ABB India, NITTTR Sign MoU to Setup the First-of-its-Kind Digital Simulation Lab in Chandigarh

The first-of-its-kind multi-physics ‘Simulation Center of Excellence’ (SCoE) in the country will enhance skill development for critical electro-mechanical equipment design and manufacturing, catalyzing ‘Make in India’ for the students and the faculty members of the institute.

ABB signed the MoU with NITTTR, a flagship institute under the aegis of the Ministry of Human Resource Development and one of the initial four institutes, set up in the country to realize the need for training better quality technical manpower to meet the large-scale industrialization of the country. The funding for the project is part of ABB India’s CSR initiative.

‘The Simulation Centre of Excellence’ has added another feather in the cap of educational hub of Chandigarh and Mohali, having institutes of repute ranging from business schools to state of the art research institutions. Chandigarh and its adjoining areas have also become a sought-after destination also for outsourcing industries.

Students from electrical and mechanical engineering department of the institute have been working with ABB on online remote condition monitoring of motors and issues of motor casings. Though the SCoE was established with focus on electromechanical systems, the high-performance computing feature of workstations in SCoE has also been used by students of Computer Science Department of NITTTR for their post graduate thesis work in the domain of Machine Learning.

“A combination of knowledge and expertise developed through the right skilling initiatives would be key to take the Indian economy to the next level of growth. ABB India over decades has been working on various initiatives to catalyze teaching, learning and skill development on best in class global technology and practices,” said Sanjeev Sharma, Managing Director, ABB India. “We are happy that our partnership with NITTTR, one of the oldest institutes of technical training in the country, has made the first of its kind digital simulation lab operational in the emerging educational hub of Chandigarh. Such digital infrastructure in the academia will be the stepping stone to prepare future generations to navigate technology disruptions across the industry,” he added.

“The upgraded computing, simulation and analysis facilities available in SCoE has brought opportunities for NITTTR students and faculty for research of complex industrial systems. With the availability of SCoE infrastructure, NITTTR faculty has been able to introduce new short-term courses in the domain of Finite Element Analysis for the technical teachers,” said Prof. Shyam Sundar Pattnaik, Director, NITTTR. “Thus, SCoE has a cascading effect in improving the quality of technical education system through state-of-the-art learning tools. NITTTR, Chandigarh through SCoE will address the industrial requirements as well as provide an opportunity to the faculty and research scholars to work on real-life for industrial projects and latest technologies of digitalization like machine learning and latest computer aided engineering software,” he added.

High-end computing workstations and complete suites of ANSYS & COMSOL Multiphysics software for the SCoE were procured. Some of the sophisticated Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) software such as ADSTEFAN (for casting simulation), Simufact (for forming & forging simulation), KissSoft (for gear design) etc. were also ported on the high-end workstations for enhancing the efficiency of simulation and provide superior learning experience for the students.

The focus on clean energy and digitalization in the manufacturing and energy sector has also led to higher demand for superior quality, connected and innovatively designed products and solutions for the domestic and international markets. Optimal and robust design of electro-mechanical equipment in the current context is guided by the recent advances in computing machines, parallel processing and simulation tools. Proliferation of advanced automation, digitalization with industry 4.0 has also revolutionized the world of digital product designs and prototypes with digital twins, 3D modelling, robotics on the foundation of thermal, mechanical and electromagnetics.