Small unit dreams solar

Bicycles, rickshaws and autorickshaws are set for a makeover.

Not only would they run on solar energy, if Ekta Telecommunication Systems has its way, they would also be accident-prone.

An Adityapur-based small scale enterprise, the company has already undertaken a research and development (R&D) initiative for the project and has decided to initially launch three solar-powered vehicles — bicycle, autorickshaws and rickshaws — by 2009.

“Our company has been developing solar-operated UPS, lights and other machinery for quite some years now. But this would be the first time that any industrial unit in the region would launch solar-run vehicles and that too for commercial purposes,” said N.K. Sinha, the director of Ekta Telecommunication Systems.

A mini motor with solar panels will be placed within the vehicles, which in turn would absorb solar rays and help the vehicle move. The solar panel will be fixed such that it can rotate on its own to get the maximum solar energy.

“We have written to IIT (Kharagpur) where enough research on solar-run vehicles has been done. Our aim is to establish a tie-up through which their technology can help make our vehicles more advanced,” he added.

Some of the advanced technologies likely to be introduced would limit speeding and thus lower accident rates.

The company is planning to talk to manufacturers and NGOs to market the product by popularising the concept.

If the wait for the solar vehicles to hit the roads seems long, the company would launch a transformer-free inverter for electricity generation next week.

Weighing up to 2kg, these inverters have been produced using digital signalling process and can transfer electricity from the machine to the source in less than three mili-seconds.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080206/jsp/jharkhand/story_8868977.jsp