Eng’g Professors Road Test Alumnus’ Hybrid Car Invention
A graduate of Silliman University had professors at the College of Engineering and Design (CED) test his patented technology that converts ordinary vehicles into hybrid cars.
Prototype testing was done on a Volkswagen (VW) Beetle. The hybridized version was then road tested recently around Dumaguete, Tanjay and Zamboanguita by a group of engineers from the College of Engineering and Design, headed by Dean Dr. Tessie Cabije.
It was reported that the hybridized VW Beetle was found to travel up to 26 kilometers per liter of gasoline, or 60 miles per gallon. In its original state, the VW Beetle had a consumption of 30 miles per gallon, which is half its fuel efficiency after hybridization.
The technology is known as the “Belloso method”, named after the inventor, Dr. Gregorio M. Belloso, who graduated from Silliman for his high school diploma in 1952 and his Pre-Med degree in 1955. Dr. Belloso is the president of Belloso Motor Co. in Delaware, United States, a company he founded together with Engr. Telesforo M. Belloso Jr., another Sillimanian who graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1953.
According to the company, the “Belloso method” does not require a specially designed transmission or a specially manufactured down-sized fuel-efficient gasoline engine.
“What it does is to convert an existing non-hybrid vehicle inexpensively into a hybrid vehicle by reducing the piston displacement of the existing engine and by installing an electric motor and extra batteries into the engine compartment and by using a patented means to couple the electric motor to the existing power train,” the company explained.
A hybrid vehicle is driven by two different sources of power. These vehicles are said to be environment-friendly as they produce less emissions and aim for higher fuel economy.
CED is exploring how it could develop or adopt a similar technology. Together with Dr. Cabije in assessing the technology are engineers Ruilo Ignacio, Jaychris Georgette Onia and Maria Lorena Tuballa.
