Billions of people around the world continue to lack access to sanitation, electricity, and pure drinking water. In India, 88 million people are deprived of safe drinking water owing to various reasons such as dry climatic conditions, groundwater contamination or depletion. Madhu Vajrakarur, an electrical engineering student from Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh, is also one of the many in the country without access to a continuous supply of electricity or clean drinking water.“I was born and brought up in Vajrakarur village. Here, the main source of water supply is through borewells and water tankers. The water drawn from the borewells is heated and then used for consumption. When there are no rains, the groundwater level drops and we are dependent on purchasing drinking water from tankers. My father is a farmer and my mother is a housewife, so their income is low. On some occasions we could not afford to buy the water while other times we would depend on borrowing from neighbours,” says Madhu.
So, this young innovator came up with an unconventional solution. He designed a wind turbine behind his house, which produces both electricity and drinking water.
The 15-foot tall wind turbine gathers moisture from the atmosphere. This is directed through a copper pipe, like the ones used in refrigerators, and finally reaches a three-stage filter.“The moisture in the wind is directed into the wind turbines frame using a blower placed at the back of the fan. Once this cool air goes into the long frame, the moisture is directed into the cooling compressor which condenses the air into water. The water is then directed through copper pipes into a three-stage filter with membrane filters, carbon filters, and UV filters to collect any dust particles present. Finally, the clean water is accessed through a tap placed on the frame,” says Madhu adding that the water is also collected in an external tank with 40 litres of capacity.The wind turbine is connected to an inverter with 30-kilowatt capacity and Madhu (23) uses this to power fans, lights, and plug-points in his home.
Vannur Vali, Madhu’s childhood friend, is not surprised that his friend was able to implement such an innovative solution to solve his problems. He says, “Experimenting and trying to implement innovative solutions was something Madhu was always fond of since school days. I am very happy that he was successful with the wind turbine and I hope that his efforts get recognised and can solve water problems across the country.”Madhu is hoping to commercialise his design and help others by setting up this wind turbine in water-scarce areas. If you wish to know more you can reach out to him on madhu.vajrakarur@gmail.com.
