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( This Web page has been launched only to put my REVIEW paper on
SOLAR COOKER DESIGN on the net. So if you are interested in the paper on SOLAR
COOKERS click here )
1959, SSLC with First
Class, from SRI RAMAKRISHNA VIDYA SHALA, Yadavagiri, ( a Residential School ) at
Mysore.
1961, PUC, from St.
JOSHEPH'S COLLEGE, Bangalore
1964, B.Sc.,( Botany,
Zoology, Chemistry,) with FIRST CLASS, from St. JOSEPH'S COLLEGE, Bangalore (
MYSORE UNIVERSITY )
1966, M.Sc. ( ZOOLOGY,
with Embryology ) with 58.9 % from CENTRAL COLLEGE, Bangalore, ( BANGALORE
UNIVERSITY )
1968, Training in
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY, at ALL INDIA INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL SCIENCE, ( AIIMS ), New
Delhi.
1970, Training in
ELECTRON MICROSCOPY, at CANCER RESEARCH INSTITUTE, Bombay.
1972, Ph.D., ( in
Applied Biology, Long Term Studies with ORAL CONTRACEPTIVES on MICE,
Histochemical and Histopathological Studies), from INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH IN
REPRODUCTION, ( IRR ), ( UNIVERSITY OF BOMBAY )
1976, TRAINING IN
QUESTION BANK, under Prof. Natarajan, University Grants Commission.
1979, Course on ENERGY
ALTERNATIVES, at ASTRA of INDIAN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE, ( IISc.,) Bangalore.
1993, Diploma in
COMPUTER APPLICATION, MGM College, Udupi.
SCHOLARSHIPS &
HONOURS :
1961 to 1966 Govt. of
INDIA, Merit Scholarship for Orthopedically Handicapped, ( I am an
Ectrodactyle, but exceptionally functional in all aspects )
1967 to 1972, INDIAN
COUNCIL OF MEDICAL RESEARCH, Junior and Senior Fellowships
1971,Research Grant from
WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION, Geneva, for Ultrastructural Study on effects of Ural
Contraceptives on Mice )
1976 -77,Research Grant
from UNIVERSITY GRANTS COMMISSION, for ECOLOGY of St. MARY's Island.
1976, prize, for
IMPROVED DESIGN OF BULLOCK CART, in a National Level Competition conducted by
SYNDICATE BANK, Manipal.
1980, JAYCEE National
PRESIDENT'S SPECIAL RECOGNITION AS OUTSTANDING PROJECT MANAGER.
HONARY POSITIONS HELD :
1971 to 1972, Incharge
of Photographic Department, At Inst. for Research in Reproduction, Bombay.
1972 to 1980, Staff
Adviser of Photograhic Club, College Wall Magazine,M G M College,
1975 - 80 Technical
Advisor of M/s Adithya Enterprises, (manufacturing Solar Cookers and Water Heaters,)
1980 - 81 Village
Consultant on ENERGY Alternatives, Syndicate Bank, Manipal.
1981-82, DEPARTMENT OF
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, New Delhi, for studies on LOW COST SOLAR WATER HEATERS
OF PLASTIC.
1986 - 99, Co Convener,
INTACH, Udupi-Manipal Chapter,( Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural
Heritage, A Regd. NGO with HO. at New Delhi with over 150 branches all over
India )
1995- current. President
of Udupi Taluk Parisarasaktara Okkuta, ( A local NGO concentrating on
Environmental Protection )
I am also an active
Volunteer for various organizations especially VITA, OKKUTA, INTACH.
MEMBERSHIPS :
1979-82, Member,
International Solar Energy Society, USA.
1979 to C, Member, Solar
Energy Society of India,
1974 to C, Indo German
Cultural Society,
1980- C, Consumers
Forum, Udupi.
I was married in the
year 1972. My wife Smt. PRAMEELA KUNDAPUR, is an exceptional house wife, Cook
and above all a SINGER of repute. She sings Bhajans, Gazals, Film songs, in 5
languages, Sanskrith, Hindi, Marathi, Kannada and Konkani our mother tongue.
She has one solo commercial cassette to her credit,
and has sung in FOUR other cassettes along with singers of repute.
The Family photograph
below was taken on the occasion of marriage of my first daughter on 31st Jan,
1998.It has been included here for the benefit of my other family members who
are outside the country.
This Family photograph
below was taken recently in July 2002, along with my 3rd Daughter and Son, for
the benefit of my other family members who are outside the country.
Personal Interests :
Environmental Protection
Research
Inventions
I love music. Consider
myself fortunate as I like all types of music, but the preference is for
Hindustani Classical. Can also play, but not so well, musical instruments like
Harmonium/ Electronic Organ, Mouth Organ, and also Tabla on table/pot.
I prefer to read
detective novels, but haven't found time to read any books for the past couple
of years.
I like and play Foot
ball, Cricket, and the Indian National game Kabbadi, not an expert but enjoy
playing.
I believe in a lot of
Indian traditional wisdom, the four 'purusharthas' Dharma,
Artha,Kama & Moksha, Yoga, and a whole lot of
wisdom prescribed in Bhagavathgeetha. I am now practicing Yoga as being
prescribed by Sri Sri Ramdevji Maharaj, and our own guru of Saraswaths, Sri Sri
Sadyajath Shankarashram .
Though an Optimist, I
can not refrain from thinking that we have woken up to our (present day human
civilization as awhole) misdeeds rather too late, and hence have reached the
point of no return and so, there appears to be no future for mankind and a lot
of other Animals on this planet. However I am contributing my might towards
long term sustainability and this has led me to organization like VITA, Solar
Cooker International, INTACH and OKKUTA. My preoccupation with Alternate energy
sources, especially Solar, is a off shoot of this thought and action
Environmental Protection
Since 1972 I have been
teaching Ecology and has been very much worried with the ever spiraling Human
population and assault on the Environment. But it is only in the year 1992 I
joined some of the erstwhile Environmental Movements and have been taking
active part. At present I am Vice President and Incharge of Technical
Information Cell of DAKSHINA KANNADA PARISARASAKTARA OKKUTA, and President of
UDUPI TALUK OKKUTA,
Co Convener of INTACH which
is a NGO at national level, and is actively involved in preservation of NATURAL
& MAN MADE HERITAGE.
Research
Since 1972 I am in
active research but on account of nature of studies,ie., long term studies
involving mice, number of Technical papers published are rather small. But I
have to my credit lot of Radio talks, and articles in popular journals and news
papers on diverse subjects.
Failure in extension of
Grants prevented me from publishing papers on Ecology of St.Mary's Island, a
set of 4 Continental Islands off the coast of Malpe.
Another interesting
research project I had taken up with the help of Dept. of Science &
Technology, was on low cost Solar Water Heaters of Plastic. Of the plastics
available in our country LDPE and HDPE pipes appeared to be very ideal. The
former lasted for over two years and the latter lasted for over three years
under the Indian Sun. However results could not be published for want of
suitable standard equipment for measuring Insolation.
First Paper in 1971,
" Effects of long term administration of Ovulen on reproductive organs of
inbred strains of Mice " Ashok Kundapur, Safia Munshi, Shanta S Rao, in
Indian Jor.of Expt Biology, 9, 121-131, 1971.
Second paper in 1973,
" Long term effects of Chlormadinaone Acetate - Ultrastructural Studies on
the Uterine Epithelia of Mouse " Ashok Kundapur, Shanta S Rao, Akhila B
Vaidya, S.M.Sirsat, Indian Jor.of Expt. Biology. 11, 292-294, 1973, ( Mouse
which were treated for over one year showed myelenoid degeneration in the
Mitochondria of Uterine Epithelium )
Third Paper in 1980,
" Plastics in Solar Industry " Documentation Notes, TERI, 16- 21,
Feb. 1980, ( it was a small article on various plastic that were being used in
Solar devices during '80, the only synthetic material which showed some promise
then was EPDM, but I haven't been able to keep track of its present status )
Fourth Paper in 1995,
" SOLAR COOKERS - A Review " in Proc. of Alternative Energy Sources -
All India Seminar, 134 - 157, MIT, Manipal 1995.
Fifth Paper in 1998,
" Review of Solar Cooker Designs " TIDE, TERI information Digest on
Energy, 1-37, Vol 8 ( 1 ), 1998. ( Click here to see this paper
available in this site. I have reviewed 59 major designs of Solar Cookers and
60 variations. The article has over 100 drawings and 100 references. )
- Solar devices
I started with Gosh type
Solar Cooker, worked on it to improve its 'looks' and reduce its weight. As
regards its weight I had managed to bring it down to just about 15 kg. without
any loss of its efficiency.
I had collected lot of
information on plastics and other materials that go into Solar Water Heater and
had built several large Solar Water Heaters working on thermosiphon principle.
In an attempt to build low cost Solar Water Heaters such that it would be
within the reach of low income group persons all over the world, I had
experimented with Water Heaters of Plastic. The ones I had built on
thermosiphon principle using Plastic pipes worked well, cost was very low, it
could heat 100 lit of water to about 600 C in a day. But the plastic setup did not last for long not
over 2 years. But the replacement cost is cheep too, but there are other
problems and the water cannot be used directly for bathing or cooking.
Hence I prefer BOX-in-
Box type Solar Cookers which are excellent compared to other types especially
with reference to Cost.
Inventions
Though I have been
blessed with a creative mind, (or at least that is what I think ) lack of
Engineering training has prevented me from 'cashing on' this faculty but I
haven't given up as yet, wish to create a new type of ladder, a Electricity
generator which would work on muscle power, and a Electric Scooter which would
work exclusively on Solar Energy.
Office address
Retd.,Professor &Head, Department of Zoology, MGM College, Udupi- 576 102, INDIA ( But please address all letters to Home address, 'Kalashree',Hayagreva Nagara, Udupi 576 102)
Email
arkundapur@yahoo.com
Retd.,Professor &Head, Department of Zoology, MGM College, Udupi- 576 102, INDIA ( But please address all letters to Home address, 'Kalashree',Hayagreva Nagara, Udupi 576 102)
arkundapur@yahoo.com
Please add Solar or
Solar Cooker, Scooter in the subject to prevent your mail getting deleted as
scam
Please send me mail telling me what you think about this page and
how I might improve it. You may please also send your design of Solar Cooker,
or your suggestions on Solar Cooking, as this is an active site I shall incorporate
it in the Review Paper.
- SOLAR COOKERS
- SOLAR WATER HEATERS
I prefer a Box-in-Box
type Solar Water Heater, this is a low cost version and could easily become
popular.
- SOLAR SCOOTERS
At present I have
collected lot of information on Electric Vehicles through regular route as well
as through Internet. I have evolved a design and am on the threshold of
building a working model. Only thing that is preventing me is to a major extent
funds.
· Other important
projects are 'MUSCLE POWERED GENERATORS'(PMG) 'MUSCLE POWERED TORCHES'. New
type of ladders and the like. At present am looking for financial and working
Partners. If I get the finances the first project would be the PMG big enough
to supply electricity for the entire house for 3 to 4 hrs. I have plans to
improve on it to run for at least 12 hrs a day.