This `cool' Mysorean holds 10 patents in US

BANGALORE: An engineering graduate from small-time Periyapatna near Mysore went as an immigrant to USA in 1969. First he mopped at McDonalds and mowed grass at graveyards.
Later he taught at the university. Then retired to invent battery-less shavers now used by the US Army, supersonic fans to chase away cockroaches and mosquitoes, bulbs with a life of 15 years ...the list is unending. Today he holds 10 patents in the US, has sold six of them, and has another 36 pending!
Dr Shaam P. Sundhar, who taught electronics at Ohio State University for 26 years, quit four years ago bubbling with ideas to conserve power and be environ-friendly through his one-man company Inventions Oasis Inc. His ideas are now products floating in US markets.
He is now in India with his latest invention __ the poor man''s air-conditioner. He calls it Kool Comfort, and it''s nothing but an air-conditioned canopy, much like a mosquito net over the bed, to give a good night''s sleep with limited air conditioning around the bed. ``Air-conditioners currently available are expensive, use cooling liquids that harm the ozone layer, and use a lot of electricity to cool down corners of the room where it is not necessary,'''' explains Dr Sundhar. The main cooling unit could cost Rs 9,000 in India. ``It will consume only 15 per cent of electricity that a normal AC consumes,'''' he claims.
``I''m the only Indian in the US to hold this many patents. But I have faced discrimination during the patenting process. Americans think the Sanskrit words in my company logo are Arabic!'''' The discrimination also shows when he has to sell his ideas to manufacturers for a pittance.
``The thrust of my activity has been in solid state cooling, without the use of a compressor, using a bismuth telluride chip. So, for a refrigerator it will mean no noise and no ugly compressors.'''' Comfy Temp is his table-top fridge to cool beverages, a refrigerator humidor to store cigars, insty cool cans to cool or heat a cup o''coffee or cool the coke in the car. A bulb that consumes 23 watts but gives the output of a 100 watt bulb, induction lamps without filaments used in tunnels now in America.
Dr Sundhar can be contacted at: spsundhar@hotmail.com.