Department of Mechanical Engineering

Overview

Since its inception, mechanical engineering has been a formidable discipline. It is an irrefutable fact that some of the most significant scientific contrivances of the modern world are results of this highly revered discipline of Engineering. Despite being one of the oldest branches, it still holds social, cultural and financial importance.

Mechanical Engineering is not just another branch, it is a tradition. MEC’S meticulously crafted curriculum pays tribute to this tradition while paving the way to a future that is increasingly seeing a synergy of various disciplines while shaping and strengthening newer paradigms like Mechatronics and Robotics. This is one of the reasons why, MEC is appreciated for having the best Mechanical Engineering course.

The mechanical engineering course is designed to impart hands on experience along with providing exposure to state of the art machinery in our high-tech labs featuring various projects with industry collaborations. This enables the students to maintain pace with the transitional needs of this dynamic industry.

The core courses involve basic and advanced knowledge in fluid mechanics, thermodynamics and heat transfer, solid mechanics, materials engineering, manufacturing, energy systems, dynamics and control Computer Aided Design (CAD), Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM), etc., which account for 53 credits.

For specialisation in the design of machines, engines, thermodynamic systems or advanced industrial engineering and management, five electives - accounting for 15 credits- can be opted from a plethora of professional or open courses.

Three departmental projects accounting for 15 credits test and aid acquired knowledge with practical skills necessary for the industry.

Aspire to be a ‘next-gen engineer’ equipped to take on the challenges and opportunities of an automated world at MEC!

Faculty

MEC's faculty is a mix of accomplished Indian and International academicians, all Ph.Ds, with a high degree of emphasis on research. MEC continues to attract a steady stream of International visiting faculty from École Centrale and its partner institutions.

Abhijit Bhattacharyya
Associate Professor

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Abhijit Bhattacharyya
Associate Professor

Department of Mechanical Engineering
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Bhaskar Tamma
Professor

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Bhaskar Tamma
Professor

Department of Mechanical Engineering
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Deep Seth
Assistant Professor

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Deep Seth
Assistant Professor

Department of Mechanical Engineering
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Harshavardhan Kalathur
Assistant Professor

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Harshavardhan Kalathur
Assistant Professor

Department of Mechanical Engineering
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Jagan Mohan P
Associate Professor

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Jagan Mohan P
Associate Professor

Department of Mechanical Engineering
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Kondaiah P
Assistant Professor

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Kondaiah P
Assistant Professor

Department of Mechanical Engineering
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Manish Kumar Agrawal
Assistant Professor

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Manish Kumar Agrawal
Assistant Professor

Department of Mechanical Engineering
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Palash Roy Choudhury
Associate Professor

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Palash Roy Choudhury
Associate Professor

Department of Mechanical Engineering
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Prasad Pokkunuri
Associate Professor

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Prasad Pokkunuri
Associate Professor

Department of Mechanical Engineering
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Ranjith Kunnath
Professor and Head

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Ranjith Kunnath
Professor and Head

Department of Mechanical Engineering
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Ravikiran Bompelly
Assistant Professor

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Ravikiran Bompelly
Assistant Professor

Department of Mechanical Engineering
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Sebastian Uppapalli
Assistant Professor

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Sebastian Uppapalli
Assistant Professor

Department of Mechanical Engineering
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Senbagaraman Sudarsanam
Assistant Professor

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Senbagaraman Sudarsanam
Assistant Professor

Department of Mechanical Engineering
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Laboratories

The department has 6 labs equipped with machinery that trains students in various aspects of the mechanical engineering course. Our experimental equipment helps in conducting fluid mechanics experiments, heat transfer experiments, dynamics and vibration experiments, turbomachinery experiments and includes an air conditioner trainer rig.

Automotive Systems and Internal Combustion Engines Laboratory

This facility houses automotive and IC engine related equipment, including a traditional auto-mobile and its Power Train. Cut sections help students learn by visualisation of a range of machines.

List of Equipment:

1. Ready-to-drive 25 tonnes HCV
2. 6 tonnes LCV chassis and engine aggregates
3. Aggregates: Power Train (Chassis, Engine, Transmission, Axles, Tyres) with cut sections (and motorised for demo)
4. Other Aggregates such as Brakes, Cooling System, Steering, After Treatment Systems etc., with cut sections
Proposed Activities:
5. 4 or 6 cylinder SI (gasoline) engine with Dynamometer
6. 4 or 6 cylinder CI (diesel) engine with Dynamometer
7. Single cylinder multi-fuel variable compression ratio research engine
8. Fuel Characterisation and Emissions Measurement Facilities
Centre for Robotics
Technology is changing the way people do things in every part of the world, and the sector continues to expand. Now, teaching robotics in MEC is becoming an increasingly indispensable part of the curriculum. Apart from teaching we have a centre for robotics where students and researchers can flourish new ideas and innovation in the field of robotics. This centre can provide a base for the new research in MEC

Proposed Activities:

The centre can provide facilities for the following activities but net the least.

Research Wing Activities
  – Consultancy for Industries (M&M, Kuka, ABB, etc.)
  – Funded Projects (DST, DRDO, etc.)
  –Conferences / Workshop

Student Wing Activities
  – Student Competitions
  – Project Displays

Common Activities
  – Arranging Guest Lectures
  – Reading Groups

Members with specialization:

The following is a list of members in the centre with their specialization:
1. Dr. Deep Seth (Automation and Robotics) {Head of the Centre}
2. Dr. Bharghava Rajaram (Embedded Systems){Member}
3. Dr. Achal Agarwal (Machine Intelligence){Member}
4. Dr. Gopinath GR (Control Systems) {Member}
5. Dr. Mahipal Jetta (Image Processing) {Member}
Application Areas:
1. Mechanical
2. Automobile
3. Medical
4. Aerospace
5. Education
6. Social Robots –HRI
7. Defence
Etc.

Equipment:

1. ABB IRB1200 – Six Axis Manipulator

Manufacturer: ABB

Application: Industrial robots have various axis configurations. The vast majority of articulated robots, however, feature six axes, also called six degrees of freedom. Six axis robots allow for greater flexibility and can perform a wider variety of applications than robots with fewer axes.

2. ABB IRB 910SC – SCARA Robot

Manufacturer: ABB

Application: SCARA Robots are a popular option for small robotic assembly applications. SCARA is an acronym for Selective Compliance Articulated Robot Arm, meaning it is compliant in the X-Y axis, and rigid in the Z-axis. The SCARA configuration is unique and designed to handle a variety of material handling operations.

3. DOBOT Magician – Educational

Manufacturer: Dobot Inc.

Application: This is a 4-axis robot for educational and training purpose. DOBOT Magician is a multifunctional desktop robotic arm for practical training education. Installed with different end-tools, DOBOT Magician can realize interesting functions such as 3D printing, laser engraving, writing and drawing. It supports secondary development by 13 extensible interfaces and over 20 programming languages, which really makes anyones creativity and imagination increase without any limitation.

4. Rapid Prototyping – Ultimaker 2+

Manufacturer: Ultimaker USA

Application: Engineered to perform, the Ultimaker 2+ is reliable, efficient, and user-friendly. It can support of a wide range of materials, it’s suitable for a huge variety of applications, from prototypes to customized tools. It’s a great all-around 3D printer that delivers consistent results.

5. Drone development Kit. – Various components from different suppliers.

Application: For taking an experience in developing a drone and introducing new ideas to develop a new drone from scratch.

6. Mobile Robots Platform Arduino based.

Application: To develop mobile robots based on Arduino to perform various tasks.

Proposed Projects
1. Hyper-redundant robots
2. Robotics in medical field
3. Lunar Rover
4. Humanoid
5. Autonomous vehicles and robots
6. Educational Robots
7. Drones/Mobile Robots
Initial Phase Projects

Projects which we are focusing now are:

– Autonomous Vehicle (Driverless car, UAV, etc.)
1. This work will involve the design and development of an autonomous vehicle. Primary work will include the design of the locomotion mechanism, navigation, localization, and mapping.
– Manipulators (Pick and Place, Exoskeleton)
1. This work will involve the study, design and analysis of different types of manipulators with varying degrees of freedom, and apply them into building a pick and place robotic arm, and as an augmentation to a human arm for rehabilitation purposes.
Future Projects:
1. Control of robots using Brain Signals
2. Bipedal Locomotion
3. Robotics Arm – redundant or hyper redundant
4. Design and control of space mobile manipulator.
Motion planning of robotic arm
Fluidics and Heat Transfer Laboratory

Most of the clinical processes in biomedical diagnosis require proper mixing of different fluids taking part in the chemical reaction. Miniaturization of fluidic system to micrometer scale provides an advantage of higher surface area relative to fluid volume. This facilitates both proper mixing of species and reduces the reaction time. At present we are working on the experimental study on the mixing characteristics of two miscible fluids in a spiral microchannel. We are trying to optimize the channel geometry so as to enhance the mixing efficiency of the two fluids.

Further, due to recent technological development the electronic components and devices have been miniaturised. All the electronic components during its working condition generates heat. For the safety of these devices one needs to employ efficient cooling methodology. In heat transfer laboratory we are working on the development of such efficient micro cooling technology based on impinging jet, heat pipe and PCM. The lab is under development and most of the supporting devices we are trying to fabricate in-house with the helping hands of under graduate students of MEC. Typical equipment will be used in fluidic and heat transfer lab are: syring pump and peristaltic pump for fluid supply system, thermocouple, IR thermography, digital camera and microscope for measurement and visualization system respectively, DC power supply system and Agilent made data acquisition system as instrumentation scheme.
Materials Testing Laboratory
Materials Testing Laboratory at Mahindra Ecole Centrale is one of the facilities having the most advanced equipment that can facilitate research at par with the leading institutes of the country. It boasts of Industrial grade setups that helps characterize and assess the mechanical properties of a wide range of metallic as well as ceramic materials.

Typical experimental activities include: Cutting/sectioning of metallic samples, polishing, assessment of microstructure using optical microscope. Mechanical characterization includes measurement of bulk hardness (Rockwell, Vicker, Brinell) of metals/alloys, tensile/compressive stress-strain behavior, Young's modulus calculations, wear and tear measurement of metallic materials of moderate to high hardness at temperatures upto 500^oC.

Instruments
1. Instron 5968 - Universal Testing Machine
2. High Temperature Wear & Tear (Ducom)
3. Specimen Mounting Press (Bainmount)
4. Optical Microscope (Metascope)
5. Cutting/Grinding/Polishing Instrument (Metco- HSS)
6. Hardness Testing: Vicker, Brinell, Rockwell (2 nos)
Mechanical Workshop

A modern workshop equipped with computer numerically controlled (CNC) machines has been established. Intellitek make CNC micromilling machines and an Intellitek make CNC turning machine are installed for generation of miniature features in machined parts. A BFW make CNC milling machine, a Lokesh make CNC turning center, a Falcon make vertical milling machine, conventional lathes, drilling machines, grinders, band saws, gas welding, and arc welding equipment are also installed. Fitting and bench work facilities are available.

Advanced manufacturing tools such as indexable, multicoated, pressed-in-chipbreaker inserts, indexable milling cutters, and an assortment of hand tools are used. High quality metrology equipment such as surface plates, height gage, micrometers, vernier calipers, gage blocks, spirit levels, and sine bar are also available to assess the quality of the work being done.
Basic Mechanical Engineering Lab

A well-equipped basic mechanical engineering laboratory has been established having the following experimental equipment:

Fluid mechanics experiments including venturimeter, orificemeter, rotameter, Bernoulli’s theorem apparatus, Pitot static tube apparatus, Reynold’s apparatus, and flow over notch apparatus.

Heat transfer experiments including thermal conductivity apparatus, natural and forced convection apparatus, Stephen Boltzmann apparatus, and heat transfer from a pin fin apparatus.

Dynamics and Vibrations experiments including Universal vibration apparatus, static and dynamic balancing apparatus, universal governor apparatus, and motorized gyroscope.

Turbomachinery experiments including a Pelton turbine test rig, and a centrifugal pump test rig.

An air conditioning trainer rig.