KUALA LUMPUR 19 March 2007 - Final Year engineering students from University College Sedaya International (UCSI) once again stole the limelight when they won the Public Choice Award at the recent Engineering and Innovation Exhibition (EINIC) at Universiti Malaya. 

The winning invention, “Modular Socket” or known in short as MOST, was developed by the team headed by Low Tong Kong and his team members, Hiew Tian Wai, Chiew Ang Zee, Tan Aik Soon and Sugendran Palanisamy. 

The idea was first mooted by their lecturer and supervisor, Rodney Tan, who thought of an idea to help households that do not have enough power points for electrical products. 

“MOST is basically a power socket extension.” he explained. “This is a cost effective way of putting together as many sockets as one could wish. With this, consumers do not have to buy extra power extensions.”

This invention allows the users to add on any number of sockets to the existing MOST. There are also the E-Fuse, Surge Protector, e-Timer, RF Switch and the IR Switch. 

The main use of the e-Fuse is to set the power capacity of electrical sockets used daily. A major plus point is that the e-Fuse monitors electricity flow, and even when the circuit is overloaded, the E-fuse need not be replaced. 

“It has safety features that allow users peace of mind even when power surges occur,” he said. “The team also developed five other functional units that can be added to the MOST,” said Low. “The MOST provides flexibility to users and is user-friendly.”

Another group from UCSI won the LG Award for the GSM Power Metering System. The team led by Lee Chong Haw, Khong Poh Yee, Kean Chin Siang, Low Tong Kong and Sugendran Palanisamy was very excited when they bagged the much coveted award. 

According to Lee, the idea to develop this gadget came about when he observed the power meter reading personnel on his rounds. Lee decided to work on this invention to install a GSM unit at every power meter, in every home. Data from the GSM unit will be digitally transmitted to the billing centre of Tenaga Nasional Berhad, where it is processed and the billing statement will be sent to the user either via postal mail, short message services (SMS) or e-mail.

"Without prejudice to the rights of UCSI the information herein is correct at the time of printing and UCSI reserves the right to make amendments without prior notice."