15 October 2014

A Costain Graduate will be shortly offering his engineering skills to a remote Indian community, by developing a solar cooking facility.

Vishal Shah, a third year Mechanical Engineering Graduate working in the Natural Resources Division on nuclear waste projects, will be teaming up for six months with the SELCO Foundation to provide engineering support to a rural innovation hub in Ujire, South West, India. The SELCO foundation is a partner to the Engineers Without Borders charity that helps provide people in developing nations with the engineering to ensure they have their basic human needs such as sanitation, clean water and shelter.

The particular project Vishal will be involved with is hoping to overcome fuel poverty in an area where it is estimated that over one quarter of household income is spent on cooking fuel. Such cooking fuels are often heavily polluted and are a major cause of local health issues.

“Whilst a solar cooking solution already exists, until it is affordable the communities cannot benefit. The purpose of our involvement is to find a sustainable design and develop prototypes for mass production,” said Vishal. “I am incredibly excited to be a part of this project where I will get to use my Mechanical/Thermal Engineering knowledge of Heat and Mass Transfer, Thermodynamics and Thermal Simulation to develop Solar Thermal Technologies using scheffler dishes (concentrated), parabolic troughs (concentrated) and evacuated tube collectors (non-concentrated).”

Vishal has been working with the Engineers Without Borders charity for over two years and has spent the last 10 months as Professional Network Coordinator donating his spare time to helping the charity engage with engineers who wish to be involved.

 

 

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