A Barnes schoolboy has been chosen from hundreds of youngsters to exhibit his invention at a science fair in London.

Rajiv Dua, who attends St Paul’s School in Barnes, designed a device that pours champagne without the bubbles spilling over the glass.

The 17-year-old inventor is taking part in the Big Bang Fair at London's ExCeL centre, which runs from March 14 to 17, and could be crowned UK Young Engineer of the Year.

He said: “I call it Champea. It works by CO2 displacement. You have your champagne bottle full of CO2 when you open it.

“You pump the CO2 in and it forces the champagne down a tube from the bottom of the champagne bottle because the champagne has nowhere else to go so it comes out of the bottle.

“As soon as the champagne comes out, it reduces the flow of CO2, which reduces the flow of the champagne so its stops it spilling over the glass – it combats the overspill.”

The student, who is studying maths, further maths, physics and chemistry at school, hopes to study engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

He said: “I see myself as an inventor, pushing into future technologies.”

The year 13 student is the only person from his school taking part in the Big Bang Fair.

He said: “It started off as a school project and then it got to a point where I was testing it and now I’m taking it to the Big Bang Fair.”

Rajiv is one of 450 students aged 11 to 18 who have pushed the boundaries of science and technology to experiment with new ideas in health, travel and household gadgets.

Mark Champkins, one of the judges of the competition and inventor-in-residence at the Science Museum, said: “The finalists of this year’s competition have produced some truly amazing projects that address issues close to their hearts.

“It’s fantastic to see such a passion among these finalists to transform their world for the better and this kind of thinking should be encouraged at every step as it plays an increasingly important part in the future growth of our economy.”