A solar blower has been developed based on stack effect using parabolic cylinder. It gave 50 cfm of air. However, with further improvement its capacity has been doubled to 103 cfm more than "Wolf" portable electric blower. This has application in ventilation and crop drying.

It was developed to treat the sugarcane seeds with heat treatment through steaming. This prevents red-rot, shoot rot, dwarfing and drying of sugarcane.

The evaluation of a multi rack domestic solar collector indicated stagnation temperature of 50.8°C at an average ambient temperature of 22.9°C. Its evaluation for drying of cauliflower, Amla and chilies revealed on an average drying time reduction of 31%, 49% and 42% respectively as compared to open sun drying. The qualities of the dried product were found to be superior to open sun dried product.

Three types of flat plate solar collectors have been evaluated for getting solar heated air. An unshielded flat plate solar collector with deflectors in the air duct has been found less expensive to construct and maintain at the same time giving air heating comparable to shielded flat plate collectors of conventional design and hence adopted for agricultural applications requiring 8-10°C temperature rise in ambient air.

The traditional mud grain storage structures can be made strong, durable, thermal proof and moisture proof by the use of Ipomea Cornea stalks as a reinforcing material. The plant grows extensively in Odisha as a wild growing plant. By proper drying treatment and systematic study of its mechanical and thermal behaviour it can be used as a free of cost reinforcing material for making strong simple mud storage structure for small marginal farmers of the country.

The performance of a mud grain storage structure of I.M.T. capacity constructed by using ipomea cornea plant stalks as reinforcing material and filled with Bengal gram (Cicer ari-etinum) was tested for 184 days of storage period. The structure proved to be very sound against any structural failure or defects. Impomea stalks used in its fabrication were found to possess high strength weight ratio and good decay resistance quality. The structure emerged excellent against weather and water proofing. The rodent could not damage the stored grain.

A simple low cost 750 kg capacity onion storage structure made of bamboos and Ipomea stalks was developed and tested at farmers level. It requires less space, has better aeration facility and onions can safely be stored for 5 to 6 months.

The appropriate design of a community grain storage complex-cum processing centre for rural area is not at all available. A model for construction of community grain storage complex and a conceptual design of a processing centre was developed to meet the storage requirement and post harvest processing need of an average village with a total storage capacity of 135 MT annually.

Water-hyacinth via anaerobic digestion is reported to generate biogas. This utilizes a waste material (obnoxious weed) producing a valuable gas methane. Waste water tanks and ponds generate huge quantity of water-hyacinth. The process kinematics was studied to decide the design parameters of reactors.

It converts processed fire wood and agro residues into a fuel gas called producer gas. The combustion of the fuel gas is more convenient and efficient than the direct combustion of biomass in solid farm. The gasifier is portable, batch type with biomass holding capacity of 20kg. It operates on forced draft mode by a 0.35 kW electric air blower.. The gas burner is atmospheric aspirated type.

The gasifier was operated using dry processed firewood, Ipomea & Lantana stalks in application of water heating, grain roasting, deep-frying of food and mentha oil distillation. The conversion efficiency of 65% to 76% was observed at gasifier fuel consumption rate of 11 to 16 kg/h. The gasifier was found suitable for replacing use of fuel oil or electricity in process heating applications. About 3 to 3.5 kg of processed biomass is required to save 1 litre of fuel oil.

A 10 kW wood-based gasifier system operated to run a 10 hp diesel engine revealed an average diesel substitution of 68 per cent under long term operation of the system, at an average wood consumption of 7.2 kgh-1. About 6 kg of wood was required to save 1 litre of diesel. The cost of the 10 kW gasifier plant is approximately Rs.15,000/-

A 3.5 kW rice husk gasifier operated to run a 5 hp diesel engine revealed an average diesel saving of 60 per cent under long term operation at the average rice husk consumption rate of 8.5 kg h-1. About 13 to 15 kg rice husk was required to save 1 liter of diesel.

The gasifier operates under the chimney effect without the need of electricity and converts processed firewood and agro residues in fuel gas. It has high conversion efficiency with no emission of fly ash. The gasifier is suitable for industries involved in large scale crop or grain drying; processing of food, timber and chemicals and where continuous process heating of longer duration is required.

The system was operated using processed fire wood, Lantana and Ipomea stalks, and briquetted fuel in laboratory and in a amla processing industry. Conversion efficiency of 76% to 82% was observed at specific gasification rate of 105 to 140 kg/m2-h with maximum flame temperature of 860oC.The estimated cost of the system is Rs.50000/-. About 3kg of fuel was required to save 1 litre of fuel oil. The system was found suitable for replacing use of fuel oil and electricity in process heating.

Six numbers of modified biogas plants- one modified Janta and five numbers of modified Deenbandhu design were constructed and evaluated, live stock farm and at three villages of Panagar block respectively. The plants were commissioned as usual by charging with 1:1 mixture of dung and water. After the stabilization of the plant operation over a period of about two months, the plants were daily charged with fresh cattle dung of 16-18% total solid content without mixing water at the feed rate of 25 kg per m3 of plant capacity. The monitoring of the plants revealed increase in gas yield up to 30% as compared to conventional designs and daily water requirement reduced to almost nil or maximum of about 25% of common plant during summer; easier slurry handling, and reduced feeding time.

The long term operation of 20 kW gasifier-engine-alternator systems showed diesel saving in the range of 58% to 67% at the electrical load of 8-13 kW with sized wood block consumption rate of 10-15Kg h-1. The tar & dust particulate in the cleaned gas were observed in the range of 25-50 mg m-3. The water requirement for gas purification was observed to be between 45 to 60 l m-1. The water requirement for gas purification was found to be high. Further, the water analysis of recycled water at the end of 6 hour of system operation indicated COD of over 10,000-ppm total solid content of over 6000ppm & pH of 3.9. The need of a gas cleanup & cooling unit with reduced water requirement was felt. The continuous presence of a operator cum labor was found necessary for the operation of the system. The auxiliary electrical power requirement of around 2kW was found for blower & water pump operation.

The operational and maintenance cost of the generation system declined from Rs. 10 per kWh at a load of 10 kW to Rs. 7.94 per kWh at a load of 18 kW

The evaluation of portable updraft biomass stove of PDKV design indicated satisfactory performance with thin dry wood sticks. The testing of updraft biomass stove indicated thermal efficiency in the range of 21 to 26% and almost negligible concentration of CO in the surrounding working atmosphere.