Effective Sound Speaker System

Name : R Pakkiyanathanpicture-183

District & State :  Perambalur, Tamil Nadu

Category : Engineering

Award :   Consolation

Award Function :   5th National Grassroots Innovation Awards

Award Year : 2009

Innovation Description

pakhyiyanathan_innovationHailing from Jayankondam taluka, Pakkiyanathan (58) has developed an effective sound speaker system in a circular assembly with a centrally located woofer system delivering the most dramatic surround sound.

Born on 6 October 1951, Pakkiyanathan is the eldest among three brothers and one sister. He spent his childhood in Bangalorewhere his father worked in the Indian Army as a driver. After the China war in 1962, the family moved back to their native place where his father started working in their farms. After finishing his class ten, he started pursuing ITI at Government College of ITI at Ariyalur, Tamil Nadu. He was a topper of the Tractor Mechanical Department at ITI where he picked up knowledge of machinery and manufacturing. Unfortunately, after completing his ITI, he could not take up the apprentice offer that he got from BHEL and NLC due to some family problems.

He got married in 1973, soon after which his father expired and then he had to take care of the entire family. But due to the financial crisis, none of his siblings could pursue further studies after their father’s demise.

After working for a couple of years in the farm, he ventured into bicycle renting and repairing with just two bicycles, which he bought with the help of his teacher. For this, he pedaled to Pondicherry from his native place Irudhyapuram, Jayankondam Taluk on a bicycle covering almost 110 km. He got only one bicycle assembled in the vendor’s shop. The other one he himself assembled after seeing the process at the vendor’s shop. But unable to make clean profits, he decided to close down the bicycle shop and start a grocery shop instead in a nearby village.

However, after a while, due to some family issues, he closed down the grocery shop as well and moved to his native village with his four young children, wife and mother. He started providing speaker sound services in family functions in Jayankondam with just two gramophones and an amplifier. Those were the days when he had to struggle a lot to get a comfortable earning to support his family. But he persevered as he was always driven by the passion in any work he undertook.

He always liked to do diverse things in life. He started rendering services like decoration, lights, and acoustics services to all functions organized in his locality and around.  He also started buying latest equipments for his services and soon became popular for providing services in innovative ways.

In his journey of life, his family especially his wife has ably supported him through all the ups and downs. She has stood by him against the ever changing tides and motivated him wherever he felt down a bit. Pakkiyanathan also made sure that within his limitations he gave the best to his family. Although he could not himself study much, he made sure that his daughters got good education. They all have professional degrees and are married and well settled.

The idea of the speaker system

While working to build a new speaker for his business, Pakkiyanathan came to know that no body was making a sound system in metal. Speakers with wooden chassis were preferred at that time. Experimenting, he started working on the idea of developing a sound system in metal. While working in the kitchen one day, he saw the Anjarai Peti, which is a container box with small round shaped boxes inside to store spices and condiments like pepper, turmeric etc. This gave him an idea to have a similar arrangement of the speakers.

He started working on the design in 2002. A novice in theories related to speaker systems and speaker designs; he started exploring various speaker designs; their merits and demerits and consulting literature wherever required. But given the work related pressures, he could never discuss the design with any professional or do an elaborate market research about the materials and designs available.

He continued working on his own ideas and came up with a preliminary design after two years in 2004. He then started working on converting the design of the “3 way speaker system” into reality. With locally available materials and some other spares sourced on loan from Kumbakonam, he started building the prototype. It took him one year to finish the first prototype that matched his expectations. In this process he spent over Rs. 5 lakh, and dismantled more than ten prototypes.

During this phase, he was criticized on many occasions and at times ridiculed for his nag on making the innovative speakers. But these could never overpower his undaunted determination and self-confidence and he went on developing and improving his design.

After developing the 3 way speaker system, he wrote a letter to the then President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam apprising him of his invention. The president’s office appreciated his work and guided him to get his design registered, which he did (Design Registration No: 202068). But Pakkiyanathan was not a content man still. He did not like the ground reach of his 3 way speaker system and started working on improving the design again. This made him rework the design, and create the ‘4 way speaker system’ in 2006, for which he subsequently obtained the design registration certificate (Design Registration No: 205728).

The Innovation

It is a sound speaker system consisting of eight cylindrical speakers arranged in a circular assembly around a centrally located cylindrical woofer system.

This speaker system is constructed of stainless steel drums that give the desired bass with an extra ‘punch’ for the audience. The speakers used are Taiwan made Branded speakers where alterations in the shape of the speaker box have been done. Wooden plywood is provided with foam at the rear end of the individual speakers to arrest destructive sound. The whole system is provided with nylon ball wheels for easy transportation. This system gives all three kinds of frequency viz. High Frequency, Low Frequency, and Mid-Frequencies in a single assembly. Cylindrical stainless steel body reduces internal resonance and external diffraction that causes speaker distortion. For a system of 5000 Watt the total cost comes to be Rs. 1 lakh (5000 Watt). This sound system delivers better sound than most others available in the market[i]. The prior art analysis discloses the novelty in this case lies in using stainless steel cylindrical speakers arranged in a circular assembly and capable of producing sound in all the three frequency levels viz. High, Medium and Low.

Recognitions

He has been appreciated by different agencies and organisations for his innovative work. Ahuja Corporation, the leading company in sound solutions, through a letter appreciated his invention, knowledge and efforts. They also offered their support in providing the required material. He also got Uzaipal Uyartha Manithar (Man of hard work) award from IT minister, GoI in Perambalur in November 2006 in a function organized by the Tami Nadu District Library, Perambalur.

He has also been participating in radio programs and All India Radio Trichy carried a program on his innovation and his interview in February 2006. Karaikal radio also covered his invention story in their program. China Tamil radio honored him in a function at Meenchuruti, Jayankondam Taluk in November 2007 for his invention.

Articles about him have appeared in Tamil magazines Nakeeran and Kanniyam. He has also participated & won rave reviews for his designs in annual trade exhibitions in Coimbatore and Chennai.

Although Pakkiyanathan did have few more ideas to further improve the speaker design, he discontinued due to lack of finances. Presently, he is busy in his latest venture, a Fly-Ash & clay bricks manufacturing unit in Jayankondam for which he has obtained loans against his property.  However, he still finds time for his sound system research. It was during such a research, he found out that a foreign company has designed a speaker system similar to his design and a few others locally. He is exploring options to further action in this regard.

http://nif.org.in/innovation/Effective-sound-speaker-system/54

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