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Monday 29 April 2013

Solar wheelchair for blind : Kochi

The college students of Caarmel Engineering college, Perunad, Pathanamthitta district have made a wheelchair for the blind. The final year mechanical engineering students made the Smart Assistance Module (SAM) as part of their college project.

This SAM wheelchair runs on solar power obtained from a solar panel that is placed at the back of the wheelchair. The solar panel can hold up to 12volts of power and takes 2 hours to be fully charged. "The power consumed by the SAM wheelchair is low and once charged, it can last for days on end. It's convenient as the wheelchair does not have to be charged every day" said Abey Peter, a team member. The module uses a combination of vocal assistance, vibrations, sensors, vibro metres and hydraulic power unit. It was designed using the ultrasound infrared technology. The SAM wheelchair harnesses this technology with the help of a microprocessor. The wheelchair warns the person if an obstacle comes in the way by communicating to them about the same.

As they completed the project in 18 days, the students are now working on fine tuning the project. "Since most of the wheelchairs for the blind are priced between Rs 50,000-1,50,000, we believe the SAM wheelchair will come as a great relief for them as it comes at a much reasonable cost", said Manu Mathew, a team member. Excluding the cost of the wheelchair, the module would cost Rs 2000.

The team of 10 students consists of Ashwin Nair, Abey Peter, Abil Abraham, Abraham Thomson, Arun Sadan, Jobin Johnson, Sumin Sunny, Manu Mathew, Renjith Jacob and Nichel Prakash.


Source  : T.O.I , 29th April 2013 

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