Ramesh’s blog This is Me!!

Kirchoff Laws Revisited

To all those bright Electrical Engineers out there on the ILAND…here is an easy exercise…

But first a refresher ..just incase you are a bit RUSTY

Kirchoff’s Current Law (KCL):
At every node, the sum of all currents entering a node must equal zero.

Kirchoff’s Voltage Law (KVL):
The voltage law says that the sum of voltages around every closed loop in the circuit must equal zero.

Now use the laws above and analyse this mesh….(or do I say mess?)

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Hydrogen Economy ' Are we ready for it?

For years we have been dependant on Fossil fuels ' Petroleum, Diesel, Kerosene etc. While there are still many millions of barrels under the sandy deserts of Saudi Arabia to feed the world for years to come, there is an immediate need to look at other possible sources of fuels. Today the reason for this is Global Warming.

The United States alone depends on these fossil fuels to meet 68% of its requirement. The problem with fossil fuels lies in the fact that when burnt in engines, owing to incomplete combustion, they lead to the emission of Carbon monoxide, Nitrogen Oxides and unburnt hydro carbons. All of these have either an impact on our health or the health of our atmosphere contributing to Global Warming. Global warming today is real and noticeable. It is no longer fiction.

In the European Union for instance, Transport accounts for some 71% of all oil consumption, with the automotive sector alone dependent on oil at 98%. It is owing to this reason that several automobile makers the world over are switching to go GREEN with fuel cell cars which run on Hydrogen and give out only water. With more and more cars on the road switching to Fuel cells, the world is going to see the emergence of what is termed Hydrogen Economy. (That is a new term I just got to know by the way). It was in 2003 that President Bush announced his $1.2 billion Hydrogen Fuel Initiative in the State of the Union Address. Back then however, the reason for this move was definitely NOT Global Warming. It was primarily to minimise America's dependence on foreign oil.

The problems facing the shift to Hydrogen based technology was covered in my earlier post and so were the advantages (if we manage to overcome these teething problems).

Between the two - sourcing Hydrogen and storing it, perhaps storing and distribution is the lesser problem. Making free Hydrogen is perhaps the biggest challenge we face. Easy as it is to split Water into its components Hydrogen and Oxygen, it requires electricity. Where is such a lot of electricity going to come from? It would clearly have to be from a non fossil fuel source or else we would be defeating the purpose for which we are making the switch to H₂ technology. Therefore it would have to come from either Solar or Nuclear power or Hydro electricity. Unfortunately Solar power is still an expensive proposition still while Nuclear is both expensive and has political and social implications.

Where do we (India) ,as a nation, stand in terms of switching over to Hydrogen economy? Surprisingly, as early as 2006 itself, the Indian government had unveiled a National Hydrogen Energy Roadmap with the goal of having one million hydrogen-fuelled vehicles on the road by 2020 and generating 1,000 MW from hydrogen through public-private initiatives. The national plan includes two major new programmes: the green initiative for future transport (GIFT) and the green initiative for power generation (GIP) that will develop and demonstrate a hydrogen-powered engine and fuel cell-based cars ranging from small cars and taxis to buses and vans. Several automobile manufacturers of two, three wheelers and four wheelers have initiated research into this field to design automobiles that will be powered by Hydrogen.

By the looks of it, it seems we are headed in the right direction and for once we don't have a late start. We can only hope that petty politics and red tape bureaucracy does not stand in the way of tapping into this new economy especially since were are poised to be among the top three economies of the world very soon. Now that would truly be India's GIFT to the world won't it?

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Airing the CAT can reduce Global Warming

These last two weeks have found me thinking a great deal about coming up with a car design that is going to solve some of our global warming problems caused by conventional fossil fuel burning automobiles. Having read about Hybrid cars and Electric cars I wanted something new. To be quite honest I did come up with one and it excited me to no ends. I Googled it only to find out that MDI (Moteur Developpment International) in France had a seven year head start on me.

It brought back to mind all those lost opportunities when years ago I had this great idea to make a general purpose remote control to switch on household lights and fans. I dilly dallied and several months' later similar stuff was flooding the market. So it was a sense of disappointment when I noticed some one had beaten me to this idea too.

MDI of France has been perfecting the design on Air powered motors and over the years they have come up with a car which can travel upto 200 kms without a recharge of air. There is yet another version the dual fuel version that uses compressed air to turn a piston from a tank and the tank itself is recharged by a compressor run by a fossil fuel engine. Personally I think the dual fuel version is quite similar to the hybrid vehicles save for the fact that Hybrid fuel vehicles use electricity and fossil fuel instead of air and fossil fuel in this case. I was truly surprised and impressed too that TATA motors India had already signed an agreement with MDI to apply its Compressed Air Technology (CAT) (The picture is of the miniCAT). I am sure this move by TATAs - the world's fifth largest auto manufacturer - is surely the right step to lead the rest of the Indian Auto Industry from the front as a true Market leader.

Setting the disappointment aside I did some more thinking out of the box and I wondered why we can't take the same design one step further. Even the dual fuel cars from MDI require air and fossil fuel. Now that does not really help reduce CO₂ emissions does it? Fossil fuel no matter how small should be an absolute "NO" if we are even attempting to combat Global Warming.

I wonder why one cannot compress air using a compressor run by solar electricity? Will it take the load? Will it make the car too heavy? Will we get the required mileage? I don't have the answer to these questions yet but I am curious to find out. I am tempted to try and build at least an air powered vehicle (2 3 or 4 wheeler I don't know) using the light of locally available materials. Finances are a constraint no doubt. But for some reason this time I feel I should not let that get in my way of proving to myself I got there FIRST.  Lets see how far I get. May be when I eventually get there I will call my new design the FPV - FART (Free Air Rotary Turbine) Powered Vehicle.

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Bol India Bol

Are you worried, cell phones may harm you? Do we have safe cell phones in India? Every cell phone sold In India may soon have to specify the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR), the count which specifies the amount of radio waves (radio frequency energy) absorbed by the body when using a mobile phone, as an option in the menu of the handset. Every cell phone sold officially anywhere in the world has a unique SAR value, but unlike the US and European Union, India does not mandate that handset makers declare the SAR level. Both the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the European Union (EU) have stringent safety standards in place on cell phone radiation levels. It is generally seen that the US acceptable levels are more stringent that that of the European Union.

In India, however, this move is being opposed by both handset manufacturers as well as mobile operators. The varying effects of high radiation levels and the electromagnetic fields can be argued and debated to vary from merely heating up the area the phones comes into contact with the skin or depleting the competence of ones blood cells or headaches to causing visual damage and causing tumours. A considerable amount of study has been done in this direction. Much of the safety norms and guidelines have emerged from them. So if the West is adhering to strict norms, why shouldn't we?

The Cell phone is just one of the many radiation sources in our daily lives from a long list that includes Radars, TV towers, Radio Towers and a host of cell phones. While we may not be able to effectively control the other sources, we can definitely spend a few extra minutes to pick a safer phone that conforms to a FCC or a CE certification.

"CE Mark?? What CE mark??" You must be wondering. You may have seen it on other equipments but never committed that image to memory much less stop to worry about it.

The CE marking is a mandatory European marking for certain product groups to indicate conformity with the essential health and safety requirements set out in European Directives. To permit the use of a CE mark on a product, proof that the item meets the relevant requirements must be documented. Sometimes this is achieved using an external test house which evaluates the product and its documentation.

The CE Marking should not be confused with other approval marks or certifications issued by an EU-accredited certification body. As stated in the European Commission’s Guide to the Implementation of Community Harmonization Directives:     ”Manufacturers are responsible for ensuring that the products they place on the market meet all relevant regulations. Where these regulations do not require mandatory certification, manufacturers often seek voluntary certification to assure themselves that their products do meet the requirements set by law.”

The last time I checked, most phones supplied by a well established Cell phone service provider in country didn't come with the CE marking. If you chose to ignore this message it may just be a case of saying to ourselves Bol India Bol ..Beja Fry Coming up.

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A tribute to German Engineering

Wake my elder son in the middle of the night and ask him which car his father would like to buy and in all probability the answer may come out as "Mercedes Benz". Now, that is a trained response from hearing me brag from time to time about my love for that car. Oh !! my love for a Black Mercedes Benz has been in me from as far back as I learnt to appreciate good cars. In my mind I have always believed that if one has the money, one should buy a good German car like the one that bears a three pointed star for a logo or the BMW.

Perhaps the fact that I grew us seeing German made gadgets at home - the Grundig Tape recorder, Braun Kitchen grinder and several other such gizmos - has had an effect on my thinking. As chance would have it, I cannot remember any of these ever breaking down or giving us any serious problems. This was thirty five years ago as I grew up. Also amongst those things around my household, was a toy train set made by a company called Marklin of Germany. It is a toy that my father had picked up from Germany in the mid 70s or so. I surely did remember having derived many hours of joy from playing with it as a child.

Recently I dusted the old suitcase in which the train set had been packed and opened it with an intention to show it to my sons for the very first time. I was not sure if it would work or not. The rails needed some attention as some amount of rusting had taken place. With a great deal of enthusiasm I rigged up the entire set once again after so many years and my enthusiasm ,if any, was matched by the same degree of expectations I saw in the eyes of my two sons. My older son commented on the minute attention to detail the designers had paid. On that small engine that fitted into my palm, there were moving pistons, three small lights, a coal carrying section and even a plume for real smoke to emanate when some special liquid was poured into it. Truly a master piece for something that was made 35 to 40 years ago.

A few minutes later the power cords were all plugged in and we were all set. One turn of the speed control knob and the engine roared back into life ' as if it had been resurrected after so many years. While my sons were all excited and too occupied playing with it I felt my faith reaffirmed in German products all over again. The company still exists but apparently it has moved camp to the USA.

As for my old train set with the cheapest of the new Marklin sets bearing a price tag of nearly $200, I am more than certain my working set will fetch a lot more for its antique value. Any takers?? I will settle for payment in the old Deutsche Marks too if u like. Now, I wonder if it will fetch me enough to buy my Merc…

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Global Warming

Some days ago I was sitting in the lobby of a hotel reading the Mar 9^th edition of the Outlook Magazine and it had for a cover story an article on Global Warming. More than any amount of facts and figures in the article, what caught my attention the most were the two pictures of the same township in Germany clicked 11 months apart. The one clicked in Feb 2006 showed the roof tops and the conifers all laden with such thick snow. The picture clicked in January 2007 in contrast showed clear skies, green leaves on the trees and roof tops that were clear of any snow.

This months India Today and Newsweek both have a similar story on Global warming for their cover story. In the last three to four weeks I have read so many articles in the local newspapers and magazines on the same warming. All this leads me to wonder what are we ' each and every one of us - doing in our little way to slow down if not stop global warming.

Some days ago I had written a post on Water harvesting. It evoked a lot of positive comments and I am glad fellow ILANDers appreciated it. I am no authority on Global warming but strangely enough I have been speaking about Global warming long before any of these frequent articles started coming out in the open.

I fitted an LPG kit in my car and I got rid of my polluting two stroke Kawasaki Bajaj years ago ' much to my wife's disappointment. She says "It was such a good bike. We spent many an early married day on that bike". I personally don't think this is no reason to become so attached and emotional about a smokey bike. Now I use a more eco friendly four stroke Bike Bajaj Pulsar 180 cc all Black ' The Best things in life are always black.

Off late I am trying to experiment at home by getting  some solar cells fitted at home to see if I can tap more of the Sun's Free energy rather than waiting for fossil fuel generated electricity or Hydel power. India as a country is very fortunate in the amount of free energy it receives from the Sun. India receives 4-7 KWh/Day/square meter of solar energy averaged over year. The amount of Solar Energy that India receives in few minutes is more than India can consume in whole year. Tapping solar energy is not efficient as yet because the demand for this energy has been so low that it is still an expensive proposition. This is because not enough research has gone in and the best conversion efficiencies that have been achieved is 8 to 17% in most countries. Germany alone seems to have made a break through having developed a cell that can convert at 40% efficiency.

There are companies now making rapid progress in this direction. TATA BP and Moser Baer are two big names setting up manufacturing facilities in India for Solar Cells and Power packs. The technology will improve with time and so will the conversion efficiencies and one will definitely notice reduction in costs too. I would urge my fellow ILANDers to encourage the new technology. More than helping the technology grow you would in your small way be contributing to making the earth a cooler place and saving it for the generations to come.

Expensive as the switch to using Solar cells may seem to be, abstaining from it when the technology is readily available would be clearly a case of PENNY WISE (for our generation) and POUND FOOLISH (for the future generations).

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Water Harvesting

I have for some years now felt very strongly about our incapability to tap the most of the Rains we get. I belong to Kerala and we get a lot of rain. Sadly much of it goes back into the sea and the effect is more water is taken from the underground water table making its level dip further. Without an exception almost everything in the state and the country seems to be taking place like a Knee Jerk  reaction. Why can't we for once be pro active? There is not a summer that goes by in Kerala without Power shortage and load shedding.

I see a lot of newer constructions now making plans to harvest the rainwater and collect into an underground sump of sorts. With more and more buildings coming up in Kochi ' it's a mater of time before the greenery disappears and this city too becomes a concrete jungle filled with sky scrapers as in Manhattan or Tokyo or Mumbai (albeit much lower in height). This will not only make the city hotter but will also have more pollutants adding to the green house effect but more pronounced will be the reduction in the water table.  With rising incomes almost every one living in these high rise buildings affords at least one car and two if not three air conditioners. All these fancy household equipments further add to global warming compounding the problem.

While the government and the think tanks are talking about rainwater harvesting, I would like to lead you to think on another method of water harvesting ' from your air conditioners. A place like Kerala being coastal has a very humid atmosphere. Most air conditioners work on reducing the humidity by condensing what is present within the room being cooled and throwing it out. Any one who has noticed an AC working would have noticed the drip drip drip from its outlet pipe.

I carried out an experiment with the 1 ton AC plant fitted in my office ad as it turned out I collected 12 litres of water from the AC outlet in 8 hours. Now imagine a house with two ACs running ' it translates to 24 litres of water in 8 hours while you sleep. There are hospitals and restaurants and other places where the AC is kept running 24 x 7. Naturally their output would be tripled. Though it may not seem much, one has to realise that this is condensate water ' nearly very pure. Pass it through a good filter and one should be able to drink it ..well at least theoretically. The beauty of this is it works when the rains are long gone.

At present I am working on a small project at my office where I am trying to collect the condensate output from four other split ACs to give me a total output of  60 litres a working day and then I intend to have it pumped up to a tank to replenish the tank that serves my toilet. Will keep you posted on the success. Take this seriously or take it lightly, one thing is for certain the next big war is gonna be for water - PURE DRINKING WATER.

Just then the lines from the poem “The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner” would seem so apt to describe the scenario… WATER WATER EVERY WHERE NOR ANY DROP TO DRINK which for the benefit of my fellow statesmen would be VELLAM VELLAM SARVATRA THULLI KUDIKYAN ILLATRE

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