QEEE SESSION

Quality Enhancement in Engineering Education QEEE Session on “Balancing of Rotating Machines” was organized by IIT Madras on 23rd, 24th and 29th February 2016 under D2S (Direct to Student) Program. The session was an interactive educational experience through distinct learning modules where live classes through video conferencing were conducted by IIT professors. Students of Mechanical Engineering Department attended the session at Dronacharya Group of Institutions, Greater Noida, which was coordinated by Mr. Brijesh Verma, Associate Professor (ME).

The resource person for the course was Dr. Abhijit Sarkar, from IIT Madras. The study materials shared by QEEE were in the form of video lectures, PowerPoint slides and PDF files. The course was divided into three sessions of two hours each.

The introductory session was conducted by Dr. Sarkar, who delivered an informative lecture on the concept of balancing of machines and its applications in various industries.

Day 1: 23rd February 2016

First day session started with a discussion on High Speed Machinery with examples like Turbines & I C Engines. Dr. Sarkar explained the importance of balancing in high speed machinery. He also explained the effect of small eccentricity in high speed machinery and highlighted that it can produce large fluctuating load which that may damage bearings as well as the entire machinery. Later he discussed the ways of balancing the unbalanced masses by using single plane balancing and two plane balancing methods.

Day 2: 24th February 2016

Second day session started with discussion on Multi Plane Balancing. Dr. Sarkar simplified tabulation method of balancing of masses with examples. He further explained polygon method to check balancing of machines during the discussion on kinematics of slider crank mechanism. Displacement, velocity and acceleration variation with crank angle was also explained graphically.

Day 3: 29th February 2016

In the last day session Dr. Sarkar explained the procedure to develop equations of forces and moments in slider crank mechanism. He explained the drawing of free body diagram and the procedure to develop matrix for motion of piston.

Following topics were also discussed during the session:

1. Dynamically equivalent system,

2. Flywheel design and fluctuation of energy in flywheel.

All three sessions were interactive. Dr. Sarkar provided a very impressive introduction and comprehensive outlook about balancing of rotating and reciprocating machines. During the question hour, students Kameshwer Goel, Rohit and Govind Mallik raised their queries and clarified their doubts about the concept of balancing.

The entire course with Dr. Abhijit Sarkar was very informative which helped students to broaden the horizon of their understanding about balancing in high speed machinery.

Some Glimpses: