The Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering continued to actively modernize its laboratories not only with the grants mainly from Ministry of Human Resource Development but also through sponsored research funding from AICTE, CSIR, DST, MNES etc. With the assistance of the grants from MHRD several important equipment such as Engine Dynometer, Micro-manometer, Surface Profiler, Ultrasonic Drilling Machine, Wire Cut EDM and Wear and Friction Testing Machine were acquired which have considerably changed the face of the laboratories and have boosted research and consultancy activities in the Department. Though several of the faculty members retired during the academic year, yet the department continued to actively pursue research and development and consultancy work in not only conventional areas like Computer Aided Design, Computer Aided Manufacturing, Vehicle Dynamics, Noise Control, Tribology, Metal Casting, Quality Engineering, Regrigeration and Air Conditioning, Solar Energy and Non-Traditional Machining etc. but also opened new areas of research such as Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems, Agent Based Manufacturing, Dynamic Rescheduling and Robotics. Faculty members have continued to publish research papers in the referred journals and conference proceedings and attending various national and international conferences and organizing short term courses. Taking advantage of the MoU with foreign universities, a short term course on ‘Rail Vehicle Dynamics' was organized jointly by the Department and by inviting Dr. Mats Berg, Head of the Division of Railway Technology, Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden.
The faculty members have guided Ph.D. work and M.Tech. dissertations and B.Tech. projects work of the students in areas ranging from Solar Energy, Noise Control, Computer Aided Manufacturing, Computer Aided Engineering, Web Based Product Development, Quality & Reliability Engineering, Abrasive Flow Machining, Vibration Diagnostics and Robotics. The quality of the B.Tech. projects was much better than that of the previous years.
The sponsored research projects in the area of Bonding of Polymers, Solar Energy, Ultrasonic Drilling, Modelling of CNG Engine to name a few are being handled in the Department. Through the M.Tech. and Ph.D. research work, Abrasive Flow Machining and Electro Chemical Wire Drawing Set-ups have been developed in the Department.
Major Sponsored Researches and Consultancy Projects
Near Net Shape Manufacturing of Metal Matrix Composite through Investment Casting Process. PI : B.K. Mishra
Metal Matrix Composites are an important class of engineering material with application in aerospace, automotive and other strategic areas. These engineering materials have outstanding mechanical properties and desirable physical properties. These materials are not being extensively used because of their difficult processing and excessive processing cost. Automotive industry is on the threshold of picking up metal matrix composites in many applications. But these applications are delayed mainly because of limitations in processing technology capable of producing intricate automotive parts at low cost. Investment casting is well established manufacturing method for casting intricate shapes. The prime objective of this project is to manufacture near net shape casting of metal matrix composite through investment casting process. The scope of the proposed project is to generate technical know-how for suitable near net shape manufacturing technology for Al alloy based ceramic reinforced composites for automotive applications.
Channel Heat up Experiments: Ballooning in Accidental Coolant Loss in Nuclear Reactor. PI: P.K. Sahoo
In case of an accidental coolant loss in a nuclear reactor, the reactor is shutdown immediately. The temperature of the reactor, however, rises at a rate of 3°C per second due to decay effect of the radioactive nuclear fuel. With the above rate of temperature rise, the reactor can reach the melting point of the cladding material leading to structural failure and exposure of radioactive materials to the environment. Such a case is the worst kind of accidental scenario one can visualize in a nuclear reactor. Utmost care must be taken to avoid such an accidental scenario. The above project aims at simulating the ballooning of pressure tube at the time of accidental coolant loss in the nuclear reactor. The behavior of this tubes will be noted at different temperatures of pressure tube and at different rates of temperature rise of pressure tube as well, while the calandria tube will be maintained at the temperature of about 60- 70°C. These data will be used to validate PTCREEP and HEATCATS code available in BARC. In addition to the above, the contact conductance between pressure tube (PT) and calandria tube (CT) will also be determined. The information obtained through this work will be quite helpful for the future development of nuclear reactors for power generation.
