Anil Cleetus Chanayil, a city-based motor mechanic-turned-engine designer, has won an Indian patent for designing a six-stroke engine which he says will be easy on the environment and light on the bike user’s pocket.
Anil, a Kochiite from Mamangalam, started work on the engine as early as 1997 and in 2005 he submitted the application, full with sketches and drawings, to the Indian Patent Office. Seven years later, in May this year, the formalities pertaining to the request were completed and Anil was granted a patent for his work.
The man, however, refuses to sit on his laurels, as his goal is to perfect the engine and partner a leading automobile manufacturer to market his discovery.
Motorbikes have always been a passion for this 33-year-old. As he worked with a few motorbike franchisees after a short-term certificate course in automobiles, he had already kick-started his dream of making a 6-stroke engine. Once the engine was realised in 2005, he designed a superbike, curiously named Niykado, which he says gives a mileage of 72 kms a litre.
As he sought a patent for his discovery, he was asked to prove how his four-valve (all independent) engine differed from two similar engines already patented in Japan and the US. Anil says his engine uses air purification six-stroke technology — he calls it ‘air intake-exhaust’ technology— and that he was able to prove this point. The engine, he claims, can be used to power bikes, cars and generators. “Anything that runs on petrol” is how he puts it. “It is a new technology for internal combustion engines. The advantages are that it is very low on pollution and the fuel economy is more.”
Anil set up the facilities for testing the engine at a private engineering college here and realised it “is 23 per cent more fuel efficient compared to a standard four-stroke engine”. His research and development (R&D) work is being funded by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research under the Technopark’s ‘Technopreneur Promotion Programme (TePP).
The engine has already undergone a preliminary round of full-throttle tests at the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), Pune. His immediate goal is to design and develop devices for the multi-cycle running of the engine and tweak it a bit to rev up its versatility. “I need to perfect it before approaching some companies to produce it on the commercial scale,” he says.
