World's first Solar Heated Tent for Indian Army by Sonam Wangchuk: Features, significance, benefits and uses

Why in News?

Recently the Chinese infiltration in the Galwan Valley has caused the Indian armed forces to be active and posted 24x7 in the soul chilling region.The temperatures reaching below -20 degrees in the region creates a lot of difficulty for the forces to stay in the region. HIAL or Himalayan Institute of Alternative Learning has been working on a special tent that can be heated through solar energy. It is a passive solar heated tent. Take a look at the details below. 

Who has invented the Solar Heated Tent?

Sonam Wangchuk has built a portable military tent that can be heated through solar panels and can seat 10 jawans at a time. Interestingly Sonam was the man behind the character of Phunsuk Wangdu in the bollywood movie '3 Idiots'. 

He is an education reformist and a scientist. 

WORLD'S FIRST SOLAR HEATED TENT
Thank u all for the overwhelming response to Ladakh's little gift for Indian Army. To answer your Qs about how it works I'm releasing a video at 11am on my YouTube channel. Please share it as an answer to #ClimateChange #MadeInIndia #ILiveSimply pic.twitter.com/xdhgedPoXw

— Sonam Wangchuk (@Wangchuk66) February 21, 2021

Significance of the Solar Heated Tent:

1. The tent would be portable and is heated by solar energy, which happens to be a renewable source of energy. 
2. Its usage would avoid tonnes of kerosene being used and imported from the Middle east. 
3. Also if there would be no burning of kerosene, there would be lesser pollution in the Himalayan regions. 
4. The army officers and personnel would be able to keep warm in temperatures as low as -14 degree centigrades. 

About the Passive Solar Heated Tent:

Structure:

1. The front end of the tent is called the Greenhouse section, which uses solar energy to be heated
2. The tent is not more than 30 kgs in weight.
3. The tent is specifically made portable keeping in mind the mountain tops and heights the soldiers have to walk.
4. The rear end has a sleeping chamber in which the soldiers can sleep during the nights 
5. The tent has a covering of a wind cheater on it to guard it from cold wind during winters. 
6. There is also a solar lounge on the front which is heated during the day and the soldiers can find sitting arrangements in it. However at night this area would not be warm. 

Working:

1. The solar tent requires sun rays to enter from the South to heat the walls built in the front chamber. This wall is made of polycarbonate which does not allow the solar rays to exit the chamber. 
2. The sleeping chamber is surrounded by an insulator too so that the heat does not leave the tent. 
3. The sleeping chamber is situated in the north of the tent. It is surrounded by insulator bags like those in sleeping bags. 
4. The round structure of the tent reduces the surface area and prevents loss of heat from it. 

Solar Heated Tent: Advantages for Indian Army

A new version of Aluminium would be also brought in the next few months. The tent costs around 5 lakh to the makers. It is still economical than the iron tents that are used by the army at present which costs almost 9 lakhs per piece to the army. 

The biggest advantage of the tent as informed by Sonam Wangchuk would be to the environment of the place as the Indian army burns down 1 lakh kilograms of fuel to generate heat in Ladakh which generates more than 3 lakh metric tonnes of CO2 in the atmosphere. This solar tent would provide enough warmth to the army personnels and would take care of their needs in the areas on no roofs.  

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