Local creates smart way to get better value for your rand
The other day it was announced on radio that yet another tax levy of sorts was about to be activated. When is this, as one commentator put it, “exploitation going to stop?” Tighten your belts - we are already fighting for our breath at times - what more is required?
We have not only have to become more self-sufficient, but more productive in terms of the optimum use of what we use. Waste, all sorts of it, is a serious problem. Autodealer Lowveld, with its focus being transport and cars, has often suggested that regular maintenance of readers’ cars will save money. One of our readers, Frik van Staden has developed a product which he calls Smart Pay.
The name is quite appropriate I think, because it is an illustration of how being aware of how things work, then optimising and even simplifying it, can save money.
Van Staden has been interested in things mechanical since he was little. His mechanical creativity began when he fixed a constant oil leak, on Dad’s Ford Deksta tractor, which even Dad could not fix. Technical school followed and the rest, as the saying goes, is history.
An idea, for which he never seemed to have time to explore during his working life, did, however, fester in his mind and now, in retirement, had become a registered and patented concept. It was triggered by a lawnmower engine happily idling along despite being disconnected from the fuel supply. Intrigued?
The product uses a small amount of petrol and air which is first cooled down, then compressed into a small stainless-steel tank which then feeds the completely enviro-friendly and clean gas through the carburettor butterfly, it is ignited and of course, drives the engine.
Van Staden has been testing and using this device to run a 5,5Kw generator (thank you, Eskom) for more than a year and says he used to get about five minutes of running time from 330ml of petrol – about 20 minutes from a litre of petrol.
With his Smart Pay, he extracts 20 minutes (being conservative) from 330ml of fuel or 60 minutes from one litre of fuel. That is a significant improvement.
Currently the device can only be used on static petrol engines/generators and can be tailor-made to fit the capacity of the specific application or engine.
“I am running tests on my car at this time and although the results in terms of consumption are astounding, there are a couple of technicalities that still need to be resolved,” he says.
The product offers four key benefits – not many working parts, enviro-friendly (green), little or no wear and tear and of course, it facilitates superb economical use of fuel. It takes about six hours to build and install and will cost around R3 000.
Enquiries: Frik van Staden on 063-086-0525.
