Science, technology and innovations in India

Varoon2

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With India eyeing record Steel exports in FY22, the Indian Steel Industry is quickly becoming hot property. Along with it, Sponge Iron, one of the essential raw materials used in steel productions, is bound to have a growing domestic demand. Accompanied by rising coal prices, there is tremendous room for technological and market development to satisfy the expected demand adequately.

At such a stage, a novel process to produce high-quality sponge iron that matches international standards have been developed by Subhanjan Mohanty, Founder of Involute Metal Powders. With 40 years of experience as a Chief Consultant in the Indian metallurgical industry and numerous patents, he has pioneered the technological development of various ferrous and non-ferrous metal powders.

Sponge Iron production usually employs the DRI Process, undertaking solid-state reduction of hematite ores with equal proportions of coal. The use of coal brings this about fired Rotary Kiln, with the environmental impact of the entire process putting Sponge Iron plants under ‘Red Category’ industries. These industries generally have a high pollution potential, alongside a risk of numerous health hazards. The use of Electrostatic Precipitators can subdue the environmental effect, although not to the required extent.

Involute Metal Powders, in their latest technological development, have created a process that reduces coal usage,
 

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CSIR develops indigenous Mechanized Scavenging System for Sewerage Maintenance

The cost-effective machine will be deployed in Metro and tier-2 and tier-3 cities


Posted On: 29 OCT 2021 2:09PM by PIB Delhi



Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) demonstrated the CSIR-CMERI, Durgapur developed indigenous Mechanized Scavenging System successfully at the premises of the CSIR-National Physical Laboratory.


Dr. Shaker C.Mande, DG,CSIR & Secretary, DSIR, Prof.(Dr.) Harish Hirani, Director, CSIR-CMERI, Durgapur, Prof. VenugopalAchanta, Director, NPL, Delhi,Ms Rupa Mishra IAS, JS, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs representatives from the three Municipal Corporations of Delhi, government officials, Engineers & industrialists were present on the occasion.


Dr. Shekhar C Mande said on the occasion that the development has happened on the directive of Prime Minister given at last CSIR Society Meeting and this device is ideally suited for metro cities like Delhi. Two more versions of machine have been developed for tier-2 and tier-3 cities. He requested the representatives of three Municipal Corporations of Delhi, Delhi Jal Board and Sulabh International to put this device into use so that society is benefitted.


Prof. (Dr.) Harish Hirani, Director CMERI Durgapur explained the effectiveness of indigenously developed mechanised scavenging systemto handle the blockage caused by plastic and other non-biodegradable domestic thrown-away items, debris, intrusion of tree roots, etc. He described the system novelties such as: "Utilisation of the slurry water for the jetting operation", "Self-propelled Post cleaning inspection system", "Disinfection of jetting pipe", "Built-in security features",etc.


The developed system is benchmarked with the market available system in India, and a number of features have been added which makes it first of its kind in India. The developed system is "very economic" and an important vehicle in Swachh Bharat Mission. The developed System will help the "Manual Scavengers" Skilling themselves on the latest technological advancements in Sewerage Maintenance Systems as well as enhance their efficiency, performance and safeguard them against intrusive pathogens. This will remove the Indignity from the Profession of Scavenging.The CSIR-CMERI developed machine is designed for up to 5000 people density i.e. best suitable up to 300 mm diameter and up to 100-meter length of sewer system.
 

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Low-cost process developed of synthesizing silver Nano-wires at large scale


Posted On: 29 OCT 2021 5:35PM by PIB Delhi



A team of Indian scientists and research students have developed a process for large-scale manufacturing of nano-materials (Silver nanowires) that can bring down the costs to less than one-tenth of the market price.


Synthesis of one-dimensional nanomaterials like nanowires, nanotubes, and so on in large quantities is a technologically challenging task and hence makes it an expensive material. Secondly, it is necessary to get uniform nanowire diameter range with a narrow variation in the length as it helps achieve uniform coating for touch screens or other conducting coating applications.


A process developed by Dr. Amol A. Kulkarni from CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, can produce silver nanowires at the scale of 500 grams per day at the cost of 20$/gm when compared to 250$/gm to 400$/gm of market price.


It is an economical process of continuous flow manufacturing of functional nano-materials (silver nanowires) at a large scale with support from the Advanced Manufacturing Technologies Program of the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India.


The product manufactured consists of silver nanowires possessing excellent conductivity, which can be used in making conducting inks and coatings for display technologies and flexible electronics. A total of 5 national and international patents have also been filed for the novel process.


This is the first-ever continuous process for synthesizing a functional nanomaterial (Silver nanowires) efficiently with excellent product quality (aspect ratio of nanowires >1000) and at a very low cost (~20$/gm) on a large scale (500 g/day) with a footprint of the pilot plant not more than 6 sq. meters. The process is a simple, cost-effective, and scalable synthesis route when compared to existing batch manufacturing protocols that even generate a large amount of nanoparticles in suspension, which is not easy to separate from nanowires. The developed process has been tested at CSIR-NCL’s characterization facility and is in stage 8 of the Technology Readiness Level.


CSIR-NCL has licensed the process technology to Nanorbital Advanced Materials LLP (Ahmedabad) in November 2020 and has signed material transfer agreement with 3 more industries in 2021. Dr. Amol plans to further conduct testing of the developed nanomaterial in different display devices for transparent conducting applications as well as for printing of flexible electronics, including wearable electrodes.


This technology can make the Indian industries enter into the niche area of electronic chemicals and eventually open up new jobs.





The Process Temperature is more than 130 deg C. The reactants are preheated and sent to the four Multistage Multiphase reactors arranged in series, which are connected to appropriate utilities for precise control of temperature. At the top of the reactors, condensers are connected to condense fumes from the reaction. The reactant mixture travels from one reactor to other via pumps, and the product is collected at the outlet of the fourth multiphase reactor in the product tank, where it is cooled and further sent for purification.








Patent details :


1. Large Scale Continuous Synthesis of Silver Nanowires Using Bubble Column Reactor 2019-NF-0189 IN 201911046584


2. ‘Novel Multiphase Reactor And Its Use In Synthesizing Metal Nanowires 2019-NF-0189 IN 201911046584.


3. Continuous flow production of metal nanowires, EP3678804A1 (Priority 2017-09-06 • Filed 2018-09-06 • Published 2020-07-15)


4. Process for interfacial separation of metal nanoparticles or nanowires using centrifugal separators, US20210283532A1, (Priority 2017-05-01 • Filed 2018-04-30 • Published 2021-09-16)


5. A continuous flow process for the synthesis of metal nanowires using bubble column reactor, WO2021095054A1 (Priority 2019-11-15 • Filed 2020-11-12 • Published 2021-05-20)
 

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DST Inspire Faculty Fellow develops algorithms to ensure efficiency of networked systems


Posted On: 29 OCT 2021 5:33PM by PIB Delhi



Atreyee Kundu, a Department of Science & Technology (DST) INSPIRE Faculty fellow, has designed scheduling and control algorithms for networked control systems whose shared communication networks have a limited communication capacity and are prone to data losses.


The paper written in collaboration with Prof. Daniel Quevedo of Queensland University of Technology, Australia, and accepted for publication in the journal IEEE Transactions on Control of Network Systems studies systems in which multiple devices are accessing a wireless network of limited capacity and prone to loss of information and gives algorithms for the sequence in which the devices can be given access to the network and control inputs that can be applied so that all the devices maintain desired properties to ensure efficiency of the networked system.


Dr. Kundu works on developing new sets of decision and control algorithms to help society take maximum benefits of technology for fixing various wide-ranged problems in various sectors such as health, education, drone flying, and so on. She works on the design of decision and control algorithms for networked control systems. She employs hybrid dynamical systems framework and discrete mathematics as the primary tools for system analysis and algorithm synthesis. Numerically tractable algorithms that she has proposed are particularly useful in setups like smart homes, smart cities, group of robots carrying out a specific task, platoons of autonomous vehicles, and so on.


“In modern-day engineering systems, the process and its control algorithm are often required to be geographically apart. For example, a remote surgery, where the doctor and the patient are at two different locations, a flying drone is being controlled by a ground PC, platoons of autonomous cars plying on the road, etc. The process and the control algorithm talk to each other over a shared wireless communication network, and we call such systems as Networked Control Systems. The real-time feedback control loops present in networked control systems are different from traditional feedback control systems due to communication limitations and uncertainties. Naturally, new sets of decision and control algorithms are a key requirement in modern engineering which is what I design as a DST INSPIRE faculty fellow,” said Dr. Kundu.


Her work is fundamental to a wide class of modern engineering systems and benefits every section of society through a range of areas like healthcare disaster management governance, administration, and so on.


Dr. Kundu has developed stabilization algorithms, scheduling algorithms, and control algorithms for networked control systems that are subject to communication limitations and uncertainties. Her work in the areas of networked control and cyber-physical systems can help making modern engineering facilities like telesurgery, autonomous vehicles, etc., more accessible to everyone in the long run.











Publication link: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9442914


For more details, contact Atreyee Kundu ([email protected]).
 

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New method for detecting adulterants in milk --India Science Wire
By India Science Wire

5-6 minutes




Researchers at the Bengaluru-based Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have developed a low-cost and effective method to detect adulterants in milk, by merely analysing the deposition patterns after evaporation. The team used the method to test for the presence of urea and water, the most common adulterants, and suggest that the technique can be extended to other adulterants also.

Adulteration of milk is a pressing concern in developing countries like India, where a significant portion of supplied milk fails to comply with the standards set by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India. Water is frequently added to increase the volume of milk, along with urea, which makes the watered-down version whiter and foamier – this can potentially endanger the normal functioning of the liver, heart, and kidneys.

In their study, the researchers looked at evaporative deposition patterns – those that emerge when a liquid mixture like milk completely evaporates, causing volatile components to dissipate and solids or non-volatile components to arrange themselves in distinctive patterns. Milk with and without water or urea showed very different evaporative patterns.

In unadulterated milk, the evaporative pattern consisted of a central, irregular blob-like pattern. Water was found to cause distortion or complete loss of this distinctive pattern, depending on how much of it is added. Urea also completely erases the central pattern. Being a non-volatile substance, it does not evaporate but instead crystallises, starting at the interior of the milk drop and extending along the periphery.

Researchers at the Bengaluru-based Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have developed a low-cost and effective method to detect adulterants in milk, by merely analysing the deposition patterns after evaporation. The team used the method to test for the presence of urea and water, the most common adulterants, and suggest that the technique can be extended to other adulterants also.
Current techniques such as lactometers look for changes in the freezing point of milk to detect the presence of water, but they have certain limitations. For instance, the freezing point technique can detect water only up to 3.5% of the total milk concentration. In addition, although biosensors with high sensitivity are available to test for urea, they are expensive, and their accuracy tends to decrease with time. The IISc team, on the other hand, was able to detect water concentrations as high as 30% and urea concentrations in diluted milk as low as 0.4% using pattern analysis.

The technique was designed by Dr. Virkeshwar Kumar, a postdoctoral researcher, and Susmita Dash, Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Institute. They have published a report on their work in the journal ACS Omega.

The test does not require a laboratory or any other specialised process. “It can be done in any place. It can be easily adapted for use even in remote areas and rural places,” said Dr Kumar.

He and Dr. Dash believe that this technique can potentially be extended to test for adulterants in other beverages and products too. “The pattern that you get is highly sensitive to what is added to it. So, I think this method can be used to detect impurities in volatile liquids. It will be interesting to take this method forward for products such as honey, which is often adulterated”, Dr. Dash said.

They noted that the simplicity of this method may also lend itself to easy automation, once the patterns for adulterants and their combinations are standardised. These could be fed into image analysis software, for example, which would compare a photo – even one taken with a mobile phone – of the sample’s evaporative pattern with other standard patterns to accurately detect the adulterants present.

“The next step that we are looking at is to test for adulterants, such as oil and detergents that form an emulsion resembling milk. We plan to continue work in this direction, creating a repository of patterns corresponding to various concentrations of different adulterants,” Dr Dash said.
 

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India's first manned ocean mission 'Samudrayan' launched | Technology
PTI

5-6 minutes


India’s first manned ocean mission 'Samudrayan' was launched here on Friday by Union Minister Jitendra Singh and with this the nation joined an elite club of nations having such underwater vehicles for carrying out subsea activities. The nation has made huge progress in science and technology and when an Indian goes up into space as part of the Gaganyaan programme, another would dive deep into the ocean, the Minister said.

 

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India To Build ₹ 1,200 Crore Ship For Hi-Tech Research: Officials
It is the first time that such a deep sea vessel, with advanced capabilities like a feature to send seismic signals into deep ocean depths would be built in India.


Chennai:

India is all set to build its first deep sea, hi-tech research vessel at a cost of about ₹ 1,200 crore for purposes including exploration and it would also be used for efforts aimed at securing for the nation its rightful additional continental shelf, a top official said today.

It is the first time that such a deep sea vessel, with advanced capabilities like a feature to send seismic signals into deep ocean depths would be built in India.

The new ship, under the Make in India initiative and the Deep Ocean Mission, is expected to be completed by three years from the date of placing the order, he said.

The ship building yard is yet to be finalised but it is expected to be done by next March, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences, M Ravichandran said on board ORV (Ocean Research Vessel) Sagar Nidhi.

 

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Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine, Jammu, develops herb-based pain pill

“We have developed a new gastroretentive sustained release capsule formulation IIIM-160-SR for management of pain in rheumatoid arthritis from Bergenia ciliata, which is one of the most important medicinal herbs in India that grows wild in the temperate Himalayas from Kashmir to Bhutan,” the institute said in a statement.


 

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Study finds a new potential therapeutic target for cancer --India Science Wire


The transfer of genetic information in the intact form to the progeny is the cornerstone of the perpetuation of life on earth. However, the DNA molecules that store this genetic information are susceptible to damage caused by many internal and external factors that cells are frequently exposed to. Such genotoxic stress experienced by the cell is one of the main factors contributing to the development of cancer.


Organisms have evolved cellular mechanisms that trigger a DNA damage response and repair system, which helps prevent cancer development under normal circumstances. But if there are defects in this, they can lead to cancer. The various components of the system have, therefore, been the objects of research aimed at understanding the biology of cancer and identifying therapeutic targets.


One such molecule of interest is a protein called “β-TrCP”, which controls many cellular processes including DNA damage response. In humans, there are two forms of this protein, β-TrCP1 and β-TrCP2, whose deregulation has been associated with many diseases, including cancer.


The transfer of genetic information in the intact form to the progeny is the cornerstone of the perpetuation of life on earth. However, the DNA molecules that store this genetic information are susceptible to damage caused by many internal and external factors that cells are frequently exposed to. Such genotoxic stress experienced by the cell is one of the main factors contributing to the development of cancer.
Studies have shown that while β-TrCP1 can act as a tumor suppressor molecule, β-TrCP2 has the potential to act as an oncogene. Tumor suppressors protect the genome from damage-causing factors, whereas oncogenes counter this tumor suppressor function and allow genetically abnormal (cancer) cells to grow. This raises questions as to whether β-TrCP1 and β-TrCP2 molecules interact with each other, and if so, how do they do it.


A new study by a team of scientists at the National Centre for Cell Science (DBT-NCCS) in Pune, an autonomous institute of the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), the Government of India led by Dr. Manas Kumar Santra has gained some insights into this.


It has shown for the first time that β-TrCP1 and β-TrCP2 communicate with each other and show cross-regulation during DNA damage response. They have established that when the cell experiences genotoxic stress, β-TrCP1 tries to inactivate the function of β-TrCP2 so as to activate p53, another important tumour-suppressor protein considered as a “guardian of the genome”, thus protecting the cell from DNA damage and cancer development.


Their study has thus revealed that the β-TrCP1may be explored as a therapeutic agent to fight cancer. The study team has published a report on its findings in the journal, Journal of Biological Chemistry (JBC).
 

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SWADESH, World’s First Multimodal Brain Imaging Data and Analytics, Developed at DBT-National Brain Research Centre, Haryana

DBT-National Brain Research Centre (DBT-NBRC) have recently developed project SWADESH, a unique brain initiative focusing on certified neuroimaging, neurochemical, neuropsychological data and analytics that are made accessible to researchers for managing brain disorders. SWADESH is the first large-scale multimodal neuroimaging database designed specifically for Indian population with big-data architecture and analytics for various disease categories (Fig. 1) under one platform.





SWADESH was inaugurated by Dr. Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for the Ministry of Science and Technology on 19th November 2021.


To strengthen Alzheimer’s disease (AD) research and help scientific community come up with promising treatments. SWADESH proposes a big-data architecture that manages and analyzes six modules, namely neurodegenerative [AD, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and Parkinson’s disease (PD)], neuropsychiatric (schizophrenia and bipolar disorder), neurodevelopmental (autism and epilepsy), COVID-19-related disorders, other disorders, and healthy subjects.


SWADESH is supported by JAVA-based workflow environment and Python. Backed by a dedicated storage system, it provides quality control, data analysis reports, and data backups. Its development will facilitate the integration of multi-site data and collaborative research worldwide. Presently, SWADESH has data of 500 AD and MCI patients and 70 PD patients. It also includes data of 600 healthy old individuals and 800 healthy young individuals in the control group.


DBT-NBRC has developed several clinical research tools through SWADESH. GAURI system uses adaptive pattern recognition and learning schemes for predictive single or differential diagnosis, designed with MRI modalities and neuropsychological batteries. NINS-STAT is a high-performance state-of-the-art automated statistical test selection and execution software package with high applicability in clinical research. KALPANA is an integrative package for visualization, preprocessing, and quantitation of MRS data. PRATEEK analyzes multimodal neuroimaging data that minimizes the need for expertise in handling different neuroimaging tools for processing and analyzing multimodal data. Stimulus Timing Integrated Module (STIM) includes a versatile paradigm design system, presentation system, and real-time participant response-collection system for functional MRI-related purposes, mapping brain activity non-invasively in normal healthy condition and clinical evaluation of various brain disorders. Dr. Mandal’s team in DBT-NBRC subsequently launched BHARAT, a big-data analytic model for early diagnostic biomarkers of AD. The design included a Hadoop-based big-data framework integrating MRI, MRS, and neuropsychological test scores. The team is working to expand the project to include rich multimodal neuroimaging datasets for healthy and diseased cases.


Congratulating NBRC on the initiative, Dr Rajesh Gokhale, Secretary, Department said, “The brain is a complex organ, and detailed functionality in health and diseases remains to be fully recognized. Databases like SWADESH should be useful in conducting multimodal brain studies to understand Alzheimer’s disease and several neurological disorders.”


About DBT


The Department of Biotechnology (DBT), under the Ministry of Science and Technology, promotes and improves biotechnology development in India through its development and implementation in agriculture, healthcare, animal sciences, the environment, and industry.


About NBRC


National Brain Research Centre is the only institute in India dedicated to Neuroscience Research and Education. Scientists and students at NBRC come from diverse academic backgrounds, including biological, computational, mathematical, physical, engineering and medical sciences, and use multidisciplinary approaches to unravel secrets of the brain.
 

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Indian Bio-Jet Fuel Technology Receives Formal Military Certification


Posted On: 29 NOV 2021 5:58PM by PIB Delhi



CSIR-IIP Dehradun’s home-grown technology to produce bio-jet fuel has beenformally approved for use on military aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF). The provisional clearance (PC) certificate was handed over by Shri R.Kamalakannan,Group Director(AT&FOL), Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification (CEMILAC) to Mr Saleem Akhtar Farooqui, Principal ScientistfromCSIR-IIP in the presence of Group Captain Asheesh Shrivastava and Wing Commander A Sachan of the IAF and Mr R Shanumgavel of CEMILAC.This certification represents India’s growing confidence in aviation biofuel sector and another step towards ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’.
The technology, developed by the Indian Institute of Petroleum (CSIR-IIP), a constituent laboratory of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, has undergone evaluation tests and trials overthe last three years. The testing of airborne items is a complex and meticulous process involving intricate checks while ensuring the highest levels of flight safety. International aviation standards define the scope of these rigorous assessments. Fuel being the lifeline of aircraft requires thorough analysis before being filled into manned flying machines. The certification received by the lab today is an acknowledgment of the satisfactory results obtained from various ground and inflight tests performed on the indigenous bio-jet fuel by various test agencies supported by the IAF.
Earlier on 26 Jan 19, an AN-32 aircraft, filled with blended bio-jet fuel, had flown over Raj Path at New Delhi during the Republic Day celebrations. Thereafter, the performance and reliability of the Indian technology were also tested when the Russian military aircraft safely landed and tookoff from Leh airport on 30 Jan 20 at high altitudes under severe winter conditions. The fuel was also used on a civil, commercial demonstration flight operated by SpiceJet on 27 Aug 18 from Dehradun to Delhi. These test flights with green fuel underscored the capabilities and commitment of Indian scientists and airmanship of IAF to serve a national cause.
Today’s approval by CEMILAC is a culmination of many years of intensive research and active support of many agencies, including the test facilities of Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL) Panipat Refinery and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL). This clearance will enable Indian armed forces to use bio-jet fuel produced using indigenous technology across all its operational aircraft. This will also enable early commercialization of the technology and its mass production. Indian bio-jet fuel can be produced from used cooking oil, tree-borne oils, short gestation oilseed crops grown off-season by farmers, and waste extracts from edible oil processing units. It will reduce air pollution by virtue of its ultralow sulphur content compared with conventional jet fuel and contribute to India’s Net-Zero greenhouse gas emissions targets. It will also enhance the livelihoodsof farmers and tribals engaged in producing, collecting, and extracting non-edible oils.







An-32 transport aircraft using bio-jet fuel developed by CSIR-IIP on 26th January 26, 2019, at the Republic Day flypast





AN-32 aircraft powered with a 10% blend of Indian bio-jet fuel developed by CSIR-IIP took-off from KushokBakulaRimpochee Airport, Leh. This is the first time that both engines of the aircraft were powered by bio-jet indigenous fuel.





Team related to Bioejet project with the Engine test facility at Chandigarh
 

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New indigenous smart technology system can automatically protect power grids from short-circuits


Posted On: 29 NOV 2021 2:38PM by PIB Delhi



An Indian researcher has developed a unique innovation of a prototype of a smart system that can protect power grids from short-circuits by either automatically diverting the current into a parallel shunt (external resistance to bypass maximum current) or limiting a current surge by developing high resistance in the current path.


Short-circuit situations also often occur in power distribution networks like power grids, resulting in huge current surges that can damage the power grids as they are not designed to handle the large surge current. These surges (fault current) damage the power grids causing major economic loss and disruption in the electricity supply.


In recent years a new fault current limiter technology has been developed, namely, using superconductors. These are called as superconducting fault current limiters (SCFL). This technology developed is based on the property of superconductors offering zero resistance to currents up to a threshold current value, namely, the critical current. At currents beyond the critical current, the resistance of the superconductor becomes high. Thus, the SCFL’s operating principle is that when the fault current exceeds the critical current of the superconductor, its resistance becomes high. This reduces the fault current, and when the fault current reduces below the threshold critical current, the normal zero resistance mode offering operation returns. The SCFL is energy efficient in its operation. Companies in the west are already investing in superconducting fault current limiters (SCFL) technology. However, they are expensive, with an approximate cost of each superconducting fault current limiter being in the range of Euro 1 million ~ Rupees 8,00,00,000 (Eight crores).


Prof. Satyajit Banerjee from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT Kanpur) and his group (Md. Arif Ali) have indigenously developed a unique innovation of a prototype of a Smart Superconducting Fault Current Limiter (SCFLsm), which has a circuit wherein a superconducting element has an array of hall sensors distributed around the superconductor.


This circuit is connected in parallel to a low resistance shunt through a switch. The array of hall sensors allows continuous monitoring of current flowing through different regions of the superconductor used in the SCFLsm. Precise and continuous motoring of the current through the fault limiting superconducting element can trigger automatic action, like, diverting the current into a parallel shunt and protecting the grid. This smart aspect of the SCFLsm is that it allows for fault limiting action at any user-settable, predetermined threshold value of current flowing through the SCFLsm. This feature is unlike a conventional SCFL where fault limiting action sets in only the critical current value, which is fixed by the material of the superconductor and the processing it underwent during the synthesis of the superconductor.


Another advantage is that the SCFLsm allows for the continuous monitoring and mapping of the current distribution across the superconductor used inside it. This enables the direct visualization of any instability setting in the SCFLsm during its operation. If any instability sets in the superconductor while the SCFLsm is operating at high currents, the mapping technology will detect its development. Subsequently, corrective action can be initiated to divert the current from the superconductor and protect the SCFL. Thus the common problem of failures of the superconductors experienced in conventional SCFL’s can be mitigated. The operation of this SCFLsm is completely automatic and independent of any manual intervention for resetting the system after a fault.


The technology developed with support from the Advanced Manufacturing Technologies Program of the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India is in the 4th stage of Technology Readiness level, and a national patent has also been filed for the same. The prototype can be incorporated in any of the large power sector companies who are working with their standard superconducting fault current limiters.


Prof. Banerjee further plans to develop more efficient, large current automatic compact switches to divert current between superconductors to shunt. This will help diversion of the faulty as soon as it is detected by the smart sensors built into his SCFCLsm prototype.


He also plans to develop predictive (intelligence) capability in his smart SCFL to automatically detect when one is nearing the threshold of formation of instability in the superconducting element or even to detect when the system is approaching the stage of fault occurrence. In this situation, the system will develop smartness and have sensors that will impart it something akin to intelligence to take rudimentary decisions.








The figure above shows the fully integrated smart superconducting fault current limiter in operation.





The image on the left is an image of the actual Heart of the smart superconducting fault current limiter prototype, which has been designed, fabricated, developed, and associated electrical circuitry developed to handle multiple sensors placed around the superconductor to monitor current. The image on the right is the measurement of current from five different hall sensors placed around the superconductor at different locations. Each sensor output is a measure of the current density J in its vicinity on the superconductor, which is being measured for different current (Isource on x-axis) being sent through the superconductor.





The image above is a map of the current distributed on the surface of the cylindrical superconductor used inside our SCFLsm prototype. The image is taken while 100 Amps of current is flowing into the superconductor. The current of 100 Amps is close to (but below) the critical current of 160 Amps of the superconductor. The color map represents the local value of the current density at a location on the superconductor surface. The map clearly shows non-uniform with patches carrying low and high current and suggests a regime of instability of operation approaching it in the superconductor.
 

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Indian Bio-Jet Fuel Technology Receives Formal Military Certification


Posted On: 29 NOV 2021 5:58PM by PIB Delhi



CSIR-IIP Dehradun’s home-grown technology to produce bio-jet fuel has beenformally approved for use on military aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF). The provisional clearance (PC) certificate was handed over by Shri R.Kamalakannan,Group Director(AT&FOL), Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification (CEMILAC) to Mr Saleem Akhtar Farooqui, Principal ScientistfromCSIR-IIP in the presence of Group Captain Asheesh Shrivastava and Wing Commander A Sachan of the IAF and Mr R Shanumgavel of CEMILAC.This certification represents India’s growing confidence in aviation biofuel sector and another step towards ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’.
The technology, developed by the Indian Institute of Petroleum (CSIR-IIP), a constituent laboratory of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, has undergone evaluation tests and trials overthe last three years. The testing of airborne items is a complex and meticulous process involving intricate checks while ensuring the highest levels of flight safety. International aviation standards define the scope of these rigorous assessments. Fuel being the lifeline of aircraft requires thorough analysis before being filled into manned flying machines. The certification received by the lab today is an acknowledgment of the satisfactory results obtained from various ground and inflight tests performed on the indigenous bio-jet fuel by various test agencies supported by the IAF.
Earlier on 26 Jan 19, an AN-32 aircraft, filled with blended bio-jet fuel, had flown over Raj Path at New Delhi during the Republic Day celebrations. Thereafter, the performance and reliability of the Indian technology were also tested when the Russian military aircraft safely landed and tookoff from Leh airport on 30 Jan 20 at high altitudes under severe winter conditions. The fuel was also used on a civil, commercial demonstration flight operated by SpiceJet on 27 Aug 18 from Dehradun to Delhi. These test flights with green fuel underscored the capabilities and commitment of Indian scientists and airmanship of IAF to serve a national cause.
Today’s approval by CEMILAC is a culmination of many years of intensive research and active support of many agencies, including the test facilities of Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL) Panipat Refinery and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL). This clearance will enable Indian armed forces to use bio-jet fuel produced using indigenous technology across all its operational aircraft. This will also enable early commercialization of the technology and its mass production. Indian bio-jet fuel can be produced from used cooking oil, tree-borne oils, short gestation oilseed crops grown off-season by farmers, and waste extracts from edible oil processing units. It will reduce air pollution by virtue of its ultralow sulphur content compared with conventional jet fuel and contribute to India’s Net-Zero greenhouse gas emissions targets. It will also enhance the livelihoodsof farmers and tribals engaged in producing, collecting, and extracting non-edible oils.







An-32 transport aircraft using bio-jet fuel developed by CSIR-IIP on 26th January 26, 2019, at the Republic Day flypast





AN-32 aircraft powered with a 10% blend of Indian bio-jet fuel developed by CSIR-IIP took-off from KushokBakulaRimpochee Airport, Leh. This is the first time that both engines of the aircraft were powered by bio-jet indigenous fuel.





Team related to Bioejet project with the Engine test facility at Chandigarh
Will it being down per hour operation cost of air force ?
 

Photon

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Develops hydrogen fuel cell tech in collaboration with CSIR, National Chemical Laboratory(NCL)and Central Electrochemical Research Institute(CECRI)
 

Lonewolf

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Develops hydrogen fuel cell tech in collaboration with CSIR, National Chemical Laboratory(NCL)and Central Electrochemical Research Institute(CECRI)
Why can't the make it look modern
 

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