Pinky Jiyane, a grade 12 pupil from Ongoye Secondary School in KwaZulu-Natal North Coast, was crowned the overall winner of the Eskom Expo International Science Fair (ISF) 2019.
The fair, held in Boksburg last week, brought together 600 bright young scientists from across SA and various countries around the world.
Jiyane, who was the Siemens grand prize-winner, created a project called: “Ultra Smart Meter”, aimed at introducing a new way of loading prepaid electricity without having to punch-in the electricity token number directly into the meter.
The Ultra Smart Meter, which is connected to the electricity meter, allows the user to directly receive the token number upon purchasing, and send it to the electricity meter, which is then automatically turned into Kilowatts.
The expo was sponsored by Siemens, Babcock, Wits University and University of Pretoria, among others.
Eskom awarded a number of bursaries worth R400 000 each, and four special awards went to the best female, best development, best energy and best innovation projects, which were selected among the energy category.
Most of the projects at this year's expo were inspired by the challenges young people are confronted with on a daily basis and finding solutions to those challenges is what made them winners, according to Eskom.
“People find it difficult to load electricity into their meter box, either because it is too high to reach or because there are too many numbers to punch in. The Ultra Smart Meter introduces a new way of loading electricity and checking the electricity balance,” explains Jiyane.
“In addition, the meter has a voice commander warning the user when the electricity is about to finish or when they are using too much electricity, in order to manage consumption. Having the smart meter will be exactly like having a meter keyboard in your pocket wherever you are and everywhere one may go.”
Jiyane will receive a three-and-a-half-year international technical apprenticeship at Siemens in Berlin and first-hand experience of the company’s technology solutions while gaining necessary skills that will assist her when she occupies her new role at Siemens after completing her studies.
Eskom Expo executive director Parthy Chetty comments: “ISF 2019 has yet again astounded us with the innovation coming from bright young learners across SA and Africa. It is very reassuring to award over R13 million worth of awards from various sponsors and partners, who join hands with Eskom Expo to help solve some of the country’s problems, by creating future scientists and engineers.”
Best female:
Iqra Faki from Star College Cape Town Sybrand Park Campus for the project “Fractal exploration: The 3-dimensional Koch snowflake”. The aim of the project was to examine mathematical trends and noticeable properties for the surface area and volume of the three-dimensional Koch snowflake.
Best development project:
Maluta Gcabashe from HP Ngwenya Primary School in Central KwaZulu-Natal for the project “Creating a low-dust, environmentally-friendly chalk”. The purpose of the project was to engineer a chalk that creates less dust than regular chalk used by teachers in classrooms.
Best innovative project:
Miné Steenkamp from Hoërskool Douglas in Kimberley for the project “Fighting crime with malaria-fighting drug”. Inspired by a murder in her family, Steenkamp aimed to investigate the use of Artemisinin combined with Luminol to retrieve evidence more efficiently from crime scenes.
Best energy project:
Tripti Patel from Zinniaville Secondary School in Bojanala, North West province for the project “Affordable warmer”. This project aims to make an affordable incubator using household materials which saves electricity.
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