Technology: Dynamic Multi-cylinder Vehicles

While riding on my motorcycle with my brother, he told me about his idea of having a vehicle in which you can choose the number of cylinders you'd like to use before you start up.

So here's a fine tuned version of the same idea :) of course, credits for the creativity first go to Pritam Sharma.

Imagine you are standing with the keys to a 6 cylinder motorcycle... and yes you are right next to the beast. All you need to do is turn the ignition key, wait for the engine to warm up nicely and softly raise the accelerator and shift gears till you reach a comfortable speed.

Simple eh?

Let's peek at what's happening in the bakground... a software is constantly monitoring the 'load' on the engine. When you start it, all 6 cylinders start working by default. Then as the computer notices that there's hardly any load (while idling)... it opens up a large valve on each piston chamber and shuts down the fuel supply to those particular cylinders. Finally the engine is working on just one cylinder, using one sixth of the usual fuel consumption.

You decide it's time to blast off... you give the accelerator a little nudge... program brings up one more cylinder, and the bike starts moving with two pistons pushing it. You are on a smooth road and the program does not decide that you would need any moer cylinders. Suddenly you notice a bunch of wannabe bikers riding past you ;) just like the movies... you think hmm... how about a quick race?

Your bike is ready for it... just needs to know that you are willing to burn some rubber. You lower the gear and raise the accelerator, pump the clutch a bit... bike knows this behaviour and the program instantly shutd the large valves, fires up the remaining 4 cylinders and signals the same on the console.

Next, you are riding calmly, knowing that the punks you just met will remember a nice bike that went vrooooooom... vanish! Your ego floating in the air. And as you approach a signal, your engine returns to normal one cylinder, and begins saving fuel for the next sprint.

Technology: Petrol Powered Laptop

I'm excited about putting forth my latest idea :) It's all about maximum mobility in the most insane places. It struck me when talking to Ashutosh and Pritam today afternoon.

The title itself reveals the complete idea... that is to have a military strength laptop and a petrol (gasoline) powered electricity generator in one package!

Those could be used anywhere on earth! Imagine being on the Everest and sending an email to all your friends right from the top! (assuming that you have a satellite Internet connection) The warmth of the engine (again, assuming it starts up) can be used in right proportion to keep the computer warm enough to run smoothly, and the electricity generated can be used to power the laptop for long hours!

Since a petrol engine is lighter than a few battery packs (though might need a bit more space) and you can 'recharge' the engine instantly with a little petrol almost anywhere, it makes a great companion for long trips... especially if they are in insane places :-)

Practically speaking, it is a good idea to develop a petrol based generator that can be used with current laptops. Even is it is possible to generate 12 volts with enough Amperes, it should be fairly easy to develop adapters to suit each different breed of laptops/ handhelds.

I'm sure many people use large generators at camps, but I'm thinking of something small and light enough be carried in the baggage. Yeah, permanent magnets are painfully heavy, but then again, what do we have scientists and engineers for? They are the brilliant mass who can find an answer to the little questions that this idea raises and make it possible :)

*deep breath* ... Yay!

So here's a new blog!

As you might have guessed... I'll be posting my ideas, rather insane ideas here on thoughts on rails. (think thought-train)

So why set up a blog just to post my insane ideas?

I think that I could use some statistics like in which direction my general flow of thought is at any given time. I've noticed that I can get related ideas one after the other (thought train) over a period of days.

Or sometimes my mind seems to simply jump tracks and get some really weird idea! And I am left with the confusion... "Wha!? What just happened?"

The blog shall keep a track of the trends of my mind :)

Looking forward to my next cup of coffee ;)