Developed and Delivered 4 Axis Filament Winding Machine to IIT Jammu
M/s Vashishtha Research Pvt Ltd., the startup company incubated under Department of Aerospace Engineering IIST (by one of our research students) has successfully developed and delivered a 4 axis filament winding machine to IIT Jammu. The machine is capable of winding mandrels up to 1.5m long and 0.4m in diameter at speeds of upto 20000 mm/min. It is capable of accommodating 6 spools with 1.5L heated resin bath. An indigenously developed filament winding pattern generation software is also supplied with the product.
Developed and Delivered halogen lamp based thermal excitation system to CMSE / ISRO
M/s Vashishtha Research Pvt Ltd., the startup company incubated under Department of Aerospace Engineering IIST (by one of our research students) has successfully developed and delivered a halogen lamp based thermal excitation system to CMSE/ ISRO. The system is capable of generating thermal loading profiles of step, sinusoidal, frequency modulated and coded excitation. The system also includes an indigenously developed lamp controller board and software GUI. It can be used for thermographic inspection of aerospace structures.
Indigenous Gas sensors for Space Mission:
Dr. Palash Kumar Basu and his group in Dept of Avionics is conducting research to develop miniaturize gas sensors to monitor the emissions from soil for precession agriculture. This Gas sensor technology will provide new dimensions in the field of precision agriculture, Air pollution monitoring system, coal mines and manhole gas detection system at low cost. The same is extended to develop gas sensors for space missions. There is no space-qualified gas sensor available in the market. IIST is trying to investigate low weight, high-performance nanostructure gas sensor array on a flexible substrate at room temperature where each element of the array will be functionalized by required nanomaterials (metal Oxide with catalyst) to enhance the performance of the sensor. The development has initiated a lot of interest in the Space Sector and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) along with the Human Space Flight Centre (HSFC) has agreed to put three modules of indigenous gas sensors in the upcoming prestigious Gaganyaan Mission as a part of the Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS). Dr.Basu and his group are actively involved with HSFC and SAC to develop a QM (Qualified Module) module of Gas sensors for the upcoming Human Space Program. Already material optimisations have completed and all are in packaging stage.
Prototype _1: Optically Activated CO sensors (Version: 1) for Gaganyaan Mission. The same platform has been optimized for CH4 and NH3 sensors. It has been developed in collaboration with URSC (U R Rao Space Application Centre).
Prototype 2: Optically Activated CO, CH4, NH3, and CO2 sensors (Version: 2) for various applications, including an environment monitoring system, manholes, and coal mines applications. The same concept has been extended to develop gas sensors for Environm
Coatings developed to protect ball bearings from wearing.
Plasma treatment of steel surfaces to improve the wettability of ball-bearing systems to IISU.
Hard coatings for improving the lifetime of ballbearings in ISRO Spacecrafts: Under MoU with ISRO Inertail Systems Unit (IISU) for developing surface engineering techniques for improving the life and performance of ball-bearing systems in ISRO Spacecraft mechanisms. This mainly involves the studies on appropriate hard-coatings on ball-bearing systems in spacecrafts, and to study the surface energy modification techniques for improving the wettability of steel ball-bearing systems. For the development of the hard-coatings, Space Technology Innovations and Characterizations (STIC) Laboratory at IIST has designed and developed an in-house deposition system.