Power innovation at seat of power
- Tech-savvy businessmans rumble-strip generator to light up secretariat A
STAFF REPORTER Kanak Gogoi examines the rumble-strip. Picture
by Eastern Projections Guwahati, Aug. 10: It is not known whether anybody
keeps count of the vehicles that flit in and out of the heavily guarded
entrance to the new Assam secretariat on any given day.
The more the merrier, the government would probably say after installing an
award-winning innovators rumble-strip power-generator at that very site. The
device produces power from friction and minister Pradyut Bordoloi cannot wait
to start this unique experiment where it matters: the seat of power.
If successful, Kanak Gogois gadget will become the model for future power
projects in a state starved of electricity for most of the year. This can
change the power scenario in Assam, the power minister said, indicating the
governments seriousness about the pilot project.
The secretariat was chosen because it fulfils both the requirements of
Gogois power generator speedbreakers and a constant stream of vehicles.
The contraption has already passed a test conducted in the home of
technology, IIT Guwahati. Prof. A.K. Das of the institutes design department
said it was cost effective and easy to operate. Trials showed that friction
caused by a single vehicle crossing a rumble strip could produce approximately
0.9kW of power.
The device can be commercially viable if multiple strips are installed in a
place where there is continuous flow of vehicles. Since there is no expenditure
involved except that of installation, the cost of production of electricity
will be one-fifth of what it is for power generation from hydel or thermal
sources, Das said.
Installation of multiple rumble strips in one spot will entail an estimated
expenditure of Rs 20 lakh. Continuous flow of traffic and storage of
electricity generated from the movement of vehicles over the strips will ensure
a steady flow of power to the buildings at the site.
Experts at IIT have pegged the cost of installing such a device with a
power-generation capacity of 1 MW at around Rs 1 crore. Installation of
machinery for the same amount of thermal and hydropower will cost around Rs 8
crore.
Gogoi, a businessman with a passion and flair for innovation, developed the
prototype for trials by welding together a five-metre speedbreaker with three
identical and moveable metal plates in the middle instead of the conventional
bitumen and stone-chip rumble strip.
Resting on a hydraulic system, the plates move down when a vehicle crosses
and bounce back to their original position when the weight eases. As the plates
come down, they crank a lever fitted to a wheel-type mechanism. This rotates a
geared shaft and the resultant output of energy is routed to a dynamo to
generate electricity.
Gogoi said his contraption was based on the basic principle of converting
potential energy into kinetic energy to produce electricity.
The prototype designed for the pilot project has the capacity to generate
15kW to 20kW of electricity with the help of five rumble strips.
Jatindra Nath Bora, a former chairman of the Assam State Electricity Board,
described the rumble-strip method as a good innovation but said its efficacy
would be known only after prolonged use.
Nearly 300 vehicles, including police vehicles and pilot cars of VIPs, pass
through the secretariat gate. The same vehicles go in and out several times
during the day. Gogois gadget should be able to produce around 270kW daily,
adequate for a capital complex that requires between 200kW and 250kW.
(The Telegraph,11.08.2007)
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