Three students of the National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, after inventing a portable washing machine, arguably smallest washing machine of the world, are now contemplating to introduce the same in commercial market.
After establishing a company in the name of ESTINNO (Eastern Innovations), the students have applied for patent and design protection with the appropriate authority.
Being motivated by the Technology Innovation Industrial Relation (TIIR) Center of NITR, various students of this premier institute are not only coming up with their innovations but also taking keen interest in developing these innovations for commercial productions.
In this process, three NITR students, identified as, Kirti Sai Shukla, Mrityunjay Sharma, both final year student of Electronics and Instrumentation engineering, Anurag Mishra, pre final year student of Metallurgy and Materials engineering, under the guidance of some of the professors of the institute, have come up with invention of a portable washing machine. SS Mohapatra, HOD mechanical engineering and AK Swain, assistant professor of electronics and communication engineering guided the students in this project.
“Although the size of the machine is very small and easily portable, it has a high load bearing capacity of cleaning as high as 3.5 kg of cloths i.e. one bedsheet, one denim jeans and one shirt at a go as per ISI standard,” said Kirti Sai Shukla, an inventor of this product.
The product can be easily assembled and can be fitted in a designed bag for carrying this machine from one place to another, Shukla added.
He said that the washing machine has several features in washing like hard wash, soft wash and delicate wash etc and in soaking as well. The machine has the remote control facility as well and consumes only 80 watts of power during its use, which is much less than a common bulb, said Anurag Mishra.
The students spent about Rs8.5 lakh for developing the product. The amount however was funded by NITR for this innovation.
“We have already applied with the patent authority, Kolkata, who has appreciated the invention and therefore we are hoping to get the patent of this product very soon, following which we can go for commercial production,” said Mrityunjay Sharma. “With a price tag of Rs3,500, this product can be available in market.” Sharma added.