By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 8 Oct: UPES is all set to wipe out the lighting woes of the residents in the rural hilly regions of Uttarakhand, where disruption of electrical distribution services is a common phenomenon. UPES Research & Development has developed a prototype to transform the electricity snags due to their associated complex wired circuitry issues under a new innovative project titled ‘An Economical Approach to Wireless Electricity Generation by Powering Fused Fluorescent Bulbs for Rural Electrification’. The project is funded by the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India. The innovation offers a feasible alternative technology to complex wired circuitry. The objective of the ongoing project research is to power CFL/LED bulbs in wireless mode and, secondly, to remove their lighting dependency on the grid through a solar panel attachment.
Applauding the efforts of the R&D Team, the Vice Chancellor, UPES, Dr Sunil Rai, shared that the innovation will particularly benefit the residents of villages situated in far-flung mountainous regions. Expressing his delight, Dr Jitendra Kumar Pandey, Associate Dean – Research, said, “The prototype was demonstrated successfully in five villages viz. Koti, Dhalani, Misraspatti, Kharaket and Bakrana. These villages are located within 25 kilometres of UPES. The village residents were delighted to witness the demonstrations”. The R&D Team comprised Dr Surajit Mondal as ‘Principal Investigator’ and Nikhil Raj as ‘Project Associate’. Dr. Kamal Bansal, Dean – School of Engineering, also congratulated the R&D Team on the innovation.
Conducting several ‘Product Awareness Workshops’ in the selected villages, the R&D team demonstrated the prototype among gatherings of village Pradhans and residents.
In view of the prevalent pandemic environment, Dr Surajit utilised the opportunity to inform the residents on health precautionary measures. Explaining the system utilised in the prototype to the village youth, Project Associate Nikhil Raj shared the details of the innovation. The discussions covered residents’ queries on safety, installation and potential benefits of the system, and how the product could help in providing skill development and employment opportunities to the village residents in future. The team later presented ‘Facemasks and Sanitisers’ to the residents in all five villages under the ‘Social Scientific Responsibility’ (SSR) initiative of DST-GOI and UPES. Dr Ravi Kumar Patel from UPES R&D assisted the innovating team in the distribution process.
