MADURAI: The rains have receded, but the floods did not. Blame it on the clogged drainage lines, a few areas in the district are still underwater, leaving the residents in dire straits.
This is where the technology developed by a team of professors of Madurai Engineering College led by S Parthasarathy of Electrical and Electronics Engineering department gains currency.
Ask Parthasarathy, he would say the technology, developed with the support of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), New Delhi under Technology Development Transfer (TDT) scheme, helps remotely monitor the underground sewage lines and identify the exact location of blocks between manholes using laser and infra-red sensors.
"We developed a prototype that is a combination of wireless monitoring and portable sewage block remover. The remote monitoring becomes possible as the wireless transmission is integrated with IoT controllers and data uploaded in the cloud," he said.
The professor said the technology also helps monitor the water level in dams and will be beneficial to the officials concerned during rains. "Also, the camera in the device helps identify people stuck under the debris, in case of a building collapse," he said.
Monitoring sewage apart, Parthasarathy said the technology will help eradicate manual scavenging. "Over 350 sanitation workers across the nation lost their lives while cleaning underground sewage tanks in the last five years," he added.
Besides Parthasarathy, the team that developed the technology includes D Pradeep Kannan(Electronics and Instrumentation department) and S Nallathambi (Mechanical department) of KLN Engineering College. Their research was carried out with the financial support of the DST.
The project is titled 'Design and Development of Sensor-Based Sewage Block Remover and Management System'.
Parthasarathy further said that the team received immense encouragement from the secretary of the engineering college, K.N.K. Ganesh, its president K.N.K. Karthik, and Principal A.V. Ram Prasad.
He added that the model was established on the college premises and a patent was also registered for the innovation.
S Nallathambi said that the device could be used by all corporations, corporates and commercial buildings, multi-speciality hospitals, large public and private sectors companies.
Meanwhile, D Pradeep Kannan, Executive Engineer and in-charge of Smart City project said he is ready to extend support to their innovation. "If everything goes well, the device will be used in Madurai and Coimbatore corporations. It will also pave an end to deaths due to manual scavenging," he added.