Belenso T Yimkhiung, the boy genius from Kiphire, has once again found himself in the limelight as he successfully tested his new innovation “Pungro Power Soil” that converts soil into electricity.
In September 2022, the young inventor and science enthusiast had fascinated and inspired the people of Nagaland with his brilliant indigenous invention which he named TIGER, a voice-activated light control system. This impressive device could turn on or turn of lights in a room at voice command.
Nagaland Tribune got hold of this 22-year-old genius who confidently says he is ready to share his innovation in any platform. Belenso, who passed his HSSLC from Government Higher Secondary School Pungro Town, worked on project “Pungro Power Soil” alone.
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NT: Can you tell us about your latest innovation “Pungro Power Soil”?
Belenso: Pungro Power soil is basically an innovation that I successfully tested yesterday (17 May 2023) after more than 30 times of trials it worked Successfully yesterday.
I was able to convert soil into electrical energy, treating them with specific chemicals to increase their conductivity.
The soil was collected from several villages under Pungro Sub-division and Kiusam town.
After mixing the soil with some chemicals, dividing them into four different cells, each cell 3.0V DC which can be converted into 12.00V DC with the help of step-up transformer that lights up the LED bulb.
It gives power back up of 1.5 hours which can then be Recharged with sodium chloride (Nacl) saltwater or Sulfuric acid (H2SO4).
NT: How and when did you get this idea of ‘power soil’?
Belenso: It was some years back when my friends and I had gone on a trip to one remote village for three days. There was no electricity in the village and eventually even their emergency lights went out of charge. After this experience in that village, I pondered upon this idea what if we can have electricity via soil.
I started doing research on the project last year.
NT: Can electricity be produced from any type of soil?
Belenso: Yes! Any soil that matches with the combination of the chemicals I am using can produce electricity.
NT: Do you think this soil power innovation can solve power shortage problem?
Belenso: The answer is both Yes and No.
Yes, because if we build multiple units of this system for each bulb required in the household, we can provide electricity to families in villages.
But to produce electricity on a larger scale for bigger towns and cities, it needs to be more refined, proper infrastructure and materials are needed to make it a reality.
Hopefully it will be possible in the near future.
Belenso T Yimkhiung with his father, a retired electrician
NT: Tell us about your childhood? Have you always been interested in Science?
Belenso: I always wanted to go for Science after the 10th standard, but my mother’s critical health issues left me with no option but to stay back at Pungro and go for whatever was available. Back then there was no school in Kiphire that offered science stream.
My young childhood days were crazy. I used to get uniforms of different schools at Pungro town and would run around different schools, attending their classes in order to learn as much as I could.
Sometimes I was caught by teachers who noticed that I was not from their school. I even got expelled from my actual school for this reason.
Belenso T Yimkhiung’s laboratory
NT: Do you have any future plans for higher studies?
Belenso: I will be joining ITI, Kohima by June this year for 2 years training for Electrical & Electronics.
NT: Is there any other projects you are working on besides your recent innovation?
Belenso: Yes! Currently I am also working on two projects – Rain Water Filtration and Water Level Indicator.
Water level indicator machines are already available but after testing different water level indicators, I am not satisfied with their results. Therefore, I am working to make a better version of it.
Read more: Pungro Town’s genius in the making
