While the domestic market witnesses the import of several automobile fuel-saving-cum-emission-control devices, a homemade product, Hydro Drive from Hydrodrive Systems and Controls (HSC), has entered the Philippines market. The Chennai-based company is also looking at China for a possible technology sell-off.

''We will be soon shipping around 5,000 Hydro Drives to the Philippines as the first shipment numbering 500 units has been sold out,'' says HSC chairman and managing director S Gopalakrishnan. ''Also, negotiations are on to sell the technology to a Chinese company as managing a joint venture sitting in Chennai will be difficult.''

Outwardly a simple cylindrical product with two wires dangling to be connected to the battery and a small nozzle for fitting it to the fuel line, Hydro Drive is an automobile emission controller as well as fuel economiser that works by microwave heating of the fuel (petrol, diesel), thereby altering the fuel's molecular structure for optimum burning.

Gopalakrishnan says the tests done by the Metropolitan Transport Corporation, Chennai (the city transport corporation), the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, vehicle dealers and individuals have confirmed that by fitting Hydro Drive, vehicular emissions get reduced at actual fuel / road conditions, while improving mileage. ''The burning of the fuel and emissions are interrelated.''

According to him the company has sold around 7,000 units since the launch of the product six years ago.

The magnetic therapy products
In the meantime, the US-based International Research and Development, which produces fuel-saving and emission-control devices, has appointed the Pune-based Indian Electric Company as its distributor for India and Bangladesh.

The product and its variant, FuelMAX and Super FuelMAX, are magnetic frequency resonators containing neodymium super conductors. The two-part small device is fitted over the fuel line - before the carburettor or injection system - to create a resonated or magnetic field.

The hydrocarbon chain or molecules will be fractured when the fuel passes through the resonated or magnetic field for optimum combustion and better engine performance. But the product is not effective in vehicles fired by natural gas.

While FuelMAX, costing Rs 1,640, is recommended for vehicles with an engine capacity up to 1,500cc, Super FuelMAX (Rs 2,500) is for higher capacity engines up to 3,500 cc. A combination these two products are recommended for engines having a much higher capacity.

According to Suresh Jotwani, executive vice-president (engineering and business development), the Indian company is in the process of appointing dealers for the MAX products.

The other MAX products that work on the same principle are PowerMax (preventing sedimentation of salts in water pipes), HeatMAX (reduces oil consumption in home heaters), BatteryMAX (battery life enhancer) and SoapMAX (a water conditioner to reduce detergent usage). And finally FishMAX, a battery powered fishing accessory that is supposed to attract fish due to positive electrical charge in the water.