Practical inventions of high school students

A portable vacuum cleaner and an automatic bell ringer have just been created by 3 students of Phan Sao Nam Junior High School, Nha Trang City. With the great passion for scientific research, they have applied what they have learnt at school into reality.

Portable vacuum cleaner

Student Ngo Phuc Thinh, class 9/2 has applied what he learnt into creating practical product, a portable vacuum cleaner which can reach awkward spots, for example desk drawers. Especially, the portable vacuum cleaner is made of materials available such as plastic bottles, cans, mini motors, electrical wires, glue, etc. The recycling also helps cut costs as well as protect the environment.

Ngo Phuc Thinh says the idea flashed through his mind when seeing small corners in the classroom with small pieces of paper, pencil shavings, pin clips, crumbs and other dirt which are difficult to clean up. The vacuum cleaner is easy to use. It uses air to pick up little bits of dirt and blow into a filter bag. Vacuum cleaners available on the market are quite expensive. Some are big and cannot reach some awkward spots.

The portable vacuum cleaner made by Student Ngo Phuc Thinh.

Automatic school bell ringer

Nguyen Nhat Bao and Nguyen Tran Bao Ngoc, Class 8/3 have created an automatic school bell ringer. Lesson intervals are repeated daily so the automatic school bell ringer relieves the person responsible to ring the bell at an accurate time. The invention has won the third prize at the 2018 – 2019 Scientific & Technical Contest for high school students.

Nguyen Nhat Bao says the school time with lesson duration repeat daily at fixed times. The system can help save labor, reducing the effort needed to turn on or off an electric bell manually for certain intervals of time based on school timings. Thanks to the guidance of Teacher Tran Thi Khanh Dieu, the two students have successfully made the automatic school bell ringer.

The automatic bell ringer system has simple structure with basic parts that are easy to find such as an electrical box, an electrical panel, a power switch, an electric bell, a timer switch, an adapter, etc. Nguyen Tran Bao Ngoc says when the system is started, the 220V supply is stepped downed to a 5V AC by an adapter. The current time will be displayed. The user can use hands to adjust keys to set up the bell ringing time. This system uses a power-supply block to drive all the circuit components to control and manage the bell timings for accurate timing operation.

Nguyen Nhat Bao and Nguyen Tran Bao Ngoc with their automatic school bell ringer.

The remarkable feature of the automatic bell ringer is that the timing can be set up for up to 99 times and the ringing time can be changed and varied by the users. Therefore, it can program or maintain the ringing schedule efficiently and accurately. The set-up is saved when there is a blackout. The timers available on the market can be recorded only 1 or 4 times and the bell rings for up to 1 minute, which is sometimes inconvenient. The automatic bell ringer is practical for schools and workplace where a precise time controller is needed.

Hoa Trang

Translated by N.T