Anjuman and Pallotti engg students develop cheap, ecofriendly tricycles

Nagpur: Students of mechanical engineering department from two city engineering colleges, Anjuman College of Engineering and the St Pallotti College of Engineering and Technology have developed a modular delta tricycle and a solar and wind assisted tricycle respectively as a part of their final year projects. Though both have a lot of innovative ideas packed into the two ecofriendly vehicles, there is still a lot of scope for improvement. The students of the two colleges claim they would be able to produce economically feasible and pollution free tricycle and e-rickshaw that can actually be practically used by people with some small modifications.
“Our delta trike is at present a bit long and too wide at the back. We will make it more compact. Fabricating this vehicle has cost has us Rs27,000 but if mass produced, it can be made Rs 7-8,000. It is an ideal tricycle for the youngsters for both recreational riding as well as for fitness,” said Deepak Kumar Singh, a member of Anjuman college team.
The students’ guide R N Dehankar said this was for the first time a tricycle had been made with a steering instead of handle and a seat with a back and bottom rest keeping ergonomics in mind. Steering makes the maneouvring very easy and comfortable for the rider.
Other students in the team Shruti Bagde, Neha Kadbe and Digambar Gilbile list other advantages. “The tricycle has a special feature of braking. Instead of a handle brake it can be stopped by just reversing the pedalling movement. It also has a bevel gear that converts horizontal into vertical motion that makes the front wheel movement very smooth,” said Bagde.
Kadbe pointed out that the steering can be adjusted as per height and comfort of the rider. Gilbile said since the rider’s seat had two vertical springs attached the vibrations in vehicle do not affect driver’s body.
Anjuman students thanked principal Sajid Anwar, department head Akash Landge, mechanical engineering professor M N Nasim, workshop superintendent, R Paliwal for their support.
The electric vehicle developed by Pallotti students makes use of wind and solar energy for charging batteries. The vehicle has four 12V 33Ah batteries connected in series. This gives it 48V power which is utilized by a brushless DC 850W motor. There are four solar panels, also connected in series. Each panel has voltage rating of 12V and 40W power.
“E-rickshaws available in market with same battery rating 33Ah can run up to 29km on full charge. Our vehicle can go 37km with fully charged batteries and assistance of wind and solar power,” said Minhaj Ahmed, the guide. The students’ team which developed the vehicle had Shubham Rajurkar, Shubham Zade, Vrushabha Chikhale and Arun Barsagade. They have thanked the principal and vice-principal and department head Prof A D Pachchhao for their continuous support.