Innovators in Electronic Design - Trailblazer: Ancel Bhagwandeen

This article is part of the Innovators 2023 issue.

Being from Trinidad & Tobago, ProtoFabTT owner Ancel Bhagwandeen developed a smart sound-calibrated and triggered multicolor LED electronic steel pan stick suitable for the national instrument of Trinidad & Tobago, popularly known as the steel drum or steel pan. The product is an evolution of concert light-up drum sticks

While the technology to create it is not rocket science, there's a constraint: A tenor steel pan stick or mallet must be weight "balanced" and under 25 grams to work with the steel drum instrument. The unit is based on a Microchip 12F675 microcontroller and features an integrated "AAA" 10440 rechargeable lithium-ion battery plus 100% assembly language code. Bhagwandeen's simulation platform is PROTEUS ISIS with EAGLECAD used as the schematic and PCB design platform.

Another development by Bhagwandeen, the Ion Hammer, enhances the circular economy and sustainable mobility. He developed the first lead-acid regeneration device based on pulse-width-modulated sonication for both electrochemical and ultrasonic mechanical manipulation of battery electrodes or plates in a stock vehicle battery. In effect, the physical resonances coupled with galvanically isolated, MOSFET-switched, kiloampere current pulses create the necessary ion mobility to reverse hard crystalline lead sulphate back into active lead sulphate that's suitable for battery operation without any battery modification or chemical additives.

The video below shows a simplified version using the same basic technology done for a customer in Australia:

More recently, in conjunction with a postgraduate MSc engineering team from the University of Trinidad & Tobago, Bhagwandeen developed the first nickel-metal-hydride battery regeneration based on a modification of the lead-acid sonication process. The end result was the world’s first dual-chemistry kilowatt battery regenerator. Both circuits employ 28-pin Microchip 16F series microcontrollers with around 4,000 lines of assembly language code plus 8266 series IoT augments for real-time global battery data and diagnostics.

This project recently won first place through the climatelaunchpad.org competition in the Sustainable Mobility category for its significant benefit to the circular economy and superior carbon-dioxide emissions mitigation. The manufacturing of a single hybrid-electric-vehicle (HEV) battery accounts for about two metric tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. And NiMH batteries are used in 60% of all the millions of HEVs on the road today. Bhagwandeen's regeneration process results in a 99% CO₂ savings.

Read more articles in the Innovators 2022 issue.