AJITH KUMAR: PATENTS GALORE IN THE LOCOMOTIVE ARENA OF us
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| Ajith Kumar, Wabtec, USA |
| |
Ajith Kumar of
Thiruvananthapuram, who is the Vice President, Technology Innovation at
Wabtec,
the giant US locomotive company, recently surpassed its legendary
inventor
George Westinghouse in the number of patents held: 362 to be exact,
against 361
of Westinghouse’s. At 71, he may have
some doing to surpass the 513 patents held by Thomas Edison. But he bubbles with enthusiasm of a
20-year-old.
His father was a
mathematics professor and mother a headmistress. As
a child in the 1950s, they admitted him into
a rural school outside Corporation where the boy was assessed to be
competent
for 3rd grade, thus, saving two years. Later,
of course, they got him transferred to
a Corporation school.
He graduated in
Electrical Engineering from College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram
in 1972
with record grade. He later worked for
three years in the newly-formed Keltron of Kerala Government.
His dream of
going to US
for higher studies materialized when the local Rotary Club provided him
scholarship for 1 year of his studies in Stanford University. As he was unsure of the monetary source for
the second year, he finished all his credits and projects in one year
itself. He had hoped to pocket the
first-year
final semester fee by finishing his studies before that, but the
University
said he can graduate only at the end of the year, and after paying the
final
semester fees.
After
graduation, he
joined GE, where he continues to serve.
His main contributions are in three areas: one, in
converting Direct
Current (DC) traction to Alternating Current (AC); two, trip optimizer
that optimizes
the dynamic breaking based on tonnage, route and speed limits; third,
the
ongoing invention of battery-operated locomotives.
His advice to
young
engineers in India: look at technologies around them and come up with
practical
solutions.
Sujith John (text), The Times of India,
September 28, 2022.
