A locally designed and developed aviation high-speed micro turbomachine is being tested at National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL).
The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) and GE Aviation (GE) developed the product under a joint innovation programme launched in 2016. In the past five years about ₹10 crore was invested of which 75% was funded by IIT-M through the Centre’s Ucchatar Avaishkar Yojana (UAY) and GE provided 25%.
IIT-M engineers and researchers and GE developed a local aviation supplier ecosystem for the manufacture of high-precision and high-speed turbomachinery that adhered to global aviation industry manufacturing standards.
Two local aviation industry companies Pragati Transmission and Turbocam India helped to manufacture and assemble the prototype.
“We are excited to see the enhanced aviation testing facilities at NAL. Testing is an important part of product development cycle and we are delighted to work with NAL on testing the locally designed and developed micro turbo machine,” said Alok Nanda, CEO, GE India Technology Centre and CTO GE South Asia.
The project’s principal investigator A. Seshadri Sekhar and head of Mechanical Engineering Department, IIT-M said former head of the department B.V.S.S. Prasad had conceived the project. “It took us months to conduct several simulations necessary to arrive at the optimum design of the product. Further, test rigs were designed and developed with active collaboration between IITM and GE teams. Throughout the process, the researchers were in touch with GE aviation engineers.”
Prof. Prasad and S. Soundarpandian, who initiated the project, have since passed away.
Director of CSIR-National Aerospace Laboratories Jitendra J. Jadhav said: “NAL has established versatile turbine test rig (VTTR) for high-speed turbine testing up to 50,000 rpm and 500 kW power. It will be used for performance evaluation of micro turbomachine. We are proud to be part of the journey towards technology maturation.”
