Tripura engineer generates power from wet clothes, receives innovation award

An engineer from Tripura has developed a technology to generate power from wet clothes that can be used to charge mobile phones or to use medical diagnostic devices.

This innovation won him the Gandhian Young Technological Innovation ( GYTI) award this November; it was presented by Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan.

Shankha Subhra Das, from Khedabari in Sepahijala district of Tripura, used a cloth cut to a particular size and inserted it in a plastic straw to fix in a half-filled water container. He attached copper electrodes to both ends of the straw. “The water is transported to the top after some time, due to capillary action, and around 700 millivolts are registered in the voltmeter,” Das said.

To increase power, Das and his team connected a series of 30-40 such devices. According to Das, this generates 12 volts, enough to charge mobile phones, microchip, mini gadget, medical diagnostic kits and even light a small LED bulb.

“This is part of a funded research project wherein we have explored the scope of powering medical diagnostic devices that can be used in remote places. We have found cloth-based devices useful for our project. Our challenge was to eliminate external pumping input for water flow,” Das said.