Thursday, July 27, 2017

Lighting up the World

                                                                                                        Ankur Bora

Nature does not readily yield up her secrets, human has to seek, inquest and work tirelessly to unwrap the mystery and majesty of the natural world. There is no better place to look than Mother Nature to develop sustainable system and solutions for our greatest issues. There are scientists who discerned the fundamental principle of nature and thus changed the way we understand the world around us. And they are the inventors who unfold, harness nature in a new device and connect them to people’s hopes and wishes; this is how our world lights up with energy, action and progress.
Assam Tribune Horizon 28th July 2017

Nikola Tesla could be the greatest mind of the twentieth century. He invented many of the technologies we use today; the foremost among them is electricity. While Thomas Alva Edison is commonly credited with inventing the light bulb, it was Tesla who formed the basis of modern electricity.  The primary difference and subsequent feud between these two iconic inventors was over whose electrical system would power the world – Tesla’s alternative current (AC) system against Edison’s direct current (DC) electric power. The problem with DC was that power generating station needed to be in the middle of the city centers. This would also require laying expensive thick copper cable to connect to consumer houses. That was not only economically infeasible but would also cause toxic pollution in all the cities or town centers. The world needed a visionary and the breakthrough for mankind came from Nikola Tesla. Tesla had spent a great deal of time and energy investigating phenomena in nature. He found that a rotating magnet in and out of a coil of wires would induce an electric current in the coil.  This, in a nutshell, is the basic principle of AC current. Subsequently , Tesla realized that unlike DC, AC could be stepped up to very high voltages with transformers, sent over thinner and cheaper wires, and stepped down again at the destination for distribution for mass consumption. Finally, it was in the year 1887, Tesla came out with an alternative system of generators, transformers, transmission lines, motors and lighting which solved forever how to distribute electricity safely and efficiently to homes, shops, and factories. Tesla’s idea and profound vision stunned the world when AC current illuminated thousands of light bulbs at the 1893 World's Fair and Parliament of religion in Chicago. Tesla brought the world in light, literally. It is worthwhile to mention that our Swami Vivekananda delivered his groundbreaking speech "Sisters and brothers of America!" at this exhibit. It is said that Tesla was greatly influenced by Vedic philosophy and Vivekananda.

Recently, there has been renewed interest in Tesla's work both from Industry and Academics. More and more academics have been tapping into his unfinished work, drawing on his underlying principles and ideals and one of them is Dr. Rukmi Dutta of The University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia. Rukmi is a native of Nagaon town and I happen to know her as we were next door neighbors. Born in Fauzdaripatty, one of the heritage neighborhoods of Nagaon , she came from a family of teachers.  Her parents planted the value of education in her at a young age and since her days in high school, she wanted to become an Engineer so that she could contribute to the development of the human society through technology.  Power-cut, energy shortage, load-shading were some of the common phrases with which she grew up experiencing. “Perhaps, in such a frustrating moment, I thought I will be an Electrical Engineer and solve all these problems”. The wishful thinking may very well have helped shape her aspirations.  But it wasn’t until she moved to Australia and got the opportunity to research at UNSW that her dreams got realized.

Climate change is the biggest problem of humanity - It is expected that introduction of the electric vehicles to our roads will reduce the amount of pollutant released to the air significantly.  At UNSW, Rukmi Dutta is currently working on development of electric motors and drive systems for electric vehicles. She also recognizes that the use of renewable energy resources such as the wind, solar, hydro instead of coal for producing electricity will be necessary to have a meaningful positive impact on the climate change. “Thus, my research work is two-folded. In one hand, I am trying to develop electric motors and drives that will be able to replace the combustion engines of the vehicle. I am also working towards developing more efficient and compact generation systems that are compatible with renewable energy sources.”  Rukmi recently published a book titled “Interior Permanent Magnet Machine Technology” which is based on her prior field-based research.  In February 2002, Rukmi joined UNSW as a post-graduate research student. At that time, her supervisor was working on a project related to the hybrid electric car. The challenge was to design a new electric machine that can integrate the functions of the starter motor and the alternator into one single device. “This had become my Ph.D. thesis topic, and I successfully designed a Permanent Magnet Motor, which is highly efficient, compact in size and can satisfy the stringent power-speed requirement of a car. Design, similar to one I proposed in my Ph.D. project was also developed by Toyota, and they have adopted this machine for their hybrid electric car- Toyota Prius”.

Nikola Tesla was a visionary whose main goal was to share his revolutionary invention with the world and make electricity do the work of mankind. There has recently been an announcement that India will phase out gas-powered vehicles and will start selling only electric cars by 2030.  It’s a matter of immense pride that a young Assamese woman, Rukmi Dutta is contributing in this emerging field.  More importantly, she becomes the optimal ambassador for the discipline of electrical engineering – who promotes and embodies light and electricity within and beyond academics. Ms. Dutta has demonstrated that an electrical engineer – indeed, a female electrical engineer could bring forth a pressing issue faced by the world, set model, define a solution in an enduring way.        

                                                                                    ankurbora@hotmail.com

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