September 12, 2006	Tuesday	Sha'aban 18, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, Sept 11: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) will provide Rs6 million to the local automobile industry for developing Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT), which will help improve vehicles’ fuel consumption.

According to a statement, the HEC’s contribution would make up for 80 per cent of the project cost, while the remaining 20 per cent would be borne by the local industry.

The research project has been made possible under the HEC’s University-Industry Technology Support programme which aimed at fostering tangible cooperation between academia and industry for capitalising on emerging international demands of products and processes in continuous manufacturing.

The CVT concept will include the schematic design of both electrical and mechanical systems. CVT is promising because of its high efficiency and ability to constantly run engine in its minimum fuel consumption range.

Though CVT is not a new concept and has been tried by various automotive companies in past, results were not too satisfactory as it demanded improved mechanical design as well as extremely complex control system. This has only been made possible recently.

The current research will consist of mechanical development of CVT and more importantly the development of a state-of-the-art control system.

This control system would be of open architecture-type modular unit to ensure that the same unit after reprogramming caters to a wide variety of vehicles such as contemporary vehicles using engine management system and the basic ones like auto-rickshaw.

The University-Industry Technology Support programme focuses on the industrial sectors wherein the country is already a major contributor to world trade.

Areas where there is high potential for international trade at a competitive level along with sectors that need development both for local and international consumption also fall within its purview.

Financial grant is awarded on competitive merit by the HEC to promising industrial research projects of direct relevance to current needs of the industry to be carried out in Pakistan by scientists of public-sector universities and degree-awarding institutions in collaboration with professionals from the local industry.

The purpose of these grants is to promote scientific research in applied sciences and to strengthen the indigenous capacity for industrial competition in the world market.