Chennai: In a first of its kind in the country, the department of mechanical engineering of IIT-M has designed high precision cylindrical grinding machine tools, a facility that would avoid the burden of relying on foreign manufacturers.
Labelled as ‘Next Generation Precision Grinder (NGPG)’, the technology, which was made in collaboration with Micromatic Grinding Technologies Limited (MGTL), was inaugurated on Friday by R. Chidambaram, principal scientific adviser to the Government of India.
Talking to DC, B. Manoj, a mechanical engineering graduate, who is part of the project, said that a lot of analyses were done on existing grinding machines in India and design modifications have been conceived to reduce the errors.
“Precision from Indian manufacturers is less than that of foreign manufacturers. As heat generated in Indirect wheel head spindle assembly is more, we had changed to a direct one,” he said.
Ravi Kiran Bobba, who graduated last year, was so elated as the three-year-old project has come to a successful end. “We are carrying out multiple tests, which would be done by the end of this year.”
He said the project would give a major boost to many sectors, including defence, medicine and automobile industries. “The persisting restrictions in customs make importing foreign machines a strenuous task. We can avoid it now,” Ravi said.
Chidambaram said, “The NGPG project is a unique make-In-India project since it is indigenously made both for Indian as well as global markets. The project which has achieved an international context will also multiply for Indian markets as well”.
The project has been funded by office of the principal scientific adviser to the Government of India under government’s make-in India project.
