Have you ever seen an innovation and thought, ‘Why didn’t I think of that?’. One of that idea is an innovation made by Muhammad Faris Bin Rozain, while he was at the age of nineteen as an engineering student in INTEC Education College. It is an automatic window, called Eco-Win, which is an eco-friendly ventilation system that use less usage of electrical power that enhances your home's safety. It provides a device which can automatically open or close motorized windows. To either set it with a timer for morning time or close the windows in case of emergence, such as when rain falls, in order to protect the household. Also, it can detect smoke if the house is on fire, automatic windows can be very helpful in opening air vent which help to extracts excessive heat, smoke and toxic gases released during a fire, especially for unreachable windows.
The components of the device consist of a solar panel system and a control unit on the roof, also, rain and smoke sensor and motorized device attached onto the window. He explained the way it works, essentially, the electricity will be taken from the sun rays directly from the roof top that beam onto the solar panel, since this is an Eco-friendly device.
After it detect rain falls or smoke on the sensor, the sensor sends a signal to the control unit which automatically activates the electric motor, thus opening the window. If the rain or fire is noticed prior to the rain or smoke reaction sensor, the windows can be opened and closed manually as well. When the rain stops, the water will start to dry up, this provides a signal for rain stop and eventually the sensor will deactivate itself.
He made the first prototype mainly in his backyard, and it is still in development. In the future, with extra time on his hands, he hopes to look at this innovation back and make it using less expense, in order for it to be reasonable and affordable in price for everyone to have it in their home. ‘Considering, it is important to install this device in every bedroom, children’s room, hallway and the living room windows, for maximum safety and protection’, he advised.
It is advised so by Muhammad Faris because he once read a news of a building of an orphanage that caught on fire which nearly forty kids were trapped and they all lost their lives due to ineffective security measure in the building, this news also triggered him to innovate this device. It worries him if this tragedy would happen again to other lives because over 90% of fire related deaths are caused by smoke suffocation, and not by high temperature or burning. ‘So with this automatic ventilation system, in case of fire, not only people will breathe much lesser smokes from the burning it also enables the building to be smoke free, thus making evacuation easier’ he said.
Raja Faridah Hanim, a homemaker, who is also my mother was intrigued by this innovation when I told her about it. Being that she is a fan of technology herself. ‘Nowadays, so many advanced equipment are used to make life easier and comfortable. Thus, this kind of technology, can be a huge help in my homemaking’ she said.
She believes that having rain sensors can help her aware of when it is raining. ‘Beside the automatic windows assist in ensuring that our house and room does not get flooded when it rains. This window can be a weather sensor as well, where if I notice the windows are closed automatically, it basically tells me that the rain is coming. Therefore, alert me and my neighbors who are usually not aware of the rain to bring in our drying clothes from outside’ she said. ‘Having a sense of the weather from the condition of the current sky can be difficult, especially in Malaysia since it is a tropical country. We get a lot of sunshine as well as wet rainy day throughout the year. It can be sunny now, and the sky can turn dark the very next moment’ she added.
This is certainly true, particularly nowadays where climate change is affecting the frequency and severity of extreme weather events. Past trends can no longer be used to predict future extreme weather patterns. Rain is a daily affair that we have to be constantly paying attention to.
She also mentioned that for us able person, usually we do not think much of this daily task of opening and closing the windows, we do it without having much thought of it. However, this device can be really convenient in helping the disabled and elderly, where getting to the windows and closing them can be a great ordeal. It would be nice for them if the windows can close themselves automatically when it rains, and when it is dry, it automatically opens the windows again without having to do anything. ‘Hopefully, with technological advances there are more innovation like this, allowing not only to ease me as a homemaker as well as those who are having physical and mobility issues because of their age or disability’ she conclude.
In short, home owners might be happy and willing to let some advanced technology in their home. Seeing that, innovative technology has the potential to change lives, whether that be for better security, energy usage or entertainment, the list goes on.
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