Mumbai schoolgirls bag bronze at global engineering contest

Sakshi Pandey and Kajol Shelke both Standard IX students of North Mumbai Welfare Society High School Ghatkopar have won the bronze medal in the Engineering category for their lsquoagrodehydratorrsquo project at the International Sustainable World Project Olympiad Energy Engineering amp Environment or ISWEEEP held on May 9 at Houston TexasClean sweep Proud bronze medal winners of ISWEEEP Sakshi Pandey L and Kajol Shelke at the North Mumbai Welfare Society High School Ghatkopar PicSayed Sameer AbediHow it all beganThe idea of preparing an agrodehydrator struck Pandey and Shelke when the two were at a chikoo farm in Dahanu to understand how dehydration processes take place They noticed that the fumes released were high in nutritive value and they were simply being wastedldquoI once had read in the newspaper that fruits and vegetables worth R13 crore are wasted every year in India as they grow stale easily At the farm we saw a machine called a dehydrator and noticed fumes being released We wrapped a plastic bag around the nozzle as it was the only thing available and gradually droplets started to collect in the bag Thatrsquos how the whole idea startedrdquo said ShelkeSubsequently the hypothesis of their project was accepted and the duo won the Second Grand Gold award from around 75 participations at the Indian National Science and Engineering fair INSEF at the Agni College of Technology in Chennai on January 10On January 21 midday had reported on the achievements of the duo lsquoJuicy innovation helps Mumbai teens bag top award at science fairrsquoThe first three grand gold award winners qualified for the ISWEEEP competitionHard WorkShelke and Pandey along with the support of their science teacher Rajeswari Nair worked on their project and kept improvising on it for efficiency ldquoInitially the plastic containers and metallic tubes that we were using were not giving the desirable efficiency Hence after many trial and errors we settled for an aluminium container and nickelplated brass pipesrdquo said PandeyThe two girls were trained under experts from Science Society of India Bengaluru along with experts from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Chembur ldquoThe cost of the trip was R75000 each which was looked after by the Science Society of India whereas the cost of my trip was taken care of by the schoolrdquo said NairGlobal StageThe competition was held at the George R Brown Convention Center in Houston ldquoFor the five days that we were there we learnt things that we never imagined We got a chance of meeting people from NASA and many wellknown personalitiesrdquo said PandeyIn all there were 427 project participations from around the world Each project was to be judged by a minimum of seven judgesldquoWe enjoyed so much with our competitors from Italy New York Ireland and Brazil It was a new chapter in our life altogetherrdquo said a beaming PandeyldquoWe want to apply our project to the practical world We are ready to share our idea with any dehydration company as well as farming people and are ready to help in any way With our techniques I am sure their output will increase as well as their incomerdquo added a confident ShelkeAbout the projectThe agrodehydrator is a modified microwave oven that is used to extract the water content in fruits and vegetables so as to increase their shelf life A tube helps in capturing the moisture and the vapour released from these fruits and veggies recondensing it to form a nutritive drink