[ 1 ] Invited Talk on Integrated Energy Management Methodology

On 16th October, 2012 an invited talk was held in Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amritapuri Campus on ‘Integrated Energy Management Methodology’ which was presided by Dr.P.S.Chandramohanan Nair, H.O.D-EEE Dept.The Chief Guest was Mr. Jayakumar Nair, Principal Consultant- Sustenergy Foundation & Manager – Energy & Environment ACC Limited.

During his talk Mr.Jayakumar mentioned that through proper energy management methods, nearly 25 to 30% of energy can be saved per day. He also told about the importance of energy management and ways to conserve energy. He has developed a mathematical tool called ‘Sustenergy Pyramid TM’ by which the energy consumption of an organisation or an industry can be analysed and based on these results the methods by which energy can be saved can be implemented.

[ 2 ] Safe Switching for Operation and Maintenance

The second venture of IEEE IAS SBC was an invited talk on “Safe Switching for Operation and Maintenance” by Mr. Erling Hesla on 14th November 2012. He has over five decades of industrial and consulting experience. Before moving into consulting practice he was employed by Canadian General Electric Company, Cobast in Brazil and Scott Paper Company.

His talk provides a practical approach about switching procedures for operating power system and maintenance. Impact on system reliability due to changes in switching configuration is covered in depth as it is the requirement for maintaining power to essential loads. The talk addresses on how to utilize rigorous calculation of system performance with or without computer programs as well as to maintain documentation and control of switching procedures.

[ 3 ] Official Inauguration of IEEE IAS SBC Chapter

The official inauguration of IEEE IAS SBC was done on 20th December 2012 and the guest of honour was Dr. Peter Magyar, Fellow IEEE, IEEE IAS Chapters and Membership Development Chair. The chapter was inaugurated by Br.Bijukumar, Head Corporate and Industry Relations, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham. Dr.Magyar officially launched the IEEE IAS SBC website. The inauguration was followed by series of technical talks by Mr. Narayanan A.M, Divisional Head of Energy management Centre, Dept. of Power, Govt. of Kerala and by Dr. Magyar, Mr.Unnikrishnan A.K, Associate Director Power Electronics Group, CDAC Trivandrum were also present during the function. Other invitees were Dr.Balakrishnan Sankar, Associate Dean Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Dr.K.Sankaran Principal Amrita School of Engineering and Dr.P.S.Chandramohanan Nair Chairman of Dept. of Electrical and Electronics Engineering.

[ 4 ] Electric Car and the Renewable Energy Sources – Hype or Solution?

The talk by Dr. Magyar was on “The Electric Car and the Renewable Energy Sources – Hype or Solution?”. Dr.Magyar asked does the electric car really save energy, decrease the carbon dioxide emission and the environmental pollution? What kind of technical, economical, political and customer aspects affect the recent development? Is it possible to change this trend by using renewable energy sources?. The lecture gave an overview about the automotive structure, energy and electricity generation issues and the impact of the increasing use of renewable energy sources in Germany. Attributes of some newly developed electric cars were demonstrated and the political and economical issues of the conventional and renewable energy sources were critically discussed from the point of view of an electrical engineer.

[ 5 ] Energy Efficiency Considerations in Power Systems by Mr.Narayanan

The talk by Mr. Narayanan was based on “Energy Efficiency Considerations in Power Systems”. The talk mainly focuses on improving the energy efficiency in generation, transmission and distribution. As power density in modern data centers increases, more focus has been placed on improving efficiency in the power distribution infrastructure. Dramatic changes, such as switching to 400V or DC distribution systems, have been explored, but there are some practical and affordable options to significantly improve efficiency without making major changes to the existing power delivery infrastructure.

[ 6 ] Membership Drive for B.tech students

A membership drive was conducted on Feb 8th for Prefinal year B.Tech students.It was presided by our chairman Mr.MuraliKrishnan.The drive briefed on the benefits of IEEE IAS and the advantages of joining the chapter.The response was good from the students.

[ 7 ] Workshop on Introduction to Microprocessor Programming

IEEE IAS SBC in association with Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering conducted a workshop on “Introduction to Microprocessor Programming” on March 9th 2013.The workshop was attended by 38 students.The topics covered were 8085 programming and instruction sets. Students were also taken for laboratory sessions.Mr.Srikanth V Assistant Professor, EEE dept was the trainer.Dr. P.Kankasabapathy,Vice Chairman,Dept of EEE  distributed the certificates to the students.

[ 8 ] Industrial visit to Moozhiyar power station

Moozhiyar power station is situated in Pathannamthitta,Kerala. On 23/3/2013 an Industrial Visit was organized by the student branch chapter of IEEE Industry Applications Society (IAS) as part of its activities of 2013. A group of 38 students and 6 faculties were a part of the visit. Apart from students and regular members of IAS, other students from MTech. (Power and Energy) of our campus participated in the event. Moozhiyar power station (Sabarigiri power station) is the second largest hydroelectric generating station in Kerala. It is having an installed capacity of 300 MW having 6*50 MW generators.

[ 9 ] Workshop on Wind Energy Resource Assessment and Simulation

A workshop on Wind Energy resource Assessment and Simulation was conducted on April 26 and 27th.It was attended by 30 students both from B.Tech and M.Tech and a few faculties from EEE dept.The 2 day workshop was taken by Mr.Mohanrajan,Mr.Prabhu and Ms.Jisma (Faculties from Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham,Ettimadai Campus) and it mainly concentrated on wind resources and practical simulation tutorials on modelling different wind turbines depending on type, location and area.It also emphasized on the future and ongoing research works in the area of Wind Energy.The feedback was good from the students side.

[ 10 ] TAPENERGY 2013

[ 11 ] Industrial Visit: KALLADA HYDRO ELECTRIC PROJECT

Kallada irrigation project is the largest irrigation project in Kerala. On 30th  August 2013 an industrial visit to the above mentioned power plant was organised by the IEEE IAS SBC in association with Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering to observe and understand the working of hydro electric power plant. A group of 35 students and 5 faculties were a part of the visit. Apart from students The Chief Engineer-In Charge of the plant had given a detailed session on the operation and maintenance of this hydro station.

[ 12 ]  Seminar on – “ROLE OF WOMEN IN INDUSTRY:HOW TO BE AN EFFICENT MANAGER”

As a part of women’s day celebrations  IEEE IAS SBC conducted a seminar “Role of Women in Industry” on 10^th September 2013. The main intention of the program was to motivate the women in engineering and to showcase their potential. The session was handled by Dr. B.J.SREEDEVI, Director, of National Transportation Planning & Research Centre (NATPAC) an R&D Centre of Govt. of Kerala.  Around 350 students participated in the seminar.

[ 13 ] Celebrating the 1st anniversary of the Chapter

The chapter celebrated the 1^st anniversary from 12^th to 16^th Nov 2013. A series of 3 events followed. Kick started with the Quiz competition-SAMAZYA. It covered technical as well as general areas. 30 students participated in the quiz. Adding to the competitions, Logical Design Problem Solving-YAUKTIKA (an emulated programming based logic contest) was conducted on 14^th Nov. The participants were asked to develop logical solutions for automating a manufacturing industry using Logixpro software. The duration of the contest was half an hour. Though the software was new to them, it did not affect their enthusiasm to complete the task on time.

 The celebration concluded with a technical talk on “DC/DC converters and its Control” by Dr. M. Nandakumar, from Government Engineering College, Thrissur on 16^th Nov. The talk was conducted for the post graduate students of Power and Energy. The one day event was really beneficial for the students as the approach was from the fundamentals and covering all the relevant areas in Power Electronic converters and their control. It helped many of them in their project works. A very good feedback was received for the same.

[ 14 ] Member in Service Program

IEEE IAS Chapters organized a session for B.tech and the M.tech students with  Mr.Aneesh Rajeev (Student member- IEEE), who was an Ex- Power System Engineer in Power Research and Development Consultant, Bangalore. The agenda of this session was to share the industrial experiences and recent trends in power system.

An Orientation class was conducted for the new members of IEEE- IAS SBC. The class was conducted by the Chairperson & Membership development officer of IAS SBC.

Kiran.P, the former General Secretary of IEEE IAS SBC conducted a session on the topic “HOW TO PREPARE FOR A CONFERENCE”. He shared his experiences, which was very useful for both undergraduate and post graduate students.

[ 15 ] Industrial visit to Moozhiyar power station

Moozhiyar power station is situated in Pathannamthitta, Kerala. On 13/1/2014 an Industrial Visit was organized by the student branch chapter of IEEE Industry Applications Society (IAS). A group of 21 students and 4 faculties were a part of the visit. Sabarigiri (Moozhiyar) power station which is having an installed capacity of 380 MW (4*55 MW + 2*60MW) is the second largest hydroelectric generating station in Kerala. The generating station was commissioned in 1966 and renovated in 2009.

[ 16 ]  Award Function and Technical Talk

The second venture of IEEE IAS SBC was “Award Function and Technical Talk” scheduled on 23/01/2014.  Mr. Blake Lloyd, President IEEE Industry Applications Society and Dr. Peter Magyar, Fellow IEEE, IEEE IAS Chapters and Membership Development Chair were the chief guests for the event.  Mr. Murali Krishnan, former chairperson was honored with the “Outstanding Contributions Award” for the exemplary service to the IAS activities of our chapter in the year 2012-‘13, by Mr. Blake Lloyd.  Mr Kiran P, former member was honored with the “Academic Excellence Award” by Dr. Peter Magyar, for scoring highest marks among the IAS members in the academic year 2012-‘13. Prize for the winners of “Yauktika” and “Samazya” (contests conducted during 1st Anniversary celebration of IAS SBC) were also distributed. This was followed by the talk on “IAS Benefits and Opportunities” by Dr. Peter Magyar. The morning session ended with the Technical Talk on “Effects of Modern Variable Speed Drives on Motor Winding Insulation” by Mr. Blake Lloyd, President IAS.

After lunch, a boating trip was organized for the IAS members with Mr. Blake Lloyd and Dr. Peter Magyar in the beautiful back waters of Ashtamudi Lake, Kollam. This trip was a new experience and a great opportunity for all the members to interact with guests.