From: sl2k+@andrew.cmu.edu (Schitt Laowattana)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.thai
Subject: 2 cents worth opinions on S&TD in Thailand
Date: 2 Sep 92 08:42:27 GMT
Article-I.D.: andrew.gedCvne00WBMI3oCMM
Organization: Doctoral student, Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA


    I got this message from  Dr. Somnuk  Srivisarn (M.D), a Co-Founder
of S-A Technology, Inc.  I circulate this message to the net since it is
related to S&TD, in general.  I also circulate it to all of members of
the on-going brainstorming process for a new robotic center in
Thailand(FIBO).  If anyone want to be in the list of this group, please
e-mail me your name, address and your area of expertise.  Thanks

*****************************************************************************



Hello All :
    This is the first message I have posted.Khun S. Loawattana(DJ) is kindly
    forwarding this message to the internet BBS. I have only compuserve
    account(my internet address is 71011.   @compuserv.com), as a
    result I can only e-mail.  DJ is also kind enough to forward
    messages from Internet BBS to my compuserve e-mail box.
 
With regards to the acronym 'FIBO', I do not think that it will matter much.
    I don't care whether it is 'FIBO' or 'BOZO' or anything. As long
    as the organization serves its purposes and contributes to the
    our society(Ban rao). What concerns me most regarding 'FIBO' is
    the bureaucracy that DJ must deal with and the budget constraints.
    It is just mind boggling when I have to deal with the Thai bureaucracy.
    Although you require only a simple thing, you must put in a great deal
    of effort to achieve it.
    
Khun DJ still has a considerable amount energy and good intentions.
    I wish him the best of luck and wish him well.
 
I have been monitoring the messages, both questions answers and comments.
    Well, here is my 2 cents worth.
 
Last year, I visited Thailand with my family. We went Chiangmai. One of our
site visits was to Doi Intanon(the highest point in Thailand).On the way back
to Chiangmai, we stopped by Mae Klang waterfall. I was told in advance that
one small hydroelectric power plant was located there. I went to visit
this plant which I learned generated 50 Kwatts. This plant was donated by
the Chinese government(communist China). They redirected the waterway from
the waterfall to this small power plant. Inside, one can see that it is
indeed chinese made. Chinese letters were printed all over the control panels.
 
 
Let me tell you another story before I come back to this small hydroelectric
power plant.
 
In the 70's and 80's, as all of you know, Thailand was faced with
communist insurgence in the north and northeast. In the process of counter
attacking the communists both militarily and socially, the Thai army(Northern
3rd army division) had launched the efforts(believe it or not) to protect
and persuade the hill tribes to side with us. We built several roads
to strategic villages along the Thai-Laos border. We also sent agricultural
experts, etc. One of their tasks was to provide a renewable power source for
the hill tribes. Solar powered panels were installed to provide power for
water pumps and television sets for the small villages.
The energy was stored in a battery during the day. The reason for such
need at that time was that they were running out of forest since the hill
tribes depend on wood for their enegy source and had cut down trees
for agricultural uses. The solar panels were supplied by USAIDS program.
From what I know, small scale hydroelectric power plants were never implemente
d.
 
I am a firm believer in self-reliance. Anything that we can make ourselves,
we should develop on our own. We cannot count on or wait for hand outs. I thin
k
this is the technology that we should be able to develop. After seeing the
power plant donated by the chinese, I believe we have a good chance to
achieve that goal.
 
First of all, I am not an engineer. I am just an MD who is very interested
in Hi-tech. I am involved in the area of medical imaging for diagnositic
purposes. I also own small 2-person company specializing in Teleradiology
(digitizing and transferring digitalmedical images to remote site). We buy
hardware and develop software by ourselves. It began as a hobby.
Now, the product is good enough to sell in the near vicinity. We have regular
jobs(which bring in money than our hobby), so we are not able to market it
outside of our region.
 
I look at things in a simple and practical way.
 
Here is my proposal :
It involves 2 major areas: material sciences and engineering.
 
Our goal stems from the government's intention to supply a renewable power
source to the hill people in an ecological manner.
 
The S&T ministry should target industries, products or technologies to be
developed and must complete them.
 
Our aim is to build the small scale hydroelectric power plants for
the mountainous area to provide electric energy to the hill people.
 
The technology involved is a design engineer to design a water turbine.
Let us assume that we assign KMIT Bangmot(KMITB) to do the design.
The making of the turbine will also involve material sciences. According
to Khun Tawit,we should get the Royal Naval Dock to be the foundry of the
turbine prototype portion.
All of these projects will be funded by the S&T ministry.
The other technology involved would be the design of the generator
for the power plant.Let say that the S&T ministry allocates this
part to KMIT Lardkrabang (KMITL).
In the meantime, the survey engineer will find out where and what size
the power plant is needed.
 
What do we achieve up to this level? We should be able to design a water
turbine and know how to build one and with which materials. Granted,
knowledge of Turbine technologies are not as attractive as being able to
manufature a generator. However,this whole project will be implemented in
the real world. We will come away from the experience being able to use
what we learn in northern Thailand. Otherwise, the R&D will end up on the
shelf as it usually does.
 
The next step would be for the government to contract out private
companies to manufacture the product based on the specifications that we
have developed. Not only will it be the means of transferring our
own developed technology, it will also create jobs for the private sectors.
 
The government has to subsidize this project the same way MR KUKRIT
PRAMOJ did when he was the prime minister.As you all may remember,
he distributed 2500 million baht to rural areas of all the provinces of
Thailand several years ago. However, this will be more structured and
have goals in mind.
 
This has to be an organized project. It must be coordinated among several
organizations.
 
In my scenario, not only will we build small scale power plants for
the hill tribes using the technologies developed, but in the current global
trend this would be very ecologically sound. We can announce to
the world that we want to save  our forests. Two birds with one bullet.
 
I have more projects in mind, some of which I cannot put in writing in public.
 
Anybody interested in hearing of my project, e-mail me your phone #(I do not
care where it is in the world), and I will tell you personally.
 
This is just IMHO.
Thanks for reading this message.