‘Smart-Tech Will Solve India's Energy Crisis With the Help of BLDC Technology’

The current consumer market trends in 2019 have been a breakthrough year for IoT devices designed for the smart homes of tomorrow.  It is estimated that by 2025, over 55 billion devices will be in use globally—across smart homes and businesses. With a growing population of 1.37 billion, India accounts for about 25% of the global energy demand. The need for energy-efficient alternatives has been garnering interest to mitigate the global energy crisis. Use of BLDC technology in smart devices isn’t just another technological innovation, but also a smart futuristic approach and a revolution in the smart homes market. Market leaders in the smart technology sector are encouraging families individuals to save on electricity, thus solving India's energy crisis. 

Ex-IITians – Manoj Meena ( CEO) &  Sibabrata Das (COO) of Atomberg Technologies, understood the challenge of the energy crisis in India and took up the initiative to do in-depth research on motor efficiency. In the course of time, they discovered that India’s energy crisis can be solved through innovative smart BLDC technology and IoT devices.

In a  candid interaction with Sibabrata Das, COO of Atomberg Technologies, Faiz Askari of SMEStreet found some key market insights on how can India’s BLDC-powered Smart Home devices save electricity consumption.

Faiz Askari: How is the shift to using BLDC-powered devices helped in saving electricity?

Sibabrata Das: Smart IoT fans, integrated with BLDC technology are energy efficient and enable in lower power consumption of 28W as compared to 65-70W of energy consumption. They basically use 1/3rd electricity and runs three times longer as compared to an inverter. BLDC-powered smart fans help the Indian consumers to cut down on 65% of electricity i.e. Rs 1000- Rs 1500 per household each year.

We can say we have easily saved more than 27-28 gigawatt-hour units in four years by encouraging aspirational consumers to install BLDC-powered smart fans. Another interesting fact is that consumers are aware of the increase in electricity bills. Millennials and middle-class families have now interested in new innovative technology. Research has also allowed us to find out that if there is a shift of  50% of normal induction motor to BLDC-powered devices, then every year you have the potential to save more than 1500 gigawatt power of electricity. 

Energy conservation has been a top priority and it has become a public movement because of three reasons- Increase in the awareness about energy conservation, cost viability and the initiatives taken up by the government. Besides this, what are the factors influencing most in energy adoption and conservation?

Individuals have not only started understanding the importance of energy conservation, but also the importance of cost savings in terms of electricity bills. Whether it is a fan or any other appliance,  the launch of any new technology generally results in higher costs. Additionally, the supply is limited, and R&D is high. This results in technology adoption by 5%-6% of the total population. However, in order to increase and create an impact in the lives of consumers’ lives and create a market trend, market leaders in the smart tech sectors should also focus on bringing down the cost.

There has been a lot of focus towards solar power generation and storage. Does Atomberg have any focus towards that?

We definitely try to connect with energy consultants in the solar industry and influencer management programs as well. One of our first clients has a school in Maharashtra.  This school purchased almost five hundred fans because they wanted to shift to solar. We also participated in a scheme of UP where we supplied 4000 fans to them.

IoT plays a role in your products. How do you integrate sensors into your appliances?

Since the BLDC motors we use are energy efficient, there is no heating. This allowed us to integrate electronics and remote control applications into our product. In April 2019 we launched IoT based products in the market. We integrated a WiFi module with the fan. This allows users to control their fans with their smartphones.  

We, at Atomberg, strongly believe that IoT solves certain problems and adds some value to the consumer’s life. It is a very common problem that the temperature drops early morning and people need to wake up to reduce the fan speed. Our temperature sensor is in the R&D phase. This sensor controls the speed of the fan as per the detected ambient temperature. Ceiling fans with a temperature sensor can command ACs at what speed it needs to work. This is facilitated by an algorithm that is integrated into the fan. This, in turn, contributes to overall comfort and bigger electricity savings as one doesn’t need to run the AC at 22 degrees all night and get better comfort at 24 degrees instead. This algorithm will bring comfort to users in the next few months i.e.March or April 2020.

On which platforms are these smart BLDC products available?

Atomberg Technologies, as a brand, started selling ceiling fans online on e-commerce channels like Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal,  and also through our own website. We saw a high preference for the product on these channels from both metro and non-metro cities.  More than 35% of the ceiling fans are being sold online. In addition to the online channels, we have almost 1400 counters opened in metro cities like Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, etc. Through Institutional tie-ups, we are selling directly to Indian railways, hospitals, colleges, etc which includes 25% of our total sales.