From the day the Universe was created until now, Nature herself has provided solutions to the problems we face. Every single problem we face on Earth has a solution.
All that is required is patience to conduct research to identify what, where, how, when the solution can be implemented.
There are several predictions that the Third World war will be caused over Drinking water. “This is impossible”, challenges Kumar, a young scientist from Tamil Nadu. Kumar,
a 30 yr old PhD scientist with a string of inventions and patents, all created for social welfare. He introduces the need of the hour invention – a device that generates water from air.
We had a wonderful evening chatting with the jovial genius, who explained each of his brilliant ideas.
“I was born and brought up in Chennai. From a young age, I loved to dismantle and assemble small devices. I suppose my interest in research began then.
When I joined B.E. Mechanical Engineering, my interest grew manifold and I began inventing devices.”
What was your first discovery? Please explain your inventions….
When an individual driving a vehicle falls asleep or is not attentive to the road, there is an accident likely to happen. When I was riding a public bus in my 12th Std,
I noticed that the driver kept drifting off to sleep in between traffic signals. This inspired me to create my first invention- ABSE: Automatic Brake sensing using Eye movement.
This system monitors the driver’s eyes and slowly apples the brakes if the eyes are closed or are focused elsewhere. Thus, even if the driver is not looking at the road or falls asleep,
the brakes get applied, thus preventing an accident and loss of innocent lives.
For my B.E final year project, instead of picking projects from seniors and professionals, I invented my own. It was rocket science, but not the hard kind. Rockets use fuels for propulsion in space.
My technology used rapid ionization and deionization to cause propulsion. This is a cheaper and clean alternative to using expensive and polluting fuels.
My research in this field led me to my most significant discovery later- Water.
My next idea was to provide a helping hand to the physically challenged, quite literally. My Prosthetic arm is an attachable arm that can be fitted to those who have amputated arms.
It communicates with the nerve signals in the arm and responds to the user’s actions. Unlike a dummy arm, amputees can now have arms that actually respond to their thoughts.
This device won accolades and I was awarded Rs.One Lakh prize money by the then H’nble Minister for Science and Tech Minister- Shri. Kapil Sibal.
I was involved in a project for an American organization to increase the pH of water. During this research, I realized that apart from sea water and glaciers,
we have a huge source of clean drinking water- the atmosphere. This led to my latest discovery –myGanga.
How can we get water from the air? Can you please elaborate?
96% of the world’s water is concentrated in the oceans. The ground water and glaciers account to 1.5% of the remaining supply. But 2% of the water is concentrated all around us in the air- as water vapor.
When we continue to use ground water, the resource begins to dwindle and eventually runs out. Unlike that, water vapor is a constantly replenishing resource. On one side, we extract the water from the air.
On the other side, our everyday activities cause evaporation. At any given time, 11.7 trillion litres of water are getting evaporated, thereby ensuring that there is a healthy balance.
If everyone uses your myGanga device, wont the Water vapour in the air reduce?
That’s not possible. I’ll tell you why. The average Relative Humidity is 73%. This varies from place to place. For ex: Chennai has a RH of 76%, Pondicherry: 96%, Cochin: 83%, Rajasthan: 44%.
My device works anywhere where the RH>40%. When the RH goes below 40%, myGanga automatically switches off. The device can again be used after a few hours when the RH goes up.
How does myGanga convert air into water?
The state at which air condenses into water is called dew point. A simple example of this that we can relate to is of water condensing on the surface of a glass of cold water.
My device adjusts the dew point according to the prevalent Relative Humidity and condenses the air into water.
Will my electricity bills increases because of using this device? Will I end up paying higher electricity bills while saving on water costs?
The average ceiling fan consumes 100 Watt of power. This is the same amount of electricity that myGanga requires. myGanga generates 1litre of pure drinking water every hour.
Solar panels can also be used to generate water without the consumption of electricity. The Govt also provides 40% subsidy for solar panels installation.
Is the water thus generated safe for drinking? Is there any hazard because it is generated from the air around us? What happens if the air around me is dirty or polluted?
The condensed water goes through a 4 stage filtration process. The outcome is similar to rain water- pure and distilled.
I have added an additional mineral filter to add essential minerals that our body requires. This makes it highly suitable for drinking and agriculture.
Does this device cause pollution?
Unlike Air conditioners and refrigerators, myGanga does not use refrigerants or Cholro-fluoro carbons(CFCs). So this device does not cause pollution, carbon footprints or Ozone layer degradation in any form.
At present, we are used to buying Mineral water cans for Rs.30/can. By purchasing this device for Rs.10,000 we can ensure that our families get clean drinking water at any point of time,
without depending on vendors or government for metro water connections.
so great Mr Kumar !
