Students of PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore, have won an Innovator Award from the Chennai-based Danfoss India, a leading player in climate and energy solutions. Space announced winners of its University Engagement Initiative.

The ‘Danfoss Innovator Award’ in the Under-Graduate category, as part of the company’s university engagement initiative, was bagged by PSG for developing an innovative concept of water and energy conservation.

Danfoss Innovator Award, a year-long university engagement initiative held by the company, saw 39 entries from across select universities in India out of which two Tamil Nadu-based Universities finished among the top three places. The first prize was bagged by PSG for its GSM-based irrigation system. A close second prize was won by YMCA University of Science and Technology, Faridabad, while the third prize was won by Vellore Institute of Technology.

The winning project was sent in by the PSG team comprising Hasitha Reddy, Pavithra.B and Rizwana. The project can help farmers access, manage and regulate their irrigation systems easily for the water needs of crops using SMS technology from a remote location. This helps them address power and energy shortage if any in their villages.

Winners took home a cash prize of Rs 75,000, runners-up Rs 50,000 and third prize Rs 25,000. This funding will help them put their ideas into fruition and aid them in innovating. The winners were selected based on originality, novelty, and functionality of futuristic technology as well as ease of implementation of the respective project ideas.

The second prize winning team from YMCA Faridabad comprising Raghav Ahuja, Sunil Bakshi, Daksh and Hitesh Dhingra, came up with Transcritical Compressor Control in Mobile Air Conditioning System (MACS) which introduces a convenient way of using a CO2 refrigeration system instead of the conventional cooling system in automobiles. Development of an energy efficient CO2 system with solar and engine power will result in 20% cost reduction.

The third prize which went to the team from VIT, Vellore comprising Shubham Agarwal, Sarvesh Singh and Chirag Fatnani, conceived the idea of making an intelligent smart meter with AMI for state monitoring of electrical appliances. They developed house energy management that has communication channels including mobile applications with android support. This will help provide service companies with real time information about the energy consumption and inform the consumers about the energy usage and price as per the consumption.

Out of the 39 entries, six projects were shortlisted for final discussions after which winners were announced. Danfoss Innovator Project Award is an intercollegiate competition designed for final year students in the under graduate and post graduate courses, who have an interest in creating innovative solutions in the areas of climate and energy.