The Department of Mechanical Engineering, SRM University-AP, Andhra Pradesh, introduces the globally recognised American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) membership programmes to its students.

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) is a non-profit establishment formed for the global engineers’ community that promotes collaboration, knowledge sharing, career enhancement, and skill development. ASME Student Chapter helps university engineering students develop their professional identity and provides essential engagement opportunities by offering access to a wide range of activities and resources such as membership, competitions, scholarships, student sections and much more.

The engineering curriculum is not restricted to the theoretical aspects but involves practical applications. The collaboration with ASME will help students of our university to find engineering-related job articles, online journals, webinars, and workshops on a single platform. Students will be exposed to niche career paths and opportunities across industries where they can apply their mechanical engineering education to address critical issues facing the globe. Students can get in touch with experienced professionals all around the world through the ASME mentoring programme and seek careers or any other type of guidance.

SRM University-AP collaborates with global organisations to promote international exposure of students. In collaboration with ASME, the Department of Mechanical Engineering will be organising webinars and workshops by eminent faculties of the institute, where they will share their experiences and knowledge with the participants. The programme aims to create extraordinary learning experiences for the students to carry out many activities under this umbrella and fulfil the expectations of ASME.

Dr Prakash Jadav, Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, will be acting as faculty adviser for this chapter which is headed by Tushar Sahu.

When the Covid-19 outbreak crippled the world, P Mohan Aditya, a 3rd-year Mechanical Engineering student from SRM University-AP, made an initiative of developing the highly useful face shield made from bio-degradable substances. He named it “Facial Shield 2.0”, as it was an improved version of the ordinary face shields. The innovative features added to it helped him to earn the copyright to his credit. On May 16, 2020, Aditya filed an application on the face shield design under the IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) with Indian Patent Office, located in Kolkata, India. In 2021, a copyright was granted for the” Face Shield for Humans” with a Design Application Number of 329364 – 001.

The face shield 2.0 serves as the outer defence to the mucous membranes (nose, eyes, and mouth) and comes with a transparent visor made of a thin layer of 175-micron reusable plastic and a highly durable headband made of 3-ply corrugated cardboard. The cardboard’s bursting strength is 16kg/sq.cm, which is quite durable yet lightweight. Due to the use of biodegradable materials, the price of a face shield is at an affordable cost of INR 15. The face shield 2.0, made with firm elastic, is adjustable and suitable for all head sizes for comfortable wear without hurting the head.

Shri Adimulapu Suresh, Hon’ble Minister of Education, Andhra Pradesh and Sri Nandigama Suresh, Hon’ble MP, appreciated the student’s efforts in the Secretariat’s premises. Aditya received high accolades from the guests present on his first successful invention. They also distributed face shields among state police officers, paramedics and other frontline workers deployed in the containment areas.

In a conversation with P Mohan Aditya, he says, “With an increasing environmental degradation, we should move to the eco-friendly alternatives to develop products/services. Therefore, I thought to develop face shields from reusable plastic and cardboard, which are easily degradable. After discovering a shortage in the supply of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) globally, the idea struck my mind. Immediately I started researching on developing a piece of standard equipment to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. I am thankful to Mr Ravi, the attorney at SRM-AP, who supported me throughout the tough times by answering all doubts amidst challenging circumstances.”

Aditya’s invention turned out to be a successful project both for the University and the public. The leadership team of SRM University-AP – Dr P Sathyanarayanan, President, Prof V S Rao, Vice-Chancellor, and Prof D Narayana Rao, Pro-Vice-Chancellor expressed their happiness on Aditya’s success by congratulating him on developing the face shield and making use of eco-friendly technology.

Using the CAD software, Aditya designed the transparent visor of the face shield and fabricated the remaining headband with the CNC machine. The CAD model was used as the input to the CNC machine, Following the design, the CNC machine analysed and cut the cardboard and transparent sheet accordingly.

P Mohan Aditya’s another innovative design on “building block for bed” was applied for a copyright on 09-08-2020. The building block for bed is again an innovative work of making beds using reusable materials for COVID 19 patients. He and his team also successfully created an electric bicycle using a 24V 250Watt DC motor powered by a 12V and 12Ah battery as a team assignment. Aditya desires to be a successful engineer and creator of such inventions for the betterment of society.

Dr Satya Pramod Jammy, Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, SRM University-AP, Andhra Pradesh, has received a total outlay of Rs. 38,61, 264/- from Department of Science and Technology (DST) Science and Engineering Research Board, Government of India, to work on the project titled “Wall effects in Shock wave boundary layer interactions”. Using the grant, state-of-the-art HPC computational facilities based on the exciting General Purpose Graphic Processing Units (GPGPU’s) will be set up to perform missiles and space vehicle research at SRM University AP. Understanding the fundamental physics of how these vehicles behave in challenging atmospheres will contribute a lot to the design of current and future space vehicles re-entering from space into earth and mars atmospheres. The project aims to develop methods that can capture high-resolution images (like a DSLR camera) of these flows using minimal computational resources.

Dr Jammy is an expert in multi-scale modelling of turbulent flows at high Mach numbers. He is also the lead developer of OpenSBLI, a free and open-source software (FOSS) distributed to the community for free. Dr Jammy and his group will focus on unravelling the concepts like engine unstart in SCRAMJETS, design of better aerodynamic control surfaces for re-entry.

SRM University-AP inked an MOU with Titan Company Ltd (TATA group,) Bangalore, for the project “Developing novel gold alloys for contemporary Jewellery application”. Titan has sanctioned Rs. 29.6 lakhs for the execution of the project to Dr G S Vinod Kumar, Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Principal Investigator of the project. Dr Vinod is well known for his research in precious metals such as gold and silver for making lightweight and high strength alloys that can be used in jewellery making.

The jewellery division of Titan Company Ltd (TANISHQ) will jointly work on this project by supplying Gold for lab-scale experiments. The Industrial scaling up trials of the technology will be carried out at Titan’s jewellery manufacturing plant at Hosur, Tamil Nadu.

This is the fourth project sanctioned by Titan Company Ltd to Dr G S Vinod Kumar and the second project in Gold. The first project “Hardening of 22Karat and 24Karat gold for lightweight and high strength jewellery application” was successfully completed in 2018 by Dr Vinod and his team. A joint patent between SRM and Titan Company Ltd has been filed and the jewellery produced from hard 22Karat gold is currently available in Titan showrooms under the brand-TANISHQ.

Since its inception, SRM University-AP, Andhra Pradesh, has retained its exalted heights of excellence and brilliance. Avid students over the years have brought laurels to the organisation with impressive research work, outstanding academic performance or Guinness World Record for spectacular artistry. Bismark Razak Haruna, a B. Tech Final Year Student at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, is deemed to be bestowed on the highly prestigious Erasmus Mundus scholarship. The globally acclaimed European Union-funded scholarship will help Bismark pursue the joint master’s degree programme in Decentralised Smart Energy Systems (DENSYS) in renowned universities of Europe.

Bismark sets an example by being the first Ghanaian to get into the DENSYS program. He expressed that as part of the mobility scheme of the programme, he would pursue the first year at the University of Lorraine, Nancy, France, and continue the final year at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain. The Erasmus Mundus Scholarship help students enrol into the world’s best universities for masters and doctoral programmes with substantial benefits. Bismark shared his thoughts, “I welcome the opportunity to play an important role in increased electrification in Sub-Saharan Africa through the integration of renewable energy sources for a low carbon society”.

Approximately 392 aspirants applied for the DENSYS program globally, and out of 23 students from 17 countries, Bismark secured his place. Erasmus Mundus Scholarship Programme covers the expenditure involving the tuition fee, insurance, participation in activities such as the lab courses, excursion, research projects, financial support for housing, feeding, transportation and installation fee as well.

While speaking of his success, Bismark expressed his gratitude towards the SRM University-AP for consistently providing him with golden opportunities and resources. “From conceptualising undergraduate research project to studying abroad at UC Berkeley, the University has been a constant support. A special thanks to my motivators and mentors- Dr Prakash Jadav, Dr Satya Pramod Jammy, Dr Sarfaraz Hussain Halkarni, Dr Ram Kuresh Thakur, Dr Srabani Basu, Ms Revathi Balakrishnan for grooming and guiding me throughout the journey. I convey my sincere thanks to my buddies as well for helping me out with the scholarship application”, Bismark added while being ready for exploring the next chapter of his life in the European Union.