IIT Delhi comes to the rescue of Vidarbha farmers

The Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi has developed a novel technology for the farmers in Vidarbha that will help them to generate electricity through ox-driven machines.

Working in association with the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Rural Industrialisation (MGRI), Wardha, IIT, Delhi developed the technology as part of an initiative to put resources available in villages to better use. Power generated from ox-driven machines is being suggested as an alternative for running electric generators and pump sets.

"The technology was developed a year ago and now MGRI is working on modified models," said Professor Rajendra Prasad, Director of rural technology at IIT, Delhi, who also renders services to the MGRI.

He was here to attend a meet on rural industrialisation organised by Vidarbha Economic Development Council. He said the technique of generating power through ox-driven machines is already being used in Andhra Pradesh and MGRI is keen on promoting it in other parts of the country.

The technology being offered, has a bull tied to a geared wooden peg and made to move on a circular path. The bull trudges on churning the peg three to four times a minute. Ordinarily, this would be of help only to grind food grains or to crush sugarcane. But an intricately designed gear system below the wooden peg enables the slow moving bull to generate enough energy to rotate a smaller gear into doing as many as 1,500 rotations per minute (RPM), explained Prof. Prasad.

The gear box is attached below the peg and has several grooves in which the gears are attached. The lowest groove is the one that moves the fastest. The machine can have various uses. One can use it as a dynamo which consists of a rotating magnet and thus generate electricity good enough to light a house or charge a battery.

It can also be used for drawing water from deep bores, he said. Animals like a camel or a horse instead of a bull can generate even faster RPMs, he added.