Annual Report 2007-2008

Technology Systems Development

The primary objective of the programme is to facilitate and support development of products or techniques/ technology aimed at specific end use. The programme stresses on clearly identifying the needs for development of the technology so that the developmental effort could be useful to the target beneficiary.

The department has developed road map for R&D activities to be pursued under the programme in the areas of surface engineering applications, bio-fuels, bio-molecular devices and water purification. The guidelines of the programme have been appropriately modified to encourage active participation of the user /industry. The focus is on inter-disciplinary, multi-institutional technology feasibility and development of technologies in certain identified areas.

Summary of the progress made in some of the important areas which were taken up for technology development is given below:

Waste Disposal

In order to address the problem of disposal of hospital and plastic waste, Plasma Incineration based Hospital and Plastic Waste Disposal System is being scaled-up from 15 Kg per hour to 50 Kg per hour capacity (Figure 5.1). The development is likely to complete during the current year.

Figure 5.1: Plasma Pyrolysis System

Application of Surface Engineering Techniques

The objective of the programme is to develop application oriented activities for rejuvenation of Traditional Crafts using surface deposition techniques for items such as cane, wood, brassware, textiles etc. Some of the initiatives include setting up of plasma polymerization system to coat brass articles by SiOx coating, performance enhancement of agricultural implements and commonly used cutting tools, poultry featherpolymer composites, solid lubricant and wear resistance surface coatings on textile machinery components, plasma system for surface modification of angora rabbit fibre to improve processing, etc. The Angora wool treatment system has been successfully developed and is likely to be installed during the current year at Kullu (Figure 5.2).

Figure 5.2: Atmospheric Plasma Processing of Angora Wool

Development of Alternate Fuels

In this area, the studies on application of Straight Vegetable Oils (SVOs) for stationary and transport use are like to be completed and an optimum maintenance schedule would be worked out. A retrofit has also been developed to enable use of SVO in single cylinder engine (Figure 5.3).

Figure 5.3: Retrofit Developed for Karanja & Jatropha SVO utilization in single cylinder engine

Development of suitable blend of ethanol and bio-diesel for utilization as alternate fuel has been initiated. Studies have also been initiated to promote oxidative stability of bio-diesel. The projects are likely to be initiated for developing alternative routes for bio-diesel production, application of indigenous seed oil for bio-diesel production, application of hydro-carbon yielding plants as alternative fuel, bio-ethanol production from waste, value addition to glycerol and study on toxic constituents of Jatropha.

Water Purification

Successful development of Arsenic Removal systems through microbial as well as innovative chemical processes is likely to be completed after rigorous field trials (Figure 5.4).

Figure 5.4: Field trials of Arsenic Removal Plant developed at Agharkar Research Institute at Chhattisgarh

The sea water desalination units have been successfully installed at Ramnathpuram District of Tamil Nadu. This technology is now being upscaled using heat recovery system to cater to the requirements of other areas devoid of potable drinking water.

Development of Microwave based Systems

The development of microwave based tea dryer integrating conventional and microwave systems (Figure 5.5) have reached advance stage of completion. The system will be commissioned during the current year for field trials at Tejpur.



Figure 5.5: Tea Drying by Microwave System

The activities related to development of Gyrotron for research applications have been systematized and design of various sub-assemblies is likely to be optimized during the year.

Bio-molecular Electronics

Support was continued for Technology development in the area of organic molecular electronics, conducting polymers, self-assembled monolayers, Languir-Blodgett films and their device applications in flexible electronic structures, organic LEDs, organic solar cells, energy storage devices, electrochromic materials and biosensors. Activities related to infra red spectroscopic study for tumor diagnosis, instrumentation for bacterial anti bio-gram, optical sensors, parasite detection and DNA Methylation detection kit for health care applications have been initiated during the year.

Instrumentation Development Programme (IDP)

The objective of this programme is strengthen indigenous capability for research design and development of instruments in the country leading to their indigenous development and production, continuous updation of the technology to keep pace with the technology advancements taking place globally and innovation in the area of instrumentation. The projects are supported under the following thrust areas:

• Analytical/Optical Instrumentation;
• Sensors and Allied Instrumentation;
• Medical and Health Care Instrumentation; and
• Industrial Instrumentation
  

• Organic carbon test. (30 minutes) Range :1 % - 7%
• Nitrogen Test (2- 5 minutes) Range: 0.01% - 0.5%
• Phosphorus Test (5 minutes) Range: 0.01% - 0.4%
• Potash Test (5 minutes) Range: 0.05% - 3.5%

• pH Test (2-5 minutes) Range: 4-11

Figure 5.6: Non-Electronic Soil Testing Kit

Instruments Developed

Highlights of some of the Instruments developed under this programme are given below:

Development of sensors/instrumentation for online testing the sterility of food products (bread)

A laboratory model Instrument based on the impedance spectroscopy technique with suitable sensor has been developed at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore to measure the staleness of Bread (Figure 5.7). The change in impedance of the bread is found to be the function of moisture migration and hence the degree of staleness. A multi channel four probe electrode method is used to measure the impedance of bread. During the experimentation, it has been observed that the impedance of the bread changes with the presence of fungus; and the impedance of bread is a function of the process conditions and it varies with different
compositions of bread.

(a) Four Probe Electrode	(b) Bread Analyser	(c) Testing of staleness of bread

• Measures: Real Z’, Img Z”, Impedance (|Z|) and Capacitance (Cp)
• Frequency range: 20kHz to 100KHz
• AC Test signal (Voltage): 100mVp-p to 2Vp-p
• AC Test signal (Current): 100ìA to 2mA
• Display: Displays the cardiac functional parameters.

Block Diagram of the Instrument
Figure 5.8 : Multi Frequency Impedance Cardiograph

Design, development and realization of tactile sensors using bulk ceramics and thin films

The tactile sensors based on the principle of change in piezoelectric resonance frequency with the applied pressure have been developed at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. An array of electrodes has been adopted on either side of the PZT material to have independent resonators. The common areas sandwiched between the electrodes and excitable at resonance frequency of the PZT material are used to form the sensitive area of the tactile sensor. The electrodes were deposited using sputtering technique. Tactile sensors with 3x3, 7x7, 15x15 and 18x18 array of electrodes were developed with different electrode dimensions and separation between the electrodes. The necessary electronics (both hardware and software) have been developed and the entire assembly is interface suitably with the computer for the convenience of automatic scanning and making it more user interactive. Tactile sensors developed with different spatial resolution were tested for different shaped objects placed in contact with the sensor. Figure 5.9 shows the block diagram the complete experimental arrangement along with the sensor. Typical response obtained for 18 x 18 array tactile sensor is shown in Figure 5.10.

Figure 5.9: Block Diagram of experimental Arrangement alongwith the sensor	Figure 5.10: Response of 18x18 array tactile sensor for the circular disc placed at the Centre

SASMIRA has developed appropriate membrane separation type equipment using microfiltration, ultrafiltration, nanofiltration and reverse osmosis techniques for treatment of effluents emanating for textile process houses. The technology is based on filtration of liquid through membrane separation process by separating different colloidal and soluble components from each other depending on the pore size of the membranes. The salient features of membrane filtration technique can be summarized as follows:

• This technique operates at ambient temperature;
  
• Consumes low energy compared to other separation processes;
  
• Salt recovery is 75 – 85%;
  
• Three times recycled water can be used for redyeing;
  
• Well suited for textile wastewater treatment.

Design and Development of ultrasonic transducer and generator for the textile applications

Ultrasound technology has been used for energy conservation in textile wet processing. SASMIRA has successfully developed a prototype of Ultrasonic Transducer and Generators for batch dyeing of natural and synthetic fiber fabrics. The developed transducers and generators were fitted on a winch dyeing machine to facilitate dyeing of natural and synthetic fiber fabrics in knitted form at low temperature of 50–55ºC. Evaluations of all samples were carried out with respective AATCC standards. Fabric test results have shown comparable results with conventional technique of dyeing.

The salient features of the developed machine are:

• Low Temperature Dyeing at 50 - 55°C (energy savings of 40 %);
• Reduced Dyeing Time (30 %);
Increased Exhaustion and Fixation (20-25%);

• Uniform Dyeing;


• Minimized Selvedge to Selvedge Variation;


• Lesser Load to Effluent; and


• Elimination of Steam heating process.

• air cooled xenon burner
  
• quick sample loading
  
• accurate and high resolution control for test chamber
  
• separate record of lamp hour and machine hour
  
• complies with international test standards
  
• can be modified to accommodate wet samples
  

Development of improved version of magnivisualizer (a low cost tool for early detection of cervical cancer by visual inspection)

An improved version of Magnivisualizer- a magnifying device for detection of uterine cervical lesions has been developed at Institute of Cytology & Preventive Oncology, NOIDA (Figure 5.11 a-c). Magnivisualizer will enhance the sensitivity to detect pre-cancerous lesions and by distinguishing metaplastic epithelium from neoplastic epithelium improves the specificity also thereby reducing the rate of unnecessary biopsies. This instrument is suitable for those primary Health Care Centres where there is no colposcopy and even no light is available, because it is low cost portable device, operated on battery.

Twenty pieces of the instrument (Magnivisualizer) were prepared and were given to the Gynaecologists of LNJP hospital to be used in VIA screening for early detection of pre-cancerous and cancerous lesions of uterine cervix. This instrument has been found to be user friendly as per the feed back received from the users who have appreciated the instrument. Figure 5.11

Figure 5.11 (a) Cervical lesion in yellow light of tungsten bulb, 1. Acetowhite lesion is not visible in yellow light, 2. Warty lesion is poorly visible in yellow light. (at 5'O clock position)	Figure 5.11 (b) Same cervical lesion in white light of Magnivisualizer, 1. Visible acetowhite epithelium of the cervix, (at 7'O clock position) 2. Obvious visible warty lesion of cervix, (at 5'O clock position)

Figure 5.11 (c): Magnivisualizer for early detection of Cervical Cancer

Progress of Ongoing Projects

 Highlights of the progress made in some of the ongoing projects are given below:

Development of Smart Sensors based on Mixed Metal Oxide Semiconductors (MMOS) for Carbon Monoxide detection

The project aims at developing gas sensors for Carbon Monoxide based on mixed metal oxide semiconductors (MMOS) prepared in the form of thin films. These sensors work on the principle that the electrical resistance of the film is modified in the presence of gas.

The sensors will be prepared on a ceramic substrate (Al2O3) with structured layers sing thin film techniques (sputtering) and characterized for its performance for carbon onoxide (Figure 5.12 a & b). Suitable electronics for the sensor along with multiplexing capability is being integrated with the sensor to form a single module.

Figure 5.12 (a): Screen printed thin film CO sensor	Figure 5.12 (b): Electronic Circuit for Gas Sensor

Development of Electronic Nose Instrument for Agro Products

Electronic Nose- an instrument for odour sensing and classification using commercially available chemical sensors for aroma and odour characterization in various applications has been developed at Jadavpur University, Kolkata in collaboration with C-DAC, Kolkata (Figure 5.13 a&b). All the related modules of the instrument, viz., signal processing circuitry, odour sampling and delivery mechanism and pattern classification methods were designed, developed and fabricated. This instrument has been used for applications in tea tasting, tea manufacturing, evaluating fish freshness. The exploratory studies with the instrument included:

• Correlation of tea taster marks with electronic nose measurements for finished black tea (both orthodox and CTC). Enhanced sensitivity is obtained with the illumination heating method and motorized raking.
  
• Generation of smell profile during fermentation of black tea processing.
  
• On-line prediction of optimum fermentation time;
  
• Smell stage identification during the tea fermentation process;
  
• Evaluation of freshness of fish (freshwater).
  

Extensive efforts have been made jointly with the industrial partner C-DAC to promote the commercial viability of the instrument.

Figure 5.13 (a): Electronic Nose Set-up	Figure 5.13 (b): Screenshot of Electronic Nose

Development of a hybrid sensor for detecting rain fall rate with remote accessibility

The project aims to develop a rain gauge that can measure both the rain rate and the total amount of rain accurately. The present sensor incorporates two methods, one that accurately gives the rain rate at low rain rates and the other at high rain rates. It will store data at high temporal resolution of 0.05 mm with an accuracy of +/- 1%, communicate directly with a PC and remotely through GSM/GPRS technology.

New Initiative

To involve scientists/technologies from all parts of the country in IDP , theme based discussions/interaction meeting involving experts, researchers and industry representatives were initiated during the year, in these meetings, the potential PIs present there concept proposals for development of instruments on the theme of the meeting and based on the discussions/interactions during the meeting, projects are evolved for consideration in Instrumentation Development Programme.