Ram-da,
thats a really crazy/odd idea -- so might be truly revolutionary --just joking.
Umesh
Ram Sarangapani <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: While watching MSNBC, today -
Countdown with Keith Olbermann (Oddball section), was pleasantly jolted by
hearing one Kanak Gogoi's name and his invention of generating electricity thru
speedbumps.
Here is MSNBC's Oddball link. Keith makes the point of India being one of the
worst polluters, and now Gogoi has come up with this contraption - that needs
an SUV (4-Wheel Drive) to produce that power.
http://video.msn.com/v/us/msnbc.htm?f=00&g=c80568d0-ea0b-441a-ac12-2ffe0c539469&p=Source_Countdown&t=c1149&rf=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/&fg
=
It sounds technically feasible. Anyone know more about this and of Gogoi?
Below, same story from the HT
--Ram
_____________________________________________________
Rahul Karmakar
Guwahati, April 25, 2007
First Published: 21:01 IST(25/4/2007)
Last Updated: 21:08 IST(25/4/2007)
Now, power from speedbreakersNext time you drive on the highway, don't
regard a rumble strip or speedbreaker as a nuisance. For, it could be running
your AC or water heater back home.
If that sounds incredible, just ask Kanak Gogoi, a small-time supplier turned
property dealer who was inspired by his daughter Riya's birth eight years ago
to innovate. And after designing a power hang-glider, an aeroboat and a
three-wheel mini car, he unveiled his latest innovation on Riya's birthday-the
rumble strip power generator.
"Like most people, I have often found the speedbreaker to be an impediment to
free flow of traffic," said Gogoi. "But when driving over the rumble strips in
my locality became inevitable, the idea of converting the potential energy of
vehicles into kinetic energy stuck."
Gogoi, in his forties, began working on the idea last year. But instead of the
conventional bitumen-and-stone-chip rumble strip, he welded a five-metre long
speedbreaker with three identical movable metal plates in the middle. He then
approached IIT Guwahati for specific calculations and scientific inputs.
"The plates, inclined by a spring-loaded hydraulic system, are pushed down
when a vehicle moves over them, bouncing back to the original position after
the vehicle moves away. As the plates come down, they crank a lever that is
fitted to a ratchet wheel type mechanism. This in turn rotates a geared shaft.
The output of this shaft is coupled to a dynamo to convert the vehicle's
potential energy to kinetic energy," explained Gogoi.
According to the IIT's Department of Design, a vehicle weighing 1000 kg moving
up an inclined plane of 10 cm produces approximately 0.8 kw power. Though power
generated from rumble strips is instantaneous, continuous flow of traffic and
storage of electricity generated from their movement over the plates will
ensure steady flow, said departmental head AK Das, adding there is technology
to store power thus generated.
The IIT has calculated the cost of generation of power from a series of
electro-mechanized rumble strips would be below Rs one crore per MW.
Comparatively, thermal energy and hydropower cost Rs 5-8 crore per MW.
Gogoi's rumble strip generator has a drawback though. It is unidirectional,
applicable only for one-way traffic. "I am working on a two-way system," he
said, adding that he has also designed a roadside model village that can draw
electricity from rumble strips on highways.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=46dc0a9c-e47d-45b5-a4e4-13961a6ea1f8
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Umesh Sharma
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Ed.M. - International Education Policy
Harvard Graduate School of Education,
Harvard University,
Class of 2005
http://www.uknow.gse.harvard.edu/index.html
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http://jaipurschool.bihu.in/
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