Giving a boost to Palakkad’s image as an emerging industrial hub, the public sector Fluid Control Research Institute (FCRI) at Kanjikode here has set up a water flow laboratory.
FCRI sources said the testing and calibration of high-level flow metres and valves could be done at this facility, supposedly Asia’s largest.
Such tests were vital for all water-based industrial and developmental initiatives, FCRI Director Jacob Chandapillai told The Hindu.
The laboratory, with a 2000-mm test line, would be made available to governments and firms in Asia to calibrate ‘multipath ultrasonic flow metres,’ he said.
The laboratory successfully completed the testing and calibration of the flow meter to gauge water discharge from the Koteshwar Hydroelectric Project (KHEP) under Tehri Hydro Development Corporation of India Ltd. in Uttarakhand. The metre would be fitted to the discharge valves of KHEP’s 100-MW plant which taps the waters of the Bhagirathi.
Experts from FCRI would conduct Field Efficiency (FE) testing next month, Dr. Chandapillai said.
“The new laboratory is a feather on the cap of FCRI under the Union Ministry of Heavy Industries. This is the silver jubilee year of the organisation and we are committed to testing and certifying different flow products meant for industrial growth using our different laboratories,” Dr. Chandapillai said.
“With the setting up of the lab, FCRI has placed India ahead of all Asian countries in this field. It is also the first National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL)-accredited flow laboratory in India,” Dr. Chandapillai said.
