MOHALI: Mechanical engineering students of the Rayat Bahra University have converted and redesigned an internal combustion engine (IC) car into an efficient electric vehicle. Technovators, the final year mechanical Engineers’ Club, fabricated the two-seater car, named MiniME16, with efficiency and practicality as the main goal.
Internal combustion engine (IC) is a heat engine where the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit.
Their achievement has been to produce a car that can travel 80 kilometres on a single charge using four 12V batteries with powerful 1.5 KW motor and a solar panel on top to aid continuous charging.
Abhinav A Tripathi, Head of the Mechanical Engineering Department and the project guide, said the project was inspired by the insistent need for a Green future and the practicality of the product for commercial use. The students said that the car's abilities can be drastically improved if supported financially by some automobile company.
The solar-cum-electric car was demonstrated before the University Chancellor Gurvinder Singh Bahra and Pro Vice-Chancellor Dr Manoj Manuja and the two lauded the remarkable achievement of the students and Technovators, the final year mechanical Engineers’ Club.
"It’s overwhelming to see our students’ concern for the future and their efforts to have it Green and clean, " said Gurvinder Singh Bahra, Chancellor of the Rayat Bahra University.