The Hindu : Kerala News : A young scientist's innovative water-drawing system

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jul 13, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

A young scientist's innovative water-drawing system

By Our Staff Reporter

Aasis Vinayak demonstrating the working model of the water-drawing system in Pathanamthitta on Monday.

PATHANAMTHITTA, JULY 12 . Aasis Vinayak P.G., a 16-year-old from this small Kerala town, is drawing international attention on his unique water-drawing system, which he claims will a boon to the crisis-ridden power sector.

Aasis has developed the system using the gravitational force and atmospheric pressure.

In an e-mail message to Aasis on June 24, the Nobel Physics Laureate of 2000, Herbert Kroemer of the University of California, wrote: "The system has got lot of advantages. It can even solve the present energy crisis. It is an amazing innovation. I don't have words to express it."

"He had conceived the idea as part of his project work in the 10th class a year ago," say B. Prafulla Chandran Pillai and P. Geetha, his parents.

Aasis says he made a miniature model of the pumping system while studying at the Kundara St John's Residential School in Kollam district a year ago, with the inspiration and guidance of his physics teacher, S.I. Seema. He pursued the project after joining the SDA Higher Secondary School in Pathanamthitta, later this year, for his Plus One.

He had e-mailed the details of his work to the National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA) of the U.S. and some physicists in Kerala. Aasis then got the reply from Dr. Kroemer, lauding his "invention."

Dr. Kroemer had said that "the principle behind (the innovation) can solve the present energy crisis. So you get even the Nobel Prize. So strive hard to make it succeed. The Nobel Prize is booked for you. Then, you will be the youngest person to be awarded a Nobel Prize."

"If we create an atmosphere for the natural energy sources to act upon, they can do the work and we need to provide only the energy required for creating that situation," says Aasis.

He has developed a working model of the system with the help of the SDA School authorities and the main part has been named APWARD (air pusher and water drawer). The phenomenon by which the piston moves up and down has been named the `Vinayakan Effect.'

The APWARD and an assorting cylinder form the heart of the system.

The system can pump 1,000 litres of water to a height of eight metres by working the APWARD for just two seconds. It has got a power of 10 Watts (less than that of a zero Watt bulb).

The total energy required by the system is only 20 Joules, he claims.

According to Aasis, this is while an ordinary motor that works to raise the water to an eight metres height requires 98,000 Joules.

In other words, one can operate 4,900 motors of this kind (APWARD) by supplying the energy required for just one ordinary motor, he says.

He claims that the power required by 14,000 ordinary motors is more than enough for the system to supply enough water for the entire South India.

The investment portion of the system is Rs. 8,000 a unit. He claims that it can pump up 1,000 litres of water for just 10 Watts and that too in two seconds, instead of depending upon the ordinary motor which requires 750 Watts, working for 20 minutes.

Aasis also claims that technology could be developed to make it viable for projects such as the Veeranam Project in Tamil Nadu and there would not be any need for interlinking of the rivers.

The system can be used even in the hydel power station to recycle the tailrace waters as it requires only one-hundredth of the energy produced by the generators.

Aasis has named his system equipment as `Vinayak's Water Drawing System' and would soon make moves to patent it. The working model was demonstrated at the SDA School in Pathanamthitta today.

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