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Trends in Machine design

Solar Charkha Retrofit

  1. S Irfan Sadaq
  2. D Srinivas Rao
  3. Mohammed Viquar Mohiuddin

Abstract

Hand operated charkha is used to make thread from cotton. It is sensitive work and involves great deal of care and effort to spin the charkha wheel manually during thread extrusion. Charkha operation causes physical strain and fatigue in long run. Abrupt spinning creates thread knots and breakage thus results poor quality and cotton wastage. Large number of people board on this khadi profession to make their meager earnings and lively hood. With the intension to fetch better convenience and benefits to mazdoor, R & D team at MJCET have retrofitted hand operated charkha with solar power drive eco system. It offers benefits like 24x7 uninterrupted power supply at free of energy charges, effortless charkha operation and improvement in thread quality, productivity and mazdoor earnings. Honorable prime minister narrated the importance of solar charkha in “Mann ki Baat” program. Government of India has granted patent rights to MJCET. Representatives of khadi society have witnessed the solar charkha operation and appreciated its function, simplicity, quality and productivity of thread. We move towards fulfillment of our social responsibility and committed to technology transfer to the end user through public/Private partnership. In the present work the hand operated charkha is retrofitted into solar power operated charkha and performance of the same is evaluated under variable load condition and charkha speed. Nature Empowers Technology for Better Living.

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