From Thomas Edison to Alexander Graham Bell, famous

inventors have not only captured popular imagination but

affected the lives of generations to come. Cambodia is no
different with enquiring minds always on the search for new
and innovative ideas. Michael Sloan talks to five local inventors about their eureka moments. Photography by Dylan
Walker and Conor Wall.

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Angkor Car | Nhean Phaloek

Inventor Nhean Phaloek leans back and
delivers a strong punch to the cushioned seat
of his prototype Angkor car. Suddenly the
dashboard lights up and a high-pitched voice
remonstrates with him.
Why do you hit me so hard? it inquires.
Good question, but a better one is: why does
the car talk in the first place?
Nhean, a Phnom Penh mechanic who has
been attracting international attention for his
homemade vehicle, is in no hurry to answer.
As he points out, talking is one of the least
impressive things the Angkor does.
It is equipped with palm recognition
technology and keyless ignition, as well as
a habit of getting snippy, and is on track to
become the first passenger vehicle invented
and produced in Cambodia with a factory
opening later this year.
The self-taught inventor first hit headlines
in 2003 when he produced his first prototype,
assembling a hand-welded fiberglass exterior
around a Honda C100 engine. His family was
instrumental in giving him the idea.
It started in 2000 when I took my daughter
to drive a bumper car at a fairground. She
came home and asked me if it was possible
to build one to drive around in, he explains.
I owned a garage so I tried to look at all
the different techniques for manufacturing
them and in 2003 I produced a prototype for
my daughter. But she doesnt drive it anymore
because people look at her strangely so she
feels embarrassed, he jokes.
Between 2002 and 2010, Nhean
constructed two additional prototypes before
the vehicle was ready for production. The
diminutive car turned heads whenever he
drove it in public.
Many people would ask where I bought it,
he says. One person offered $100,000, but I
wouldnt sell as I made it by hand.
Current Angkor models have a 600cc
engine and are capable of top speeds of
100 kilometres an hour. With prices starting
at $5,000, Nhean and his financial backers
hope to produce 1,500 to 5,000 cars before
2013 and propel families onto the road who
previously couldnt afford to drive.
While not all of the new Angkor Cars will
have the extra features of his prototype,
including its facility for speech, Nhean says hes
confident the consumer model will catch on.
I think people have a willingness to own
the car and drive the car because it is a
symbol of Cambodia and they are proud
we can produce it. Its about Cambodians
supporting Cambodians.

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The Peacehammer | Sem Sovantha and Gary Christ

As his men fanned out into a deserted
Khmer Rouge camp, captain Sem
Sovantha paused to kick aside a bag lying
at his feet. What happened next on that
otherwise unremarkable day in 1990 will be
forever etched in his memory.
I remember when it exploded. It wasnt
noisy; it was like a small boom. I flew into
the air with smoke everywhere and I could
taste the bitterness of the TNT in my mouth.
The anti-personnel mine buried
underneath the bag cost Sem both of his
legs and ended his military career, but he

counts himself lucky to have survived. I

thought I was dead. When I could see
again I realised one of my legs was gone
and one was limp, he says.
Today Sem heads the Angkor
Association for the Disabled. Parked
outside the charitys office is the groups
contribution to the governments goal of
ridding Cambodia of mines by 2020.
Dubbed the Peacehammer, the
refurbished tractor uses a hydraulic crane
to methodically lift and drop steel weights
over a suspected minefield. The weights

explode the mines and absorb their impact,

without hurting the driver - who is encased
in protective clothing. Down the line, it will
be remote controlled.
"When you think about it, a land mine
is activated by a footstep. So that's what
this machine does, only with ten times the
force," says AAD volunteer Gary Christ,
whos worked with Sem to develop the
Peacehammer since 2008.
Cobbled together out of scrap metal,
the prototype cost $18,000 to assemble
and is significantly cheaper than demining
machines currently used in Cambodia,
which retail for upwards of $100,000.
It is intended to complement rather than
replace existing demining techniques,
explains Christ, and can quickly clear a safe
corridor in a minefield to allow human deminers to move in. The machine is due to
undergo further testing by the Cambodian
Mine Action Centre later this year before it
gets the all-clear to begin operating.
I would like to see the machine provide
work for AAD members in helping to
assemble new ones, because when people
with disabilities have a job, they have some
money and theyre smiling. If not, when you
look at their faces, theyre not so happy,
says Sem.

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Recycled Biodiesel | Tim Waterfield

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Tim Waterfield is no mad scientist, but

step inside his homemade biodiesel
refinery and you might be momentarily
tempted to think otherwise.
The Siem Reap centre comes
complete with vats of bubbling
chemicals and is the headquarters
of Naga Biofuels. It pumps out an
estimated 7,000 litres of biodiesel a
month, most of it manufactured from
used cooking oil donated by local
hotels and restaurants.
Waterfields simple, cheap and
environmentally friendly approach to
sustainable energy has won Naga
Biofuels a legion of local fans since it
was founded in 2006.
While other synthetic fuels like
ethanol require machines to be
modified for use, Waterfields biodiesel
can run in everything from cars, boats
and generators.
Were converting the cooking oil
into biodiesel and then its good to go
in any diesel engine, he explains. You
can mix it with regular fuel at any ratio
and it works.
The only byproducts from the
conversion process are soapy
water and excess glycerin - which
is then sold on to local mechanics
as a degreaser for cleaning car and
motorcycle parts. The biodiesel is
trucked across country and sold to
NGOs, at significantly discounted rates
compared to regular diesel.
Waterfield says he was inspired
by a six month bicycle tour across
Southeast Asia in 2001 after which
he began dabbling with renewable
energy back home in the US. It was
essentially not wanting to support
the big oil companies and the
problems that were resulting from
using petroleum products, Waterfield
explains.
With plans to increase production at
the refinery to 10,000 litres per month
by next year, Waterfield is looking for
more suppliers and to partner with
NGOs working in vulnerable areas like
lakes and national parks.
With fuel prices continuing to
rise in Cambodia, he sees a bright
future ahead for synthetic fuels.
This is real and it works, he says.
Its environmentally friendly, socially
responsible and financially viable.

Affordable Water Pumps | Cham Sela

Cham Sela never intended to
revolutionise life in his village: he just
wanted to do something nice for his
mother. I wanted to build a hand pump
for her so she didnt need to carry the
water in buckets, he explains.
While a high school student in Siem
Reap, he examined several water pumps
on the market and ruled each one out as
either too costly or difficult to maintain.
He decided the best option was to design
and build his own.
The end product was easy to install and
fix, and up to ten times cheaper than other
alternatives on the market. It operates
much like a syringe. As the operator pulls
horizontally on a lever, the air pressure in a
pipe below increases and draws water up
to the surface.
You can use PVC pipes and rubber
from motorcycle tyres. A new one costs
about $100 for the drilling and materials,
five years ago it was just $60, he explains.
Unlike the more common India Mark
II pump, installed by aid agencies in
many rural villages and retailing at around

$1,000, Chams version is lightweight

and easy to fix. More importantly its parts
arent vulnerable to theft.
Since installing the original outside his
mothers home a decade ago, hes seen
imitations appear as far away as Kratie
province.
I just made one for my mum but it has
become an influenceother people in the
village saw that and started making the
same. I just gave them the idea, he says.
But Chams original pump has another
important difference. He deliberately built
it on the street outside the family house so
anyone could use it. As they pump water
for themselves, it diverts a third of the
water through a pipe that fills his mothers
water jars automatically each day.
Now a businessman, Cham still visits
his mother regularly. He says their close
relationship is still strong as ever.
I thought that she always tried to
make life easy for me, so I should do
something to help her, he says. It was
something small but Im glad its also
helping other people.

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MoonLight | Kamworks
Between last September and this
January more than 12,000 homes in
rural Cambodia lit up at night thanks
to the power of the sun.
Through a World Bank funded
project to provide energy to villagers
cut off from the national grid,
thousands of solar panels were
imported and assembled by social
enterprise Kamworks.
Its a huge project all over
Cambodia. Theyre 30 and 50 watt
systems which you can use for a
black and white television and some
lights, says Kamworks director
Jeroen Verschelling. Before people
had to use kerosene for lighting,
which is terrible. Its expensive, its
bad for your health and its a fire risk.
Based in Kandal province since
2006, Kamworks has also invented
an affordable solar device called the
MoonLight. Retailing for $25, the
small light is charged during the day
and emits a soft blue glow at night
that lasts anywhere from 4.5 to 40
hours depending on the setting.
Demand has grown significantly
since the first was assembled in
2008, according to Verschelling,
with devices now being exported to
Africa, Indonesia and Thailand.
Its fun because we assemble the
lanterns here in Kandal. The idea is
that by doing it here we build also
the expertise in the country. We see
theres a demand for solar in the rural
areas and we very much want to help
with that.
Continuing high electricity prices
and a fall in solar panel prices due
to better manufacturing techniques
has been a shot in the arm for the
Kingdoms burgeoning solar industry.
On a dollar to dollar basis its now
cost competitive for large factories to
switch to solar, he adds.
If we can produce electricity
at market rates then youre going
to see a lot more people switching
over, he says.

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