Chennai: Danfoss India, a leading player in the climate and energy solutions space announced winners of its University Engagement Initiative ‘Danfoss Innovator Award’ in the Under Graduate category today which was bagged by PSG College of Technology Coimbatore for developing an innovative concept of water and energy conservation.

Danfoss Innovator Award, a year-long university engagement initiative held by Chennai-based Danfoss Industries saw 39 entries from across select universities in India out of which two Tamilnadu based universities finished among the top three places. First prize was bagged by PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore for their GSM Based Irrigation System. A close second prize was won by YMCA University of Science and Technology, Faridabad while the third prize was won by Vellore Institute of Technology.

The winning project a ‘GSM Based Irrigation System’ was sent in by the PSG team comprising of Hasitha Reddy, Pavithra.B and Rizwana. The project put into fruition helps farmers to access, manage and regulate their irrigation systems easily for the water needs of crops using SMS technology from a remote location. This helps them address power and energy shortage if any in their villages.

Ravichandran Purushothaman, President, Danfoss India said, “We are extremely pleased to announce the winners of the Danfoss Innovator Award. I would like to congratulate not only the winners but also all the students who sent in entries that were unique and delved deeper into problem solving techniques that help save energy. This scientific temperament frees students from rote learning and helps them nurture innovation.”

Winners took home a cash prize of Rs. 75,000, runners-up Rs. 50,000 and third prize Rs. 25,000. This funding will help them put their ideas into fruition and aid them in innovating. The winners were selected based on originality, novelty, and functionality of futuristic technology as well as ease of implementation of the respective project ideas.

Commenting on his students’ victory Mr. Dr. R Rudramoorthy, Principal, PSG College of Technology said, “We are proud to know that our students have emerged as winners. We always encourage them to go beyond textbooks and apply their minds. The Danfoss Innovator Award proved to be a platform to not only do that for our students but their entry provides real time solutions for farmers.

The second prize winning team from YMCA Faridabad comprising Raghav Ahuja, Sunil Bakshi, Daksh and Hitesh Dhingra, came up with Transcritical Compressor Control in Mobile Air Conditioning System (MACS) introduces a convenient way of using a CO2 refrigeration system instead of the conventional cooling system in the automobiles. Development of an energy efficient CO2 system with solar and engine power will result in 20% cost reduction.

The third prize which went to the team from VIT, Vellore comprising of Shubham Agarwal, Sarvesh Singh and Chirag Fatnani, conceived the idea of making an intelligent smart meter with AMI for state monitoring of electrical appliances. They developed house energy management that has communication channels including mobile applications with android support.  This will help provide service companies with real time information about the energy consumption and inform the consumers about the energy usage and price as per the consumption.

Professor V Raju, Vice Chancellor, Vellore Institute of Technology, said, “This award has helped our students towards developing technologies that can change the way we live in years to come. I congratulate our students who have come up with a unique concept of Energy Management System which has brought laurels to the college. We will continue to encourage participation of our students in such initiatives.”

Out of the 39 entries, six projects were shortlisted for final discussions after which winners were announced. Danfoss Innovator Project Award is an intercollegiate competition designed for final year students in Under Graduate (UG) and Post Graduate (PG) courses, who have an interest in creating innovative solutions in the areas of Climate and Energy. This year long initiative was launched by Danfoss to spur creativity and innovation among young students. Participating students picked topics related to broad themes listed under Power Electronics (PE), Commercial Compressors (CC) and Refrigeration and A/C controls (RC).