FCRI – South Asia’s premier lab for flow metering
Dr. JACOB CHANDAPILLAI is the Director of Fluid Control Research Institute (FCRI), Palakkad, under Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public enterprises, Govt. of India. He is a Ph.D in Water Distribution systems from IIT, Madras. He has more than 27 years of experience in fluid flow, water distribution networks, flow measurements, Accreditation and Quality certification and related engineering fields. He was heading Centre for Water Management at FCRI before taking over charge as Director. He is a Member of several Technical Expert Committees of water boards in India, IIT, NABL etc. He is also a Reviewer of International journals. He has several Technical papers both Indian & International to his credit and also holds Membership in several professional bodies.
Fluid Control Research Institute (FCRI), Palakkad, India, a specialized facility for quality assurance of flow products and design and development of flow products/flow measurement techniques. FCRI is the first of its kind in South Asia, established by the Government of India (Ministry of Industry) as a UNDP assisted project, and dedicated to the Nation by the then President of India in 1989.The institute represents the first serious attempt to provide a frame work of reference and standardization to critical aspects of Fluid Flow Measurement and Control in Industrial process.
What makes it more special is the fact that the entire facility was created by concerted internal effort rather than importing technology from outside and installing it as such here. Valuable advice from UNIDO experts were transformed to suit Indian conditions and cost-effective infrastructure was built by FCRI engineers and their team with telling results. These NABL accredited laboratories are on par with similar labs in Europe and it has been proven through an inter-lab comparison with National Engineering Laboratory, UK; Delft Hydraulic Lab, Netherland; and Denmark Tech. Institute, Denmark and have established the competence and worthiness of its indigenous laboratory beyond any doubts. The accreditation has been done on the basis of compliance to NABL – criteria which are based on ISO standard 17025-1999.The laboratories accredited by NABL automatically gets the approval from the Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (APLAC) and International Laboratory accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) also. The major objective of the Institute is to provide Research and Development assistance to the flow product industry and to assist in upgrading Quality and Reliability of flow measurement & Instrumentation. The quality assurance of flow products at FCRI are by and large carried out with reference to ISO , ISA,API, ASTM and OIML standards.
Facilities galore
Today the institute provides infrastructural facilities for applied research projects in the area of fluid flow. It also acts as a National Certifying agency for testing and calibration of all types of flow products and related measuring instruments. Through in-house R&D efforts, FCRI has successfully developed and transferred technical knowhow for a variety of products, viz. cone flow meter, thermal mass flow meter, etc. More than 3000 organizations, spread all over India and some from abroad have benefited from FCRI’s quality assessment / consultancy services so far. This includes design evaluation, quality improvement, establishment of appropriate flow measurement and control technology, etc.
The various labs & facilities at the Institute include Air Flow, Water Flow, Oil Flow, Centre for water management, Physical Standards, Noise & Vibration, Electronics & Instrumentation and Environmental Testing Labs and various other facilities for special assignments and projects.FCRI thrives in projects assigned by the industry. The latest at FCRI is the project assigned by KBNIL, Karnataka for optimization of Automated and Integrated Gates which measure and control water flow into open canals feeding water for irrigation. The measurement & control is achieved by ultrasonic meters. The high end integrated gates are also coming from Australia for evaluation. “We are proud to be associated with this project which is the first of its kind in the country,” says Dr. Jacob Chandapillai, Director. The demand for calibration & testing of higher diameter flow products is increasing day by day. Sensing this need, FCRI has established a Larger Water Flow Laboratory (LWFL) which has made possible the calibration of very large size flow meters hitherto considered impossible in India. Testing of pumps with capacities up to 20,000 m3/hr and 10 bar has also become possible. Some major jobs done at LWFL include: Calibration of Ultrasonic Flow Meters, Electromagnetic Flow meters, Venturi Flow meters; Testing of Valves and Testing of Centrifugal Pumps for Cavitation Performance. Gas Flow is one of the future thrusts for FCRI. Besides, the Institute is eyeing site assignments for water flow, especially in hydro-electric power stations involving large diameter flow meters. It will also be testing field efficiency of turbines.
Training Programs
FCRI has successfully conducted more than 164 national bimonthly training programs and 73 international training programs. It also conducts tailor-made programs for executives/technicians in specialized areas for interested organizations. Such programs (80 nos.) have been conducted for GAIL, ONGC, Legal Metrology officers, IPCL, TNPCB, Enron, etc. In addition to the above, it has also introduced a Post Graduate Certificate Program on Petroleum & Natural Gas Flow Measurement & Control for field engineers and engineering graduates. The Institute, which celebrated its Silver Jubilee last year, is indeed in the forefront of applied research in its chosen field. Its contribution towards quality enhancemnent, accurancy, precision and reliability in flow metering is laudable.
– P.K. Balasubbramaniian
