KUALA LUMPUR: Determined to trim down her family's electricity bills, a 12-year-old girl and her two friends have built a portable Ayurvedic air cooler with waste items from a scrapyard.
The air cooler, which emits a herbal fragrance, comes with a motion sensor that switches the device on only when it detects movement. This helps users save on their electricity bills.
Vyshnavi Vaneah Nithiananthan, 12, and her friends, Yhuvhen Vijaya Vikneswaran and Kanniesh Theeran Kannigeswaran, both 11, from SJK(T) Rawang, spent almost two months designing the device.
They included fresh herbs like neem, lemongrass and eucalyptus that serve as natural air purifiers in the air cooler.
Their invention bagged the Gold Award and Best Invention Award (Junior Category — Science and Technology cluster) at the 2nd International Research Invention, Innovation and Exhibition recently.
The idea to develop the air cooler came when Vyshnavi heard her father lamenting the rising electricity bills due to frequent use of air-conditioners at their home.
The trio then sought the guidance of their mentor, Maheshwaran Jayaraman, 46, to come up with a cost-effective air cooler.
The former engineer established the Rainbow Technical and Science Development Academy with his wife to teach children basic technical skills.
"I have been teaching children for six to seven months. Every week, I travel from Sitiawan to Rawang to teach them vital life skills, such as farming, electronics and plumbing.
"When the students pitched the idea to me, we got to work right away," Maheshwaran said.
"The process was challenging. In their first few attempts, they burnt some electric components. And we had to make last-minute changes to the air cooler's design.
"Since they can only work on the project after school hours, they sometimes stayed up past midnight to complete the project.
"The students gathered materials from a scrapyard to build the device. We only purchased a 12V thermoelectric motor and a few electronic components.
"This reduced production cost by hundreds of ringgit. So this is a well-deserved win for them."
He said the air cooler could lower the room temperature to 18°C during the trial run.
"The device is suitable to be used indoors and outdoors as it can operate with batteries or when connected to a power supply.
"Parents can install the air cooler in study rooms because the device will keep children on their toes. If they doze off while studying, the cooler will automatically turn off as the motion sensor will not detect any movement.
"Children can also carry the portable air coolers for camping and other outdoor activities."
The young inventors are taking their invention to greater heights.
Kanniesh's mother, Kangathevi Ponnudorai, said the trio were working on ways to reduce the size of the air cooler.
"Their dream is to ensure every student can have a portable air cooler in class."