Centre for Innovation and Product Development
Preamble:
The fast pace of technological advances in recent times mandates the students to be industry-ready by acquiring broader skills while graduating from the institutes of higher education. In line with the above, the Centre for Innovation and Product Development (CIPD) has been established to act as a forum to enable students to implement their novel and creative ideas originating from fundamental concepts learned in the classroom and to perpetuate the hands-on knowledge gained in the laboratory into a new product or a novel process.
The CIPD at VIT Chennai aims to develop new products — both hardware and software — that will have a social impact by leveraging exhaustive technology.
Vision:
- To develop innovative prototypes and process technologies and transfer the technologies to the industry for product development
Mission :
- To create an ambiance for interdisciplinary learning by loosening the complexities set by the conventional boundaries of department/school structure
- To encourage research scholars, students, and faculty members across schools and departments to come together and utilize the ideas, perspectives, and exclusive skills to solve problems beyond the scope of a single discipline
- To carry out product development-oriented research involving cost-effective materials and processes for space-, bio-, and industrial-applications
The primary research areas and objectives of CIPD are:
- Robotics and Product Development: To design and develop vision sensor integrated algorithms for automatic assembly systems for industries
- MEMS and Microsensors: To develop micro-/nano-scale devices for space- and bio-applications using innovative processes and low-cost materials
- New Material and Product Development: To develop products from natural fiber-reinforced polymer composite materials
- Aerodynamics: To develop Aerodynamic aids for better cornering stability and drag reduction on commercial vehicles and
- Applications of Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Artificial Intelligence, and Data Sciences for innovative process and product development
Research
The details of the funded projects (both completed and ongoing projects) handled in the recent past by the faculty members (as PI or Co-PI) of CIPD are provided hereunder.
| S. No | Faculty / Principal Investigator | Project Title | Funding Agency | Years | Status | Amount (Rs) |
| 1 | Dr. Ravi Sankar. A | Thermal-Drift Aware Modeling and Design of Surface Stress based Micro/Nano Composite Cantilevers with Integrated Piezoresistors for Biosensing Applications. | SERB, DST | 2017-19 | Completed | 22,12,100 |
| 2 | Dr G.Venkatachalam | Investigation on mechanical characterization of cellulose nanofibrils (cnf) reinforced composites obtained through chemical pretreatment and mechanical grinding | Institution of Engineers (India), Kolkata, India | 2018-2020 | Completed | 30,000 |
| 3 | Dr. Vinayagamurthy. G | Influence of Airplane wake-vortices on the layout and infrastructure of Airports | SERB, DST | 2015-19 | Completed | 15,35,000 |
The list of selected journals in which the CIPD research faculty have published manuscripts with VIT affiliation is given here, with their corresponding 2020 impact factors (published in June 2021).
| S.No. | Journal | Impact Factor |
| 1 | Nano-Micro Letters | 16.419 |
| 2 | Journal of Natural Fibers | 5.323 |
| 3 | Materials and Manufacturing Processes | 4.616 |
| 4 | Polymers | 4.329 |
| 5 | Measurement – Journal of International Measurement Confederation | 3.927 |
| 6 | Materials Science in Semiconductor Processing | 3.927 |
| 7 | Computers and Electrical Engineering | 3.818 |
| 8 | Building Simulation | 3.751 |
| 9 | Materials | 3.623 |
| 10 | Sensors and Actuators A | 3.407 |
| 11 | IEEE Sensors | 3.301 |
| 12 | Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics | 3.207 |
| 13 | Polymer Composites | 3.171 |
| 14 | Multimedia Tools and Applications | 2.757 |
| 15 | Proceedings of Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part B: Journal of Engineering Manufacture | 2.610 |
| 16 | IETE Journal of Research | 2.333 |
| 17 | Microsystem Technologies | 2.276 |
| 18 | Journal of Electronic Materials | 1.938 |
| 19 | Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering | 1.881 |
| 20 | Aerospace | 1.639 |
| 21 | AIP Advances | 1.548 |
K. B. Rajasekarababu, G. Vinayagamurthy “Assessment of local pressure coefficient over conventional and unconventional tall buildings” In book: Innovative Design, Analysis and Development Practices in Aerospace and Automotive Engineering-2020, Book Chapter ISBN: 978-981-13-2696-7 PP: 145-152 Published by Springer.
Insights
The details of the research scholars (Ph.D. and M. S. (by Research)) worked/working under the supervision of the faculty members of the research center are provided hereunder:
Doctoral Research Scholars – Completed
| S. No | Name of the Scholar | Title of the Thesis | Supervisor | Year of completion |
| 1 | S. M. Sakthivel | VLSI Implementation of Image Watermarking Algorithms | Dr. A. Ravi Sankar | 2020 |
| 2 | K. V. Meena | Design Optimization of a Highly Miniaturized Silicon MEMS Piezoresistive Pressure Sensor for Bio-medical Applications | Dr. A. Ravi Sankar | 2019 |
| 3 | S. Saranya | Micro-Structuring of Quartz Substrates using an Electrochemical Discharge Machining Process for Realizing MEMS Devices | Dr. A. Ravi Sankar | 2019 |
| 4 | Atul R. Deshmuk | Virtual Fatigue Life Prediction of Full Penetration Weld Joints in Off-Highway Vehicles | Dr. G. Venkatachalam | 2019 |
| 5 | Ribu Mathew | Design and Optimization of a High-Performance MEMS Piezoresistive Cantilever Surface Stress Sensor with Reduced Thermal Sensitivity | Dr. A. Ravi Sankar | 2018 |
| 6 | N.Senthilnathan | Processing of Tungsten Heavy Alloys using Spark Plasma Sintering | Dr. G. Venkatachalam | 2018 |
| 7 | S. Vimalanand S | The Effect of Plant Fiber’s Transverse Isotropy and Porosity on the Dynamic Characteristics of the Uniform and Thickness Tapered Laminated Composite Plates | Dr. G. Venkatachalam | 2018 |
| 8 | Abhijeet V. Marathe | Development of methodology to predict cylinder head bolt pretension for gasketed joint and its effect on engine performance parameters | Dr. G. Venkatachalam | 2018 |
| 9 | M. Kalaimathi | Performance Analysis of Electrochemical Machining of Monel 400 Alloys and Optimization of Process Parameters | Dr. G. Venkatachalam | 2017 |
The details of the consultancy work carried out (both completed and ongoing) by the research faculty of CIPD jointly with the colleagues of the School of Mechanical Engineering (SMEC) in the recent past are provided hereunder.
| S. No | Faculty | Topic | Funding Agency | Duration | Status | Amount (Rs.) |
| 1 | Dr. Vinayagamurthy. G and Dr. R. Sivakumar | Wind Tunnel Testing | Mepco Schlenk Engg. College | 2021 | Completed | 52,000 |
| 2 | Dr. Sivakumar. R, Dr. Davidson and Dr. Vinayagamurthy. G | 3D-CFD, FE & Mockup testing of floating vertical axis tidal turbine | ST Advanced Composites | 2020-21 | Completed | 1,78,293 |
| 3 | Dr. Vinayagamurthy. G & Dr. Davidson | 2D-CFD analysis of Vertical Axis Tidal Turbine | ST Advanced Composites | 2019-20 | Completed | 12,272 |
| S. No. | Event | Title | Coordinators | Resource Person Details | Date |
| 1 | Online Workshop | Metallurgy for Non-Metallurgists | Dr. G. Venkatachalam, Dr. R. Narayanan, and Dr. A. Raja Annamalai | Dr. A. Raja Annamalai, VIT, Vellore
Dr. R. Narayanan, SMEC, VIT, Chennai
Dr. Giribaskar Sivaswamy, University of Strathclyde, UK
Shri. Peranandhanathan.M, VIPERAN MRCT – INSTITUTE, Coimbatore
Ms. Sukanya, TATA steels, Jamshedpur | 14/12/2020 – 18/12/2020 (5 days) |
| S. No. | Faculty Member | Award | Year |
| 1 | Dr. A. Ravi Sankar | IOP Outstanding Reviewer Award – Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering | 2020 |
| 2 | Dr. A. Ravi Sankar | IOP Outstanding Reviewer Award -Nanotechnology | 2020 |
| 3 | Dr. A. Ravi Sankar | IOP Trusted Reviewer Award | 2020 |
| 4 | Dr. A. Ravi Sankar | CTS Best Faculty Award | 2018 |
| S. No. | Foreign Professor and Institution | CIPD Faculty Involved | Nature of Collaboration | Details |
| 1 | Dr. Chung-Ping Jen,
National Chung Cheng University, Taiwan | Dr. G. Venkatachalam | Journal Publication | Dynamic characteristics of Woven Flax/Epoxy laminated composite plate, Polymers, 13(2):209, 2021 [Impact factor: 4.329] |
| 2 | Dr. Chung-Ping Jen
National Chung Cheng University, Taiwan | Dr. G. Venkatachalam | Journal Publication | Experimental and numerical analyses on the buckling characteristics of woven flax/epoxy laminated composite plate under axial compression, Polymers, 13 (7), 995, 2021. [Impact Factor: 4.329] |
| 3 | Dr. Chung-Ping Jen
National Chung Cheng University, Taiwan | Dr. G. Venkatachalam | Journal Publication | Effect of Rare Earth Metals (Y, La) and Refractory Metals (Mo, Ta, Re) to improve mechanical properties of W-Ni-Fe Alloy – A review, Materials, 14(7), 1660, 2021. [Impact factor: 3.623] |
Apart from the Doctoral research scholars and the students of the M. S. (by Research) program, a few undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) students have participated in the research activities with the faculty members of the CIPD to publish articles in peer-reviewed journals. The details are given in the table hereunder.
| S.No. | Authors (Student’s name in bold letters) | Paper Title | Journal Title | Publication Details |
| 1 | Venkatachalam G., Vyas R (16BME1083) (UG), Goswami I, Shah A, and Vignesh P | Tensile behavior of sugarcane fiber/fly ash/CNT reinforced epoxy composites | UPB Sci. Bull., Series D (Scopus Indexed, SNIP – 0.316) | Vol. 83 (1), pp 181-192, 2021 |
| 2 | Gokula Krishnan B. (18MCD1028) (PG), Venkatachalam G. and Deshmukh A | Prediction of fatigue life of full penetration weld joint using thermal elastoplastic properties incorporating residual stress effect | UPB Sci. Bull., Series D (Scopus Indexed, SNIP – 0.316) | Vol. 83 (1), pp 135-148, 2021 |
| 3 | Venkatachalam G., Vyas R. (16BME1083) (UG), Goswami I (UG), Shah A (UG), and Vignesh P | Flexural Analysis of Epoxy Polymer Composite Reinforced with Sugarcane Fibre/Fly Ash/Carbon-Nanotube, | International Journal of Surface Engineering and Interdisciplinary Materials Science (Scopus Indexed, SNIP – 0.316) | Vol. 9 (1), pp 87-99. 2021 |
| 4 | Venkatachalam G., Vignesh P., Hitesh B.N. (PG), Gokulakrishnan B (18MCD1028)(PG), and Pandivelan C | Investigation on Machining Characteristics of Banana Fiber and Silicon Carbide Reinforced Polymer Matrix Composites | Engineering Transactions (Scopus Indexed) | Vol. 68 (3), pp 297-313. 2020 |
| 5 | Meena K.V., Mathew R., Leelavathi J (14MVD1027) (PG)., Ravi Sankar A | Performance comparison of a single element piezoresistor with a half-active Wheatstone bridge for miniaturized pressure sensors | Measurement (Impact Factor – 3.927) | Vol:111, pp. 340-350, 2017 |
| 6 | Saranya S., Nair A. (14MVD1019) (PG), Ravi Sankar A | Experimental investigations on the electrical and 2D-machining characteristics of an electrochemical discharge machining (ECDM) process | Microsystem Technologies (Impact Factor – 2.276) | Vol:23, Issue: 5, pp. 1453-1461, 2017 |
Innovations on Process and Product Development
Piezoresistive micro-/nano-cantilever
The piezoresistive micro-/nano-cantilever sensor was designed using the CAD tool, Intellsiuite®
The device was fabricated at the Centre for Nano Science and Engineering (CeNSE), Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, through the Indian Nanoelectronics Users Program (INUP) program