Tamil Nadu - Erode   

A compressor that cooks

Karthik Madhavan

Farmer comes up with idea when working on mechanism to reduce heat

INNOVATION: K.R.Duraisamy with his cooker that boils rice, using heat from a compressor. — Photo: M. Govarthan

ERODE: K. R. Duraisamy is a farmer turned innovator. Using hot air coming out of compressors, the 65-year-old boils rice in a pressure cooker.

He says he came up with the idea on observing the hot air his compressors coughed out.

"Once, the compressor in my farm got overheated to the extend of melting a PVC pipe, which I wanted to prevent.

While working on a mechanism to reduce temperature, an idea struck me as to why not increase the temperature to use it for cooking," he said.

Mr. Duraisamy then worked to increase the temperature of the air and let it in through a pipe. Atop the end of the pipe he placed a pressure cooker, the bottom of which he redesigned to requirements. Soon after translating his ideas into parts and assembling them, he first tried boiling water, which worked. Later he placed rice and water, which too worked.

However, there was a small hitch - he was unable to open the cooker.

"Things worked out fine to the extent that the cooker lid could not be opened, which I learnt was due to pressure. I took it to the professors at the Institute of Road and Transport Technology, Perundurai, who suggested setting up a pressure value to ease pressure. Based on their suggestion, I inserted a pressure value, which helped me open the lid," he said.

Further, he himself fine-tuned the innovation to include copper pipe in rings to carry air to increase the temperature. This has helped him patent his innovation.

The advantages of his innovation, Mr. Duraisamy claims, are conservation of energy. "By tapping the exiting hot air, which is otherwise a waste, I boil rice. There's no extra energy input required and thus it saves on energy," he reasons. Besides, he also claims that the hot-air-run cooker boils rice in seven minutes, idlies in nine and 30 eggs in five.

Subsequent to the first innovation, Mr. Duraisamy has also come up with an energy-conserving boiler.

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