Students bring out LPG-fitted motorbikes

Thiruvananthapuram, May 10 (UNI) With rampant increase in the number of two-wheelers on Indian roads and heavy air pollution, a group of students here has come up with more economical and less polluting two-wheelers that can run on Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG).

The students of the Government Engineering College here have designed a dual fuel motorbike, which can run both on petrol and LPG.

Claiming that the running cost could be reduced, the students told UNI that motorbikes run on LPG were more economical than those run on petrol. A motorbike can run about 80 km on a kg of LPG.

''We have done the trial runs,'' they said.

The principle used was the same as that of other automobiles fitted with LPG and no modifications have been made in the carburettor, structure or the engine of the motorbike.

''We just fixed a conversion kit and other modifications were made so that the mixing of fuel took place before it reached the carburettor,'' they said.

Another significant thing was that the petrol tank was fixed in the rear. With the five mm thickness tank, there is no worry of explosion and it is safe, they said, adding that the tank had a capacity of 2.6 litres and 80 per cent of the tank can be filled.

The dual fuel bike was conceived as a project work for these students and it took about three months for them to convert it into a reality.

The eighth semester mechanical students -- Nigel Job, S Sandeep, K N Aneesh, Vinesh Das and A Sajith -- had the guidance of their lecturer Abhilash Suryan.

UNI