JP/20/NYOMAN
Environmentally friendly innovator
Indra Harsaputra The Jakarta Post/Surabaya
Many Indonesians are still stunned by the sharp increase in fuel prices that the government introduced on Oct. 1.
I Nyoman Sutantra, chairman of the Institute for Research and Community Services of Surabaya Technological Institute (ITS) has, meanwhile, introduced a prototype of an ignition system that uses a condenser to improve the quality of fuel.
Every guest arriving at his office will catch sight of brochures explaining the specifications of his invention, neatly piled up on his desk.
Nyoman is now promoting his Condenser Discharge Ignition (CDI), named Stanly, from "Stan" (taken from his family name of Sutantra) and another syllable taken from Harly, the name of one of his students now studying for his doctorate.
Harly helped him produce and distribute the CDI, which has now been patented.
"Please take one. I'm promoting my CDI," he told The Jakarta Post last Wednesday.
Nyoman has not allocated a special budget for the promotion of the CDI. The product was introduced to users by word of mouth only. He received financial support amounting to Rp 500 million from the government but this was just enough for the research and production of the CDI.
Nyoman is therefore not allowed to sell the patent rights for his CDI to any automotive company. He has agreed that he will manage everything related to sales and distribution of the CDI himself.
"This is not a profit-seeking undertaking. In this way, I'm helping the public, which is still trying to cope with high fuel prices, and, at the same time, empower small-scale community business units in the automotive field," he noted.
Selling CDIs difficult
CDI is not new. Imported CDIs are available at Rp 800,000 to Rp 1.2 million a piece.
Nyoman's CDI replaces the distributor contact in automobiles manufactured before the 1980s or uses it in place of the transistor coil ignition (TCI) in cars made subsequently.
The Stanly CDI's advantage lies in its oscillator, which enables perfect ignition because the resulting flame can reach a length of 12 millimeters. The optimal ignition boosts efficiency in the use of gasoline by 10 percent to 15 percent.
Despite this, the speed of the automobile is not affected. Instead, it increases the power of the car from 12 kilograms per meter per 3,500 rpm to 13 kg per meter per 3,500 rpm.
In addition, the Stanly CDI is 50 percent larger than a German CDI. Measuring 10 centimeters by 5 cm, the Stanly CDI, which is 2 cm thick, can also reduce the exhaust emissions. It can cut the carbon monoxide content from 1.5 percent to 0.98 percent.
"Before this CDI was mass-produced, we conducted a trial on 55 public minivans on the Singosari to Malang route. We found that the pollution emitted by the vehicles was reduced by 40 percent," said Nyoman, who was born in Celuk, Sukawati, Gianyar regency, Bali, on June 5, 1951.
At present, Stanly CDIs are produced in Malang. With five local workers, Nyoman can produce about 300 CDIs a month. The device is sold in Surabaya, Malang and Jakarta. Since he began to sell his CDIs to the public early last month, Nyoman has sold 80 of them. A taxi company in Surabaya plans to use the CDI in all its cars.
Selling CDIs, Nyoman said, was fairly difficult due to lack of public awareness about the need for a clean environment.
Three years before he invented the CDI, Nyoman, a graduate of the mechanical engineering school of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, U.S,, hoped that he could one day invent something that would reduce the level of pollution in Indonesia's major cities like Jakarta, Surabaya and Malang.
"I was deeply concerned every time I found traffic policemen in Surabaya complain of breathing difficulties or saw school children and women cover their noses to avoid inhaling the smoke emitted by motorized vehicles," he said.
About fifteen years ago, it was still pleasant to drive or walk in Surabaya. There were not so many motorized vehicles then and the pollution level was still very low.
In his birthplace in Bali, the environment is still relatively undamaged. Whenever he returns to his hometown, he said, he bathed in the river.
"The water is clean and refreshing. I stay in the river for a long time, reminiscing about my childhood and remembering the time when I was close to nature," he said.
Degraded environment
When he decided to move to Surabaya Nyoman had to give up photography, a hobby he had developed at Wisconsin. While in the U.S., Nyoman took a lot of photos of scenes of nature.
"Unfortunately, the natural environment in East Java was in a sorry state: deforested and heavily polluted by motorized vehicles. So, what photos could I take? he asked pointedly.
While some people concerned with the environment have become members of environmental non-governmental organizations, Nyoman, with his deep concern about environmental pollution, has kept himself busy in creating environmentally friendly automotive innovations.
In the near future, he will introduce a similar CDI for motorcycles. For this, he has received full financial support for his research from a company manufacturing motorcycle spare parts in Indonesia.
The CDI will also be fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly. To this new CDI, however, Nyoman has added an anti- theft security system.
"I added the security system because of the frequency of motorcycle thefts in Indonesia," said Nyoman, who, in October 2004, was honored with an award from the minister of industry.