Mechanical Department Events

A DATE WITH VTPS (Vijayawada Thermal Power Station)

The   Preparation

It was a typical college day with the beginning of early classes and students, as their daily planned schedules, running late to attend the first class. However, the mechanical department of engineering had some other things planned out for the students as they announced an industrial tour to the Vijayawada Thermal Power Station (VTPS). Now, that’s a big deal if you are a mechanical student. Thus, it was official, it was a date for the mechanical branch.

THE BIG DAY

After filling ourselves with a good lunch, on the afternoon of 14th of September 2019, all the students of the department were coping to look impressive in safety shoes and still look cool.

We headed for the buses and reached the power plant and as soon as we reached, as expected, the look on our faces after the first glance of the thermal plant was priceless, like newly born babies introduced with a toy the first time. We checked in with our safety hats and were prepared to be amazed. Like any normal date, you would expect, the tour started with a formal introduction where the executive engineer Mr. Mohan Babu introduced us to the entire blue prints as well as the miniature dummy model of the power plant.

Undoubtedly, we learned a great deal regarding the investments, the technology and the fundamental procedures and functioning of the Power station. On top of that, we were also introduced to the various unique and conservational techniques adopted by the power plant such as the use of damaged coals for brick manufacturing, the recycling of water used to cool the equipment, and so on that turns out to save a huge amount of resources.

The tour kicked into its high gears when we were led to demonstrate and observe all the equipment and various sectors of the power station which we had only read and imagined as described by the books and the professors. Yup, we are talking about the boilers, the turbines, the power grids, and so on.

For some of us, it was like viewing ourselves in the future say ten years down the lane. Therefore, we did not only explore the power station but also some valuable experiences of the senior engineers regarding their perception of engineering and what it takes to be a good engineer.

We simply lost the track of time and at the end of the day, we were left with stunning experiences, memories and the relations that we had established among ourselves.

I am sure, every student on the trip will concur with me, we had a brilliant date.

 -Sujan Bahadur Thapa
Mechanical Branch

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