Students of PES Institute of Technology and Management (PESITM) in Shivamogga city have developed an amphibious vehicle that can go from car to boat and moves with great ease on intermediary surfaces including swamps and marshy areas.
The Ride Anywhere Vehicle (RAV) was created out of a passion for swimming. For Sherwin Kumar Maben, who is pursuing BE final semester and hails from Mangaluru, swimming was a passion since childhood. It even earned him the nickname amphibian from his friends and relatives. “My passion inspired me to develop the amphibious vehicle. I discussed the idea with my classmates Gangadhar Ganiger, Deepak K. Patel, and Govind Bhandarkar and we decided to develop the vehicle as part of our project work,” he said.
Sherwin said that the conceptual and two-dimensional design of the vehicle with a four-member seating capacity was drawn using the solid edge software. The vehicle was built using the wheelhouse of a Mahindra jeep as base. The chassis was fabricated by the students. The four-stroke petrol engine of the Maruti Esteem car was used in the vehicle. Similarly, the gear box, steering, fuel tank, brakes, and radiator from different vehicles that suited the design of the RAV were assembled.
The sheet metal for the body was purchased from local automobile scrap dealers. The fabrication including fitting, welding and painting the sheet metals was done by the students. As a buoyancy measure, water proof paint was applied to the vehicle. The paddle is attached to the wheeldrums and connected to the engine. When the vehicle enters water, the displacement of the vehicle becomes greater than its weight owing to paddling and it begins to float, said Ramesh B.R., project guide and lecturer at mechanical engineering department.
To make the vehicle work in swamps, slushy surface and marshy land, an industrial grade heavy duty belt that resembled a treadmill belt was fixed to the bottom of the vehicle and attached to the engine.
The RAV runs at 60 km per hour on land and 10 km per hour on water. At present, it delivers a mileage of 9 km per litre on land and 4 km per litre on water. Gangadhar Ganiger said the RAV can be used by armed forces for patrolling the border for rescue operations if the mileage and efficiency is improved. Govind Bhandarkar said, “It was an amazing experience”
The RAV was tested on the backwaters of Tunga near Gajanur recently.
