Gopalakrishnans cold start

Five years back when Gopalakrishnan perfected his invention, he was jubilant that auto manufacturers will lap up his product. For, there was no catalytic convertor for leaded and unleaded petrol and diesel engines as a pre-engine unit fitted to fuel line.

To his surprise and shock, no vehicle manufacturer showed any interest in his invention. Letters to Indian president, prime minister, minister for science and technology, director general of CSIR, the Central Pollution Control Board and others evoked no response.

The Supreme Court has ordered sale of cars in metros fitted with exhaust catalytic converters, phasing out of old commercial vehicles plying in New Delhi and conversion of the capitals public transport buses into CNG (compressed natural gas) fired ones. Vehicle manufacturers were happy with this order as retrofits like Hydro Drive would affect new vehicle sales. They also maintain that there is no catalytic converter for diesel engines.

Strangely, the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board has not taken up the case with the vehicle manufacturers based on its own findings about Hydro Drive.

When queried about the feasibility of fitting Hydro Drive in the fuel dispensers in petrol bunks, Gopalakrishnan says: "The free radicals that are present in the excited fuel have limited lifetime Pieco seconds. So it is not possible to fix it in the petrol dispensers."

So what next? The FEER award Gopalakrishnan received has attracted the attention of a couple of overseas auto and auto-component players, and enquiries are flowing in. On the look out for attractive business deals Gopalakrishnan says: "I will continue in my attempts to persuade domestic automakers to look at my product and, at the same time, sell at the retail level."