JOIN USA class eight student from Basapura village of Manvi taluk in the district has brought laurels to his school - the upgraded government higher primary school - by winning the first prize for South India at the national science exhibition -2012 as part of the Inspire awards, held in New Delhi recently. The model won him a cash prize of Rs 20,000.
Sanna Hanumantha’s model, ‘reusing energy produced from operation of lifts,’ came in for appreciation from senior scientists at the expo. Hanumantha is the youngest of the three sons of Mallaiah and Mahantamma. He had been to Bangalore eight months ago with his brother, who works there, when he got the chance to use an elevator.
While coming down in the elevator, the thought of producing power from its movement crossed his mind. Hanumantha discussed the idea with his science teacher S S Ravish. The student displayed the model he had developed based on the idea at the State level Inspire award exhibition, where it was selected for the national level expo.
Ravish told Deccan Herald that when elevators go up, they gain potential energy, which gets converted into kinetic energy while coming down.
The kinetic energy can be converted to electricity using motors. Hanumantha’s model is based on this concept and the electricity so produced can be used to operate the same elevators in multi-storey buildings, water gardens and run fans and power small lights.
The model was prepared using plywood, iron planks, lorry tubes, bicycle air pumps, dynamos, LED bulbs, coloured paper, a water tank, rubber pipes and sprinklers.