Odisha researchers win international award from NASA

Ayaskant Das Published On : Nov 8, 2015 at 12:00 PM Updated On : Nov 8, 2015 at 5:31 PM

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Nov 8:

A puncture-proof tyre invented by Odisha researchers has won innovation award in ‘Create the Future Design Contest – 2015’ on Friday which was conducted by NASA Tech Brief in New York.

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TycheeJuno—the team formed by four research scholars from Odisha—has bagged the coveted award from NASA. The team is led by Sameer Panda, a PhD scholar of VSSUT and comprises of Udit Bondia, Dr Kshama Nidhi Panda and Smitiparna Satpathy.

Eight teams were shortlisted for awards where 32 inventions found place in NASA’s official publication in special issue of November. Contestants from over 60 countries participated in this international innovation competition organised by NASA Tech Brief, a collaboration of NASA and Society of Automobile Engineers, International.

Sameer Panda, a research scholar at Veer Surendra Sai University of Technology (VSSUT), and his team developed the multi-chambered tube and multi-chambered tubeless tyre filled with a liquid layer of sealants, rubber particles, which prevent leakage of air in case of puncture. All the existing tyres, including the run-flat technology, which allows tyres to run for some kilometer even after getting punctured and ordinary tyres can use this technology with minor changes to prevent punctures all together.

TycheeJuno (TJ) is now looking for investments to commercialize the product globally to save thousands of lives and decrease carbon foot print.

A student in UCE Burla (now VSSUT), Panda is a resident of Jagannath Colony in western Odisha town of Sambalpur. Presently, he is working as a manager for Tata Motors in Pune.

The concept was first stumbled upon by Panda, when he was a student in UCE in around 1998. It took him seven years to make the first prototype for his scooter. The first prototype was tested by D. Mishra, Dean Students Affairs, in VSSUT in 2005-06. The Dean encouraged him to work further. Without any funding back-up, researchers had a tough time to carry forward the research.

During decade long research, technical problems associated with the new technology were sorted out by wide-range of consultations technical experts in and outside the country.

The mild run flat tyre (RFT) is a multi-chambered tubeless tyre with sealant inside the chamber to take care of puncture in tread and side wall.

TJ’s Tyre can be manufactured in existing manufacturing set up with small modifications.

The mild RFT takes care of the drawbacks of traditional sealant in tyre namely leakage, deterioration of sealant due to interaction with air, problem in wheel balancing, rubber hardening, clogging near the valve, messy feeling for customer etc.. Additionally the sealant inside chamber in our tyre acts as a coolant and increases the life of the tyre, one of the researchers said.