Annexure G
Details of Programmes other than Conventional degree: Research
Oriented Activity
1) Improvement of Biogas Conversion Kit-By Prof.(Dr.) G.P.Govil
Contents
Sr. No
Page No.
1
Introduction
2
Main Objectives
3
Scientific/Technical basis for Present Development
4
Selection of Diesel Engine to convert to Biogas-Engine
Development of Governing Mechanism, Air Gas Mixture
5
and Ignition Mechanism
6
Experimental Setup
7
Results and Discussion
8
Conclusions
9
Cost Estimates
Entrepreneurship Possibilities emerging from Present Innovation
10
and Strategy for Promotion
11
References
12
Appendices
1.0
Introduction
In order to give a thrust towards sustainable Rural Industrialization, it is essential to
develop commercially viable technologies and rural entrepreneurship packages using
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B.B.D. Northern India University, New Delhi (De-nova)
these technologies to effectively harness locally available, renewable energy resources
in the rural area to provide basic utilities for the rural population and to augment the
entrepreneurial activity by value addition to agricultural and other RI products.
In this context, effective utilization/recycling of biomass are a much needed
intervention. A substantial quantity of wet as well as dry biomass in various forms
becomes naturally available in the rural areas. Appropriate technologies for waste-toenergy conversion of this resource will go a long way in improving rural economy,
ecology as well as energy self-sufficiency. Recycling of moist biomass such as animal
and human excreta, domestic as well as agro-industrial organic waste through
biomethanation is a highly cherished objective which will have universal applicability in
the rural sector. In fact, this conversion process makes available renewable energy in
the form of biogas as well as valuable biomanure in the form of slurry. It improves rural
sanitation, promotes the adoption of organic farming and the use of animals more
viable economically.
Biogas production technology from various types of raw materials is, by now, well
established and biogas plants of various sizes, and designs suited to different raw
materials are already operating in large numbers throughout the country through the
sustained efforts of MNRE, KVIC and various NGO’s. However, this development
during past few decades has been carried out more as a welfare measure by the Govt.
rather than a commercially viable entrepreneurship venture for wide spread waste-toenergy conversion. In fact, even in the urban sector, such a conversion is becoming
inevitable in context with large dairy clusters, poultry and other animal farms, sewage
treatment plants and even in large hotels, hostels, food processing industries etc.
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where large amount of organic waste is produced and needs to be recycled in an ecofriendly manner.
In order to integrate above-mentioned waste-to-energy conversion with widespread
commercial activity, it is important to devise appropriate field-worthy technologies not
only for production but also for commercial utilization of biogas at scales suitable for
the rural sector.
The first priority in utilization of biogas should, of course, be in providing a clean fuel for
domestic cooking. However, to facilitate large scale utilization of biogas, it is essential
to have a suitable energy conversion device i.e. an engine to enable efficient
conversion of biogas energy into required mechanical/electrical forms. Presently
biogas is being used at a limited scale in dual-fuel engines which partially (to the extent
of 30-40%) utilize the diesel fuel. Hence a strong need to have a 100% biogas
operated engines has been clearly identified. Small, stationary type diesel engines in
the power range 5-20 hp are being universally used in rural areas for water pumping,
gen-sets as well as for variety of agro-industrial processing applications. Bulk of these
engines is D.I., vertical, single cylinder, ‘Kirloskar’ type design engines operating at
1000-1500 rpm. After a careful assessment of the user needs, entrepreneurship
possibilities and the current practice, it was established that the development of a
simple kit to convert this spectrum of existing diesel engines into biogas/producer gas
engines will be highly desirable.
With the spurt in the use of CNG for heavy duty automobiles, the technology for
conversion of high power vehicular diesel engines into spark ignition gaseous fuel
engines has now come to the market. However, this technology is quite complex and a
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different strategy for downsizing and simpler technology is needed to carry out the
conversion of small horse power rural application stationary diesel engines.
Conversion kits were developed for small range engines in the range of 3kVA to 7.5
kVA. Diesel engines converted to 100% biogas engines have been installed at number
of places and working well. These converted engines did not have speed control
mechanism. In some engines mechanical governing system was used but it was not
satisfactory. Need was felt to prepare the kit for large engines to cater to the need of
goshalas, vegetable markets , fish markets or a cluster of village in the range of 5KVA20 KVA with suitable governing mechanism.
This work reports the development and field-assessment of 15 kVA biogas generator
with conversion kit for rural application.
2.0 Main Objectives
In the light of the above mentioned need, following objectives were kept in mind for
developing a suitable conversion kit;
a. The conversion kit should be a low cost, rugged and user friendly device.
b. As far as possible, efforts should be made to use standard components, easily
available in the automotive engine components market.
c. Development of governing mechanism
d. Development of electronic spark ignition mechanism
e. Development of gas Carburetor i.e Air/Gas mixture
3.0 Scientific/Technical basis for Present Development
The scientific principles and the resulting technology involved in the development of the
present kit can be understood as follows.
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A diesel engine operates on the principle of compression ignition of the diesel fuel. It
has relatively higher compression ratio (around 15-22) and a heterogeneous mode of
combustion. This mode of ignition is suited only for less volatile liquid fuels with low
auto-ignition temperatures. It also uses a fuel injection system which injects the liquid
fuel into the engine cylinder at very high pressure towards the end of compression
stroke. For gaseous fuels, it is essential to use the spark ignition (S.I.) mode, premix
combustion, in which case the air and fuel are homogeneously mixed in an appropriate
ratio and then inducted into the engine cylinder. Towards the end of compression, a
spark is applied to initiate the ignition of the compressed charge. These engines also
need throttling of air-fuel mixture to control the power output.
Normal Spark Ignition Engines which use gasoline fuel are restricted in compression
ratio (8-10) because of knocking condition. However, in the case of biogas which
contains methane as the fuel element, the auto-ignition temperature is quite high and
much higher compression ratio can be used, which leads to improved efficiency. The
conversion of a diesel engine into an equivalent spark ignition engine is done the
following modifications/retrofitting.
a) Removal of the fuel injection system (fuel pump and the injector)
b) Incorporation of a suitable spark plug in place of the injector by appropriate
modification in the injector hole.
c) Modification in the engine intake system incorporating suitable mechanism for
air-fuel mixing and control i.e. a gas carburetor system.
d) Retrofitting with cam shaft/crank shaft a specially designed ignition system.
e) Modification in the combustion chamber/compression ratio etc. (if needed)
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The overall arrangement of the conversion kit is shown in the schematic layout in
Figure 1.
4.0 Selection of Diesel Engine to convert to Biogas-Engine
The main suppliers of diesel engines for generators or for automotive operation in the
field are Cummins, TATA & Ashok Leyland. They manufacture the large diesel
engine/CNG engine for automotive purposes. A typical automotive engine runs on
3200 rpm at variable load and variable speed condition while for power generation the
generator runs at constant 1500 rpm under variable load condition. In the market
Cummnis, Leyland CNG gas generator are available in large capacities in the range of
125 -250 kVA. Kirloskar, Prakash etc. do supply 100% Biogas generator in the range of
15-kVA-25kVA but they are costly. The aim is to provide the cheap conversion kit and
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to train the entrepreneur to convert the presently available (reconditioned) engine with
the kit. Automotive Diesel engine runs at 3200 rpm but for power generation the engine
should run at 1500 rpm. Hence, diesel engine operating at lower rpm will generate
almost half the power and conversion to biogas operation will further derate to almost
50% . It was decided to develop the conversion kit for TATA 407 series automotive
engine which are prevalent in the market and their spare parts are also available in the
market. They can be reconditioned easily. Specifications are given in Appendix I.
In this project, New TATA-497 automotive diesel engine was converted to operate on
100% biogas. It generates 52.5 kW at 3200 rpm in diesel mode.
4.1
De-rating of the Engine
Automotive diesel engine used is TATA 497 which will produce 52.5 kW at 3200 rpm in
the diesel mode. Since Generator operates at 1500 rpm, so in diesel mode the engine
will produce around 26-30 kW at 1500 rpm
Whenever a diesel engine is converted for use of a gaseous fuel, particularly a dilute
gaseous fuel such as biogas which contains only 55-60% combustible constituents viz.
methane and the rest is CO2, there occurs necessarily reduction in the maximum
power output of the engine. This is called de-rating. The main reason for this de-rating
is as follows.
The engine in diesel mode takes in only air during the intake stroke while in the
converted mode, it has to take in air and gaseous fuel mixture. As a result, substantial
part of the cylinder is occupied by the gaseous fuel reducing the air availability per
cycle which controls the maximum fuel that can be burnt per cycle, in accordance with
the required air fuel ratio. Further, because of difference in calorific values of diesel
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(about 43 MJ/kg) and biogas (about 20 MJ/kg), the energy available in the charge per
cycle is reduced.
To some extent, reduction also occurs because of decrease in
efficiency due to comparatively slower combustion of biogas. Even though, the air fuel
ratio required for biogas is much lesser (around 6:1) as compared with diesel (around
20:1), which is an advantage for power output per cycle for biogas engine on the
whole, it is usual to have the engine power de-rated to 50-55% of the original output as
a result of this conversion.
5.0 Development of Governing Mechanism, Air Gas Mixture and Ignition
Mechanism
5.1 Development of Governing Mechanism
The Engine speed varies with change of load i.e. as the load decreases the engine
speed increases and when the load is increased the engine speed will decrease. The
generator requires constant speed i.e. with any change of load the speed should
remain constant.
To maintain constant speed, the Governing Mechanism consists of an Actuator,
Speed Control Unit and Magnetic Speed Sensor. The Actuator lever is connected to
the butter fly valve of the gas carburetor, which control the charge (air + gas mixture)
going to the engine.

Actuator
The Electric Actuator is electric output, proportional servo. This electric magneto
actuator is used as a fuel control position device, which acts on butter fly of gas
carburetor with the help of linkages as shown in Plate 1
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An internal spring provides fail safe operation by forcing the actuator to the charge shut
of position when the actuator is de-energized. This mechanism combines fast
operation multi voltage wider rotation angle. The actuator can operator directly from 12
Volt battery supply. Speed Control Unit
The speed control unit is electronic device designed to control engine speed with fast
and precise response to transit load changes. This close loop control connected to a
proportional electric Actuator and signal supplied by magnetic speed sensor will control
the speed of engine. Magnetic speed sensor
The magnetic speed sensor detects the engine speed when ring gear teeth pass the
sensor. Electrical pulses are produce by the sensor’s internal coil and sent to the
speed control unit. The signal from the magnetic speed sensor, teeth per second (Hz)
is directly proportional to engine speed.
The signal sent to speed control unit is further passed to Actuator.
5.2 Air Gas Mixture (Gas Carburetor)
Air gas mixture consists of diaphragm operated gas valve with gas carburetor (with
butterfly) and vacuum nipple. With change of load the actuator acts on butterfly of the
gas carburetor to increase or decrease of the charge to maintain constant speed. The
change in vacuum is felt by the diaphragm operated gas control valve which supplies
the gas in required amount.
5.3 Ignition Mechanism
Battery operated Lucas electronic ignition system has been used, as it is available in
the market and suitable ignition advance has been carried out for biogas operation. It
has been connected to camshaft with the help of housing. The head of the diesel
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engine has been modified and the spark plug (M10 x 1) has been screwed in place of
injector.
6.0 Experimental Setup
6.1 Introduction
The objective of the present work was to conduct performance trials on converted
diesel generator in the present work, load, speed, gas consumption was noted and
thermal efficiency, specific gas consumption was calculated.
6.1 Instrumentation
The engine was fully instrumented to measure engine performance. The instruments
fitted to the test rig were properly selected to minimize the possible errors during
experimentation. A schematic diagram of the test rig with full instrumentation is shown
in Figure-1.
6.1.1 Fuel Consumption Measurement
In order to calculate the specific fuel consumption of the engine, it was necessary to
determine accurately the mass of the fuel that is consumed by the engine per unit time
under the given operating conditions. Marking was done on biogas holder. Gas
consumption in specific time was noted with the help of the stopwatch under various
loading condition.
6.1.2 Gen-set Loading Arrangement
A resistive type loading arrangement was installed for this research work. The
generator output was supplied to this loading arrangement that was designed with a
combination of electric heaters. The loading system used for these experimental
activities was of only resistive loads. The electric heaters were connected in a network
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to load the generator in various load fractions. The salient feature of the loading system
was that the engine could be loaded with desired fractions of full load during
experimentation. Voltage and ampere can be read from the voltmeter and ampere
meter on panel box.
7.0 Results and Discussion
Introduction
All the tests and data analysis for biogas were performed on a retrofitted 100% biogas
genset, the performance of a genset running on biogas with respect to power output,
fuel consumption and efficiency depends very much on the composition of biogas. The
composition of biogas was around 61% methane and rest carbon dioxide & others
gases. The gas sample was tested in Gas Chromatograph.
The readings taken are given in the tabular form
S. Load Engine Voltage Current
Volume Input
No.
Flow
Speed
Output Brake
Energy Power Thermal
Rate of
Mass
Flow
Efficiency Rate
Biogas
BSFC
of
Biogas
kW
RPM
Volt
Ampere
m3/h
kJ/s
kW
%
kg/h
g/kWh
1
0
1540
450
0
6.6
36.8
0.0
0.0
7.2
0.0
2
3
1540
440
4
8.0
44.3
2.4
5.5
8.6
3530.9
3
6
1540
440
9
10.9
60.6
5.5
9.1
11.8
2148.0
4
9
1540
440
14
12.7
70.7
8.5
12.1
13.7
1609.1
5
12
1500
430
19
15.5
85.9
11.3
13.2
16.7
1475.22
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Fig. 2 Brake Thermal Efficiency versus Load at constant 1540 RPM
The Brake thermal efficiency of a retrofitted engine for biogas depends mainly on the
composition of biogas i.e. heating/calorific value and operating condition like lean/rich
air-fuel mixture. The fig. 2 illustrates efficiency is increasing from 3 kW to 12 kW and is
maximum around 14% at 12 kW and also the data is repetitive as many reading have
been taken.
7.1 Brake Specific Fuel Consumption (BSFC)
The Brake specification consumption is around 1.5 Kg/kWh at maximum load of 12 kw.
Fig. 3 BSFC versus Load at constant 1500 RPM
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Further investigations are required to reduce the BSFC. Figure - 3
8.0 Conclusions
The present study, has demonstrated that retrofitted biogas fuelled Engine Generator
Set have a potential for utilization of locally available organic degradable material and
significant reduction of emissions and noise. The following concluding remarks can be
drawn from the present study
9.0 References
1. Venkata, Ramana P., ”Biogas Programme in India”, a status report, Teri Information
Digest on Energy 1(3): 1-12 p 196-207,1998.
2. Mitzlaff,
Klaus.
Von.,
“Engines
For
Biogas”,
Frieder.
Vieweg
&
Sohn
Braunschweig/Wiesbaden, 1988.
3. Govil, G.P, Experiences of conversion of Diesel engine to 100% Biogas engine
Proceedings of the National Workshop On Policy Frame Work For The Biogas
Programme For The Next 10 Years’ Oct. 5-6, 2006, CRDT ,IIT Delhi
4. Govil, G P, Gaur R R, Anand Sachin., Development of Biofuel Engines For Rural
Applications,
International
Seminar
on
Downsizing
Technology
for
Rural
Development 7-9 oct. 2003, RRL Bhuwneshwar
5. Govil, G.P., Gaur R.R., Development Of Conversion Kits To Promote the Use of
Biogas in Existing Diesel Engines For Variable-Load Rural Applications, National
Conference on Commercialisation Aspects of Renewable Energy Sources” Dept. of
Renewable Energy Sources, College of Tec. and Agriculture Univ. Udaipur, April
28-29,2000
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Appendix - I
Technical Specifications of ENGINE
Model
:
TATA 497
Type
:
Water cooled direct injection diesel engine
No. of cylinders
:
4 in line
Bore / Stroke
:
97 mm x 100 mm
Capacity
:
2956 cc
Maximum engine output
TAP 115/116
:
52.5 kW (71.3 PS) at 3200 rpm as per CMVR
Maximum torque
:
200 Nm (20.4 kg m) at 1800-2100 rpm
Compression ratio
:
19:1
Firing order
:
1-3-4-2
Air filter
:
Dry type
Oil filter
:
Full flow paper type
Fuel filter
:
Two stage pre and fine filtration
Fuel injection pump
:
In line type-MICO
Timing
:
Governor
:
Capacity of cooling system
:
with automatic advance
Centrifugal type variable speed
13 liters
Technical Specifications of Alternator
Rating: 20 kVA 3 Phase 4 Wire
Make: Topland Rajkot
Type: Transformer slip Ring type
2) Research Programs on Remote Sensing
Remote sensing is acquiring information about a natural feature or phenomenon, such
as the Earth's surface, without actually being in contact with it. Remote sensing is
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usually carried out with airborne or space borne sensors or cameras. Remote sensing
research also covers interests range from geological, volcano logical and planetary
sciences and includes topics such as, sea and lake ice, volcanoes, Venusians’
structures with stereo-derived topography, ecology and much more.
Research Objectives
The research basically deals five primary objectives:
1. Develop a more complete understanding of the spectral signatures of minerals,
water, vegetation, and man-made materials.
2. Define potential applications of existing and future remote sensing data and
integrate these applications for USGS and other collaborators and stakeholders.
3. Expand remote sensing applications for natural resource and environmental
assessment and management.
4. Establish strategies for integrating remote sensing data interpretations into
multilayered GIS analyses.
5. Expand the application of remote sensing technology in geochemical and
geophysical investigations.
Further, remote sensing is extended to :
a) Land use and climate change: - focuses on modeling and observational studies
of the effects of
the land surface and changing land cover (for example,
deforestation, desertification, and
irrigation) and their effects on regional
and global climate. Tropical and sub-tropical Monsoon systems have been a
particular area of study. We also have projects in the area of non-linear
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geophysics -- examining climate feedbacks in the hydrological cycle and the
effects of a variable sun on climate models.
b) Scaling and surface hydrology: - broadly focused on unifying biophysical
processes with statistical variability across multiple scales of space and time.
Primarily, Dr. Gupta's work has
focused on multi-scale hydrologic processes,
which formed the foundations for some of his more
recent research in multi-
scale hydrologic phenomena. Hydrologic phenomena consist of problems
requiring a grand synthesis of coupled processes, geometry and statistics
across multiple scales of
space and time.
This research study may be considered as an interdisciplinary research.
This involves knowledge of multiple streams.
There is a huge manpower requirement in this area. Government of India
is planning to start research projects in this field.
3) Microwave Lab;-NIEC is dedicated for the advancement in LABs for which the
proposal has been filed for the MODROB AICTE schemes. Proposal for
Microwave Lab has been filed to obtain the following objectives:
A. Micro-strip Patch Antenna Design
B. Smart Antenna Design for WSN applications
C. Modeling of the Antenna for Small Size, Light Weight, Low profile, Planar,
Conformal Geometries.
4) Upcoming Proposal to be filed for the MODROB:-Other proposal to be filed
for MODROB is “Implementation and Fabrication of Advanced Electronics
System Using Advanced PCB Lab”. The objective of the Lab is as follows:
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A. To establish the Fabrication Lab for PCB Design and Advanced Electronics
System Design.
B. Learning of PCB manufacturing process for the UG and PG Engineering
Students to deliver advanced and modern Electronics Systems to the
Market.
C. To develop the Modern and efficient Electronics Systems PCBs.
5) Energy-On Demand:-The Research work is going on ambient RF energy
Harvesting. RF energy Harvesting is the process by which the Energy is
harvested from the ambient RF sources and provided to the battery to be
charged which can be easily used on use. It is good for Energy-On Demand.
The Objective of the research are as follows:
A. To Study and Analyze the System Architecture Design Issues in WSN
Energy Harvesting node for Environmental Monitoring.
B. To propose Methods for Addressing the Energy Harvesting Issues.
C. To design and validate the efficient framework for EH.
6) Advanced infrastructure preparation to participate in SAE India events SAEBAJA {All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) got developed},SAE-SUPRA (Formula One got
developed),SAE-EFFICYCLE (RICKSHAW-Tricycle got developed),
7) Software training using AutoCAD, Staad.pro V8i, Autodesk Revit Structure,
Primavera, Industrial training visit to DMRC, Delhi, 'Design of Tall Buildings' by
Civil Simplified branch of Skifi Labs, by Civil Simplified branch of Skifi Labs.
8) Advancement of Smart Virtual Environment using Internet of Things: The
concept of smart environments evolves from the definition of Ubiquitous
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computing that, according to Mark Weiser, promotes the ideas of "a physical
world that is richly and invisibly interwoven with sensors, actuators, displays,
and computational elements, embedded seamlessly in the everyday objects of
our lives, and connected through a continuous network.”Features:-Smart
environments are broadly classified to have the following features
a) Remote control of devices, like power line communication systems to
control devices.
b) Device Communication, using middleware, and Wireless communication
to form a picture of connected environments.
c) Information Acquisition/Dissemination from sensor networks
d) Enhanced Services by Intelligent Devices
e) Predictive and Decision-Making capabilities
Technologies:-To build a smart environment, involves technologies of
a) Wireless communication
b) Algorithm design, Signal Prediction & Classification, Information theory,
c) Multilayered Software Architecture, Corba, middleware
d) Speech recognition
e) Image processing, Image recognition
f) Sensors design, calibration, Motion detection, temperature, pressure
sensors, accelerometers
g) Adaptive control, Kalman filters
h) Computer Networking
i) Parallel processing
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j) Operating Systems
9) Radio Frequency Energy Harvesting (RF EH) Energy issue of RF EH for
small hand held device recharging with the help of Bharat Electronics Limited
(BEL). The objective of the research is to obtain a portable device used to
harvest energy from ambient energy sources to recharge the handheld devices.
10) Total Quality Management It deals with the integrative role of philosophy of
Total Quality Management, Business Policy and Strategic Management of all
areas of management in business; the prescriptive and descriptive ideas and
the principles of management and their relevance in business; and the methods
and techniques of strategic choice and strategic implementation over different
industries. It deals with the implementation of the Six Sigma concept in Total
quality Management.
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