This
incredible innovation keeps you cool even in the hot outdoors and uses less
power than regular air conditioners. Meet Dashrath Patel, the man behind the
unique AC sofa. Dashrath Patel is a humble mechanic from Gujarat. He repairs
air conditioners and electrical equipment for a living. But Dashrath is not
destined to be just another mechanic. He has invented the AC sofa, which brings
temperatures down by 50 percent in 1 minute and is ideal for outdoor events. The 45-year-old mechanic, who has
studied only till Class 10, did a diploma course to understand the basics of
mechanical engineering and make a career as a repair person. But the lack of a
professional degree did not stop him from becoming an innovator. The idea for
the AC sofa came to Dashrath when he attended a family function in Gandhinagar,
Gujarat, in 2007. “It was an extremely hot summer afternoon. All the guests
were sweating and looking for a cool place nearby. The function was outdoors so
there was no air conditioning available. That is when I thought: ‘What if the
sofas where people sit could act as ACs?’” recalls Dashrath. He started working
on the idea and initially planned on installing the air conditioner inside the
sofa. But once the prototype was ready, he became concerned about the huge
weight of the sofa — it weighed a hefty 175 kgs. But Dashrath was determined to
work more on his idea and come up with a feasible and usable design. He had
heard of the ‘Design Clinic Scheme’ at the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium
Enterprises (MSME), so he approached them. MSME works in collaboration with the
National Institute of Design (NID). It asked Ankit Vyas, an NID alumnus, to
support Dashrath in modifying his design. With Ankit’s help, Dashrath was able
to change the material and design and bring down the weight of the sofa to just
35 kgs. The first prototype had been made entirely of wood — even the hosepipe
was made of wood, which made the design heavy. In the new design, all the wood
parts were replaced with fibre and PVC was used for the pipe. The sofa works
like a split AC. It has a unit inside the sofa linked by a pipe to an outer
unit.
The outer
unit is placed 10-15 ft away from the sofa to make the latter hassle-free and
light. A blower is attached to the sofa, which takes the hot air from the
surroundings and converts it into cool air instantly. The airflow comes from
the hand-rest part of the sofa and one can even control the temperature with a
remote control. The sofa has direct injected cooling technology, which enables
fast cooling of the sofa. Direct Injection technology enables easier cold
starting and better adjustments to changes in temperature. The design runs on
250 watt electricity with a variation of 10 % in power. The sofa not only
decreases the temperature, it also controls the humidity and fan speed. The
regular tower ACs that are in use today are costly and consume more power.
Dashrath’s sofa consumes 10 percent less power than a regular tower AC. Dashrath had spent Rs. 80,000 by the
time the final design was finished. Some of the money came from his own pocket
and the rest was given by the government. Dashrath plans to sell the product in
the market for Rs 1.25 lakhs.
The sofa is mainly designed for outdoor events and
gatherings but works indoors too. Since the price is quite high for the average
family to afford, the focus market is event companies and hotels.
Sh. Dashrath Patel
