PALS 5 - PowerGear Limited, Industrial Visit

PALS 5 members at PowerGear Limited, Tambram MEPZ facility

PALS team members and faculty members from six PALS5 partner institutes had the opportunity to visit the MEPZ Tambram facility of PowerGear Limited.

Dr. K Subramaniam, an alumnus of IIT batch 1995, and CEO of Power Gear Limited, gave a walk-through of the process in place for the various systems such as Busducts pay control panels, instrument transformers, generator terminal enclosure, high current isolators and more that are manufactured and exported to over 55 countries.

An Overview of the Energy Industry

Dr. Subramaniam gave a bird’s eye view of the research / development phase activities and shared information on manufacturing E-houses, generator accessories, and the application process in place. He also explained the type of certifications and tests the products had to undergo to meet with the expected international standards.

The enthusiastic team from Power Gear led by General Manager Mr. Venkataraman gave the visitors a tour of their facility which enriched their knowledge of the energy industry. Answers to questions such as: How lightning is simulated under factory conditions? How an electrical problem is more a thermal and mechanical problem? How processes need to be certified? etc, were provided with the scientific explanations behind them.

The visitors found it to be a great learning experience visiting a facility that was producing quality products under the leadership of an alumnus from IIT.

Theory to Practice (T2P) Lecture

Theory to Practice Lecture, VIT, Chennai Campus 

The First Theory to Practice lecture, an initiative of PALS 5, was conducted at VIT, Chennai campus on September 30th, 2015. Mr. Thiru Srinivasan, Champion for T2P lectures, explained in brief the purpose of PALS, the format of T2P and how it aims to address technical aspects as requested by the partner institutes.

The audience included a major group of students from the host campus and students and faculty from other partner institutes such as Agni, DCE, and Hindustan University. Dr. Jagannathan, Dean Research, welcomed the gathering.

Ms. Angeline Elavarasi, invited Professor Dr. Ligy Philip from the Civil Engineering department, IIT Madras and the contingent from PALS including Mr.Thiru Srinivasan; Mr. Gautham, Mr. Krishnamurti Rao, and Ms. Anuradha to the dias.

VIT University, Chennai Campus

Remediation of Hexavalent Chromium Contamination

The case discussed in the lecture was on Remediation of Accidental Spill from Industry Hexavalent Chromium Contamination of Soil and Aquifer.

Mr. Srinivasan presented the case on behalf of Mr. Ali Akbar, proprietor of Radiant Technologies. Hexavalent Chromium being highly soluble in water and a hazardous carcinogenic chemical was contaminating the ground water making it heavily toxic and unfit for use. The pollution control board asked Radiant Technologies to resume services only after proving that they had taken enough measures to stop the contamination in ground water resources.

Mr. Ali Akbar sought counsel from IITM IC&SR and it was here that Dr. Ligy Philip and her research team found a solution for the problem by using chromium reducing bacteria that existed in the site. The team isolated and modelled chromium reducing bacteria in labs by calculating the spread on a periodic basis. They conducted the pilot lab test at a real site near Ranipet and got better results on ground as they were assisted not only by chromium reducing bacteria but also iron and sulphur reducing bacteria that existed on the ground.

 

Mr. Thiru Srinivasan, Champion for T2P lectures and Dr. Ligy Philip, Prof. Civil Engineering Dept 

Innovative Solutions with No Side Effects

Dr. Ligy Philip emphasised on the point that the tests taken showed that Chromium (VI) had come to a negligible level for being detected and there were no side effects. Apart from Mr. Ali Akbar’s Radiant, the solution has been applied to two other cases in Delhi and Gurgaon.

The lecture inspired engineering students and faculty to perceive engineering as an application of interdisciplinary facets. Students came up with many interesting questions such as "How will rain affect the permeable zones?", "Why Bacteria and not some other form of microbes?" etc which were addressed by Dr. Ligy Philip.

The event concluded with a vote of thanks by Dr. Kalyani Desikan, Dean Academics, VIT Chennai Campus. He also gave away mementos to the speakers and the PALS team members.