-open conditions and a maximum error of 16.4 meters in densely built-up areas. These results indicate that the designed system is capable of independently providing emergency power with sufficiently reliable performance and is equipped with location-tracking features to support monitoring in disaster areas.