>> back to News

e-Cool, a locally-manufactured gadget which can bring down the temperature inside a parked car, is a hot item overseas. The award winning-gadget, which will be available in August, has also caught the eye of several foreign car manufacturers. A Japanese automobile company is testing the product on its models sold in the Middle East while Daihatsu, which assembles cars in Malaysia, has already placed orders for the gadget.

The palm-sized patented electronic devie has been tested and certified by SIRIM to cool down the interior of a car by 20 degree Celsius. The simple gadget, which can be fitted behind the glove compartment, activates the air-conditioner's ventilation fan when it detects a temperature rise in a parked car. The gadget draws in air from outside and pushes the compressed air out. "As cars are not completely sealed, hot air can escape through the boot, windows and door seams," said its designer and chief executive officer of DAG Electrophonic Sdn Bhd, Darren Aster Gunasekera. "This eliminates the so-called greenhouse effect. As a result of air circulation, it cools down the car." Tests conducted by companies using the gadget by the companies using the gadget in the past six months showed that it could achieve a temperature drop of between 10 and 20 degree Celsius. He said e-Cool "reduces the hot air trapped inside the parked vehicle." A car parked under the hot sun can reach up to 60 degree Celsius.

Gunasekera said the gadget is not battery consuming. "It only works on 0.5 amp. The cabin lights or signal lights consume 20 times more power." He said the gadget automatically stops when the temperature drops below 40 degree Celsius. "The temperature sensor has dual functions. It also acts as a battery indicator to alert the drivers when the battery is weak."

Gunasekera said the gadget has been launched in six countries - the United States, China, Korea, Singapore, Indonesia and France - in the last four months. "We are talking to local car manufacturers, should they be interested in installing the gadget in their vehicles." He said they were also planning to distribute e-Cool commercially so that it could be purchased in accessory shops.

The gadget, which is fitted with a customised integrated circuit component, takes about 30 minutes to be installed at a workshop and can be fitted under three minutes at a car assembly plant. It is designed to fit almost any model. Gunasekera said the company outsourced the manufacturing of the gadget to a factory in Penang. "We are producing 30,000 units a month and anticipate a bigger output in the coming months."

The e-Cool invention has won Gunasekera a bronze award at the World Inventions exhibition in Geneva, Switzerland, in May. He also bagged the silver award in an invention and innovation competition at the Science and Technology Expo organised by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment last July.