Thiruvananthapuram: It has become quite routine for employees and contract workers of KSEB to fall dead from accidental power shocks.
In the last four years, 37 KSEB employees and 43 contract workers, a total of 80, had been electrocuted while on duty. A young KSEB engineer, K.C. Baiju, has now come up with a device that will warn employees of an electric field before they get dangerously close.
Baiju has fittingly called the device B-Alert. It is a non-contact hazardous voltage-detector that can be tied around the wrist like a watch. The B-Alert will set off an alarm, and also switch on a warning light, just when the person wearing the ‘watch’ is at a safe distance from the power source. “The device has a special sensor that is sensitive to both electromagnetic and electrostatic fields,” said Mr Baiju, a KSEB sub-engineer who works in the innovation group of KSEB's Renewable Energy section.
This means that the device would detect even the static charge in unprotected wires and cables. It works by first inducing a voltage, which is then tapped and amplified to set off the alarm and warning signal.
KSEB engineer, K.C. Baiju who invented a watch for the safety of linemen, had earlier come up with a ‘smart helmet’ to serve the same purpose.
However, it did not meet with an enthusiastic response as the contraption was found to be too inconvenient and cumbersome. In fact, B-Alert is Baiju’s 41st creation.
Earlier, for instance, he had retrofitted his ordinary exercise bike to function as both an exercise machine and a power generating unit simultaneously.
“Baiju’s latest creation looks effective in controlled conditions,” said Mr Joseph V.K., KSEB chief engineer in charge of renewable energy and energy savings.
“However, we need to assess the device’s functioning at the field level,” he said.
There are certain minor changes that Baiju too wants to introduce to ensure that the device can be used in all conditions. For instance, B-Alert has to be water-proof.
“KSEB workers go out to work whether it is rain or shine. The device, therefore, has to be an all-weather mechanism,” Baiju said.
Also, since the device has to be used regularly, the young innovator wants it to run on rechargeable battery. His prototype is supported by a replaceable battery.
Baiju is now busy creating samples for field study. “If the device is found effective during the field tests, it will be produced on a mass scale to be distributed among our workers,” Mr Joseph said. Besides KSEB's field workers, electricians, cable TV employees, fire force personnel, and factory workers too can make use of the device.
