Three final year mechanical engineering students: S. Karthikeyan, A.G. Nanda Kumar and B. Kranti Pandey of St. Peter’s Engineering College, Avadi, Chennai, have developed a new lightweight, automotive three-wheeler christened Trionta (an acronym for tri-wheeled, one man, non-traditional automobile), for intra city commuting. They exhibited the compact vehicle at a national exposition staged in March at the Amrutavahini College of Engineering, Sangamner (Maharashtra) in which 57 students from 40 colleges participated.
“Globally, there are an estimated 900 million vehicles on the road to which 50 million are added every year. Automotive two and four-wheelers, which are the most popular means of road transport, pose the problems of traffic congestion, pollution, parking and plying on narrow roads. Though motorcycles and scooters are maneuverable and compact, they are more accident prone on roads and offer little protection from dust, heat and rain. Automobiles on the other hand are safer, but more expensive and hog more road space. Therefore the market requires a vehicle combining the advantages of a motorcycle and car. The Trionta is not only as compact and maneuverable as a motorcycle but is much safer on crowded roads. It is comfortable while offering the steadiness and load-bearing capacity of a car,” says Karthikeyan.
The student trio started research on the Trionta in January last year and perfected it in the past five months, inspired and supported by the management and staff of St. Peter’s mechanical engineering department. The outcome of a sustained one-year effort is the two-seat three-wheeler made of mild steel, which weighs 70 kg, uses petrol and runs on an 80cc engine. “The Trionta is suitable for long and short distance travel inside theme parks, zoos and for intra-city transport. It can also be used by industry and trade for carrying loads and can be modified for industrial transport applications. We have priced it at Rs.40,000 but the cost can be brought down by using improved technology for mass production,” says Pandey.
Their future plans include modifying the Trionta and experimenting with alternate fuels like LPG, acetylene, hydrogen fuel cell and hybrid vehicle technology. “Redesigning the Trionta by using a fibre matrix body can reduce the weight of the vehicle. There’s even the option of transforming it into an eco-friendly electric vehicle and increasing its length to provide a roof,” says Karthikeyan.
Despite the gloom and doom forecasts of left ideologues and old world economists, India’s automobile industry which currently manufactures over one million cars and trucks annually, is booming. And even as the world awaits the Rs.1 lakh car promised by Tata Motors, the tempo of automotive industry research as testified by the Trionta experiment is gathering momentum. A sign of India’s engineering education coming of age.
Hemalatha Rahupathi (Chennai)
Arhatha Magavi
Though only 11 years old, Bangalore-based Arhatha Magavi is creating waves in the world of competitive aquatics. She has, “hold your breath”, already won 65 gold, 33 silver and 18 bronze medals apart from 33 rolling shields and trophies in district, state and national level swimming meets.
In her maiden debut at the national aquatic championships last year (2004), Arhatha was adjudged the most promising girl swimmer in the sub-junior category. More recently in January this year, she made a clean sweep of all individual events in sub-junior categories bagging four gold and three silver medals (for team events) in the Karnataka state aquatic championships. “When I was small I used to be scared of water. My father wanted me to overcome this fear, so he forced me to take swimming coaching at the Catholic Club, Bangalore. When I learned how to swim I started enjoying being in water,” recalls Arhatha. Her talent and potential for aquatic racing drew the attention of Bangalore-based swimming champ Nisha Millet, who encouraged Arhatha to enroll for professional coaching with Padmanabha Rao at the Basavangudi Aquatic Club (BAC) who in turn encouraged her to participate in competitive swimming galas.
Within sighting distance of international record timings, Arhatha could well be the elusive great brown hope of Indian aquatics. Her timing of 70.88 secs (Olympic 2004 record: 53.52) in 100 m freestyle and 34.70 (Olympic 2004 record: 26.36) in 50 m butterfly, are evaluated as “excellent” for a swimmer her age by Bhushan S, manager of the Karnataka state swimming squad. “Arhatha has shown excellent progress. Usually, a swimmer takes about three-four years to make a mark in national championships but she has achieved it in just two years after taking up competitive swimming. The medals she won in her maiden national appearance is an indicator of very high potential,” says Bhushan, who is particularly impressed by her strict exercise and practice regimen. She is up and about at 5.30 a.m every morning for a 1-km run followed by a two-hour training session in the pool. After school she puts in another two-hour practice session at the BAC swimming pool.
Young Arhatha dreams of winning laurels for her country. “I want to win India’s first Olympic swimming medal and that’s why this constant practice. I have set my sights on the 2012 Olympics and will give it my best effort,” she vows.
Atta girl!
Srinidhi Raghavendra (Bangalore)
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