In the early years, Regional Engineering Colleges were
mostly teaching institutions.
Very little research work was being done and teaching was given paramount
importance. It is only in later years that members of faculty have started showing more interest in research and
publications. The reason for this, obviously, is the importance given for research, publications
and consultancy in career promotions. Over-emphasis on research and consultancy
results in teachers spending less time in the preparation for teaching. It is
well known that in I.I.Ts members of faculty who are good in research and
consultancy go up the ladder faster than
those who are only good teachers. Exceptional teachers like
Dr.V.G.K.Murthy in I.I.T. Madras
and Prof A.K. Mahalanabis in IIT Delhi
were clear exceptions as they were exemplary teachers and brilliant researchers at the same time. Ideally research should be complimenting
teaching, but unfortunately very few good researchers even in I.I.Ts are good teachers.
In my opinion, many of the teachers in RECs/NITs are definitely superior to
their counterparts in IITs. Fortunately, the students admitted to I.I.Ts are
the best
in the country in intelligence and the infrastructure also being
very good, they learn themselves and do very well in their career.
In the 70s , the only research that was going on our Electrical department was with
initiatives from Dr.P.S.Srinivasan.
He had done his PhD in USSR and the research work had immediate
relevance to the industry. It is well known that in Europe, most of the
research done in academic institutions were of immediate application of the
industry. Because of this, those who
have done PhD in Germany , USSR etc were
good in doing research of immediate use to industry. Dr.Srinivasan was a very good example for this. Since he
was also an excellent teacher this was a unique
combination.
One of the research and
developmental work done by him was to
use thyristors to develop several gadgets. This component was being used in
power control devices and he developed several gadgets using thyristor.
Thyristor like transistor is a solid-state power controller or an electronic switch.
Instead of three terminals in transistor, thyristor has four terminals with the
fourth terminal used to control the power flow into a device. Thyristor was
slowly replacing the mercury arc rectifiers which were too bulky and
inconvenient to use. Dr.P.S.Srinivasan developed a thyristor-controlled device to change the speed of a fan with less
wastage of energy. This speed regulator
will not get overheated as it does not waste too much energy in its circuit. This was probably
a forerunner of the present-day electronic regulator for fans.
Using the same principle, he
had developed several devices to control motors
in different applications. One
such development resulted in replacing the commutator of a D C machine.
Sri.P.P.Gervadis and Sri.Thomas Joseph (left for Nigeria and later resigned
from REC) were associates with him in
this project. It is during this period,
Century Cotton Mills, Bombay made an
enquiry about a controller for motors
used in their spinning mill.
In the textile mills of those
times, several relay contactors were used for winding cotton threads in forward
and reverse directions. When current is reversed alternately, these relay
contactors were damaged due to sparking
and required frequent maintenance. Dr.P.S.Srinivasan suggested a better
alternative to these contactors
which could be used as special type starter for each motor. This was
tested thoroughly in our laboratory for several days. When this
was ready for installation in their factory, department deputed me to install
these motor starters in the Century Mills Bombay. I was incidentally going to Bombay to attend a summer school in I.I.T.
Bombay during that time.
So, I installed the special
starter developed in REC Calicut in a factory. With some help of the
technicians in their factory, their motor starter was replaced by this starter
and the working demonstrated satisfactorily. The factory staff was very happy
with the performance and I reported this to Dr.PSS after installation. I returned after
purchasing some cotton clothes for our kids from the sales outlet in their
factory. It was a unique experience to me as I had not worked in any industry
till that time. In general, very few of the teachers in academic institutions
get a chance to work in industries to enhance their knowledge and experience.
Our exposures were limited to a few visits to the industries during our
educational tours with the students. In many countries in the West, close
interaction exists between industry and
academia which is beneficial for both. In our country, practicing engineers
have very little confidence in academic
work and vice versa. Many problems facing the industry could be effectively
tackled by joint work of the engineers in industry and teachers in
engineering colleges.
It is really doubtful whether
any serious industrial research was being carried out earlier. Often, what was
happening was re-engineering of ideas
taken from gadgets manufactured
outside instead of original research.
Large number of seminars and discussions have taken place on industry institute
interaction but very little has been done to
reduce the widening gap between
industry and academia.
There is a provision for training
of teachers in industries for short periods of 3-6 months with full salary and
some additional allowances, but very few takers are there for such training
opportunities. The quality of teaching in engineering will definitely be better
if the teachers have direct exposure to
industry and methods of the industry. In
many countries in the West, engineers
in industry work in academic
institutions and teachers in industry alternately.
The research outputs from academic institutions will then be really useful to
the society .Let us hope with
recent emphasis on skill development and promotion of start-ups
, this sad state of affairs will change.
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