"Usually when it comes to research, everyone thinks of IITs Indian (Institutes of Technologies) but a much lesser known fact is that colleges like ours also contribute to India's greatest moments," said the Vice-Chairman of Sona College of Technology, Chocko Valliappa, in a conversation with EdexLive. The college made headlines for developing a stepper motor, or critical motor, for use in the Launch Vehicle Mark-III (LVM-III) rocket that lifted off the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft and placed it in the Earth’s orbit.
To recall, with a successful soft landing on the Moon, India scripted history with the Indian Space Research Organization's (ISRO) Chandrayaan-3 on July 14. India was on the moon, or shall we say over the moon, on August 23.
Expressing gratitude towards ISRO for giving an opportunity to Sona College of Technology, the vice-chairman said, "Salute to ISRO for engaging a private institute and encouraging us for the past eight to nine years to prove ourselves." Celebrating this milestone achievement, the college organised a Chandrayaan Mahotsav on September 4 which included events like quizzes, poster presentations, essay writing, storytelling, dancing and singing. It saw the participation of 400 students from various schools and colleges of Salem, Tamil Nadu.
The mainstream perception is that usually, students from rural India, for example, places like Salem, often wonder about what kind of opportunities they can take up. "But now, with opportunities like this, they can go to the Moon from Salem. The moon is not a moonshot away," the vice-chairman shares with EdexLive.
Adding to this, scientist, retired Senior ISRO Officer and Head of Sona Speed (Sona Special Power Electronics & Electric Drives) Prof N Kannan said, "Academic institutions are contributing academic and design analysis but we, at Sona College of Technology, have taken a step forward in developing products for ISRO."
"Apart from theoretical classes, we are involving students in the testing process and other practical classes. With this, they get inspired by experiencing practical motor working," he added.
Hard work pays off
Speaking about the timeline of the motor, Prof Kannan said, "We started working on motors a few years back. In 2015 or 2016 we designed the motors and were working on the model in 2016-17." Giving more details about their working with ISRO, he shared, "So far, we have supplied 30 motors for ISRO. One among these motors was utilised for the Chandrayaan-3 mission."
How did this partnership with ISRO fall into place? "Once we find a spot and a facility for the development of components in the tenders, we apply for them and send our motors in batches. These tenders will be organised by ISRO when needed. During one such tender, a motor from a batch, was selected by ISRO," the Sona SPEED head disclosed. Later, this selected motor was used for Chandrayaan 3, he said adding, "Our motor's Research and Development (R&D) and the quality protocol are recognised and meet the standards of ISRO."
Challenges and future work
Meanwhile, "During the whole process, we have faced many challenges. Specially, following the protocol of quality control and in this process, we had to face rejections by ISRO during their team visits."
Sharing glimpses from their experiences, the head said, "During fabrication, six motors were rejected, following which, we worked on a new one. If we make 10, two may get rejected." However, they accepted it, worked on it and developed a new one, he recalled.
Both the vice-chairman and the SPEED head shared that the college team is working on developing motors for ISRO's next mission, Gaganyaan. Prof Kannan shared, "For Gaganyaan, we are working on a duplex motor which has two windings. We have developed and submitted it for evolution."
Disclosing further details, Prof Kannan said, "Start-ups supported by ISRO to make rockets, even those incubated at IIT, have given us an order for high-speed electric motors."
