KOTA TINGGI: Creative and innovative – these words best to describe a group of young innovators from the Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Tun Habab here, who invented a portable air conditioner unit named Peltz.
The group, comprise the school’s 20 science and computer science streams’ students with six teachers to guide them, was selected as one of the finalists to represent Johor in the national-level of the Yayasan Petronas’ Sentuhan Harapan - All About Youth (AAY) 2019 innovation design competition this Tuesday (Aug 6).
They took three months to come up with Peltz, made of Peltier and air cooling components which were commonly used to reduce the computer heat, and this portable air conditioner temperature could reach 18 to 20 degrees Celsius.
One of the teachers involved in the project, Mohd Nor Akmal Salleh, said the students also developed a Peltz smartphone application that was able to activate the air conditioner by using voice command and sensors.
“Peltz is derived from the word ‘Peltier’ which is the main component used in this portable air conditioner that is also gas-free and uses just Peltier with two cooling systems - water cooling and air cooling. That is how the Peltz was invented,” he told Bernama at the school compound here today.
He added that the students, backed with basic knowledge in computer programming, had to self-learn by surfing online for websites such as Google and YouTube as well as getting advice from the teachers and the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) to develop the Peltz application and others.
“The project is 100% done by the students. They did the wiring, programming, designing, coding as well as finding alternatives and more funding despite the RM1,000 grant received from the Yayasan Petronas and the ‘Studuino’ (a micro-controller component) to be used in the project,” he said.
SMK Tun Habab will be competing against four other schools in the finals, themed “Reducing Carbon Emissions for a Better Future”, to be held at the Melaka International Trade Centre (MITC) on Aug 6 and the winner will pocket prize money of RM20,000.
Meanwhile, its project leader, Muhammad Amir Hariz Mashuri, 16, hoped that their design could be patented in the future and wanted to have an innovation studio to be set up in his school if they emerged as the winner.
“With a studio, more and more students are able to unearth their talents in designs,” he said.
Meanwhile, Teo Jun Jet, 14, who was in charge of encoding, shared the similar thought and hoped that there were parties interested to commercialise the air conditioner. — Bernama
