KERALA ELECTRICAL & ALLIED ENGINEERING Co LTD

INTRODUCTION
KEL is one among the largest, most vibrant, and productive Public Sector Undertaking, and is fully owned by the Government of Kerala. A multi-product engineering company, consistently catering to an envious client base, ranging from the army and air force of India to world-renowned space research organizations, highly competent engineering companies to mammoth institutions likes the Indian Railways. The company with four state-of-the-art manufacturing units spread across Kerala has a pan India presence with marketing offices in major metros and select cities.

Established in 1946

in the State of Kerala, India, the Kerala Electrical & Allied

Engineering Co.Ltd. (KEL) is a multifaceted company fully owned by the State government. The location of the industry in the banks water was to facilate easy transportation of goods. KEL has pioneered this technology in India imbibing the technology from EVR of France in 1977. Subsequently through in house R&D efforts the brushless was soon modified and fully indigenized and customized to suit the tropical climatic condition of India. These brushless alternators have made it possible to improve the quality of passenger comfort by the proliferation of air conditioned coaches in the Indian railways. At KEL innovations continue as an on going process to deliver specific design of various ratings of brushless alternators as required by the railways. Various type of this brushless type alternator designed and developed in-house include 3.0kw, 4.5kw, 12kw 18kw, and 25kw.The 12kw alternator was specially custom designed by KEL for the use in Janashadabdi express train. The in-house and R&D has also developed and supplied the microcontroller based electronic rectifier regulator unit (ERRU) for use in 4.5KW and 25KW brushless alternator. The absence of moving sliding contacts and slip rings ensures a maintenance free long life for the alternators.

TOWARDS POWER GENERATION

The outstanding product of the division is the statodyne brushless alternators for lightening and air-conditioning of rail coaches and manufactured under license from EVR France rating 1KW to 14KW.

STATODYNE BRUSHLESS ALTERNATOR

A homopolar machine of simple design and robust construction conforms to international standards. With no slip rings, no brushes no rotating windings no moving parts carrying current, the alternator is a revolutionary product in the power generation concept.

KEL has manufacturing brushless alternators for the last two decades the product is acclaimed and accepted by the railways the world over to be the most efficient and reliable one. More than 20000 nos. alternators manufactured by the KEL are in operation with the Indian railways. KEL alone exports statodyne alternator to many foreign countries to name a few Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Uganda, Zambia, and Mozambique. KEL has integrated production facilities to meet any short notice demand from any part of the world. Other unique product from KEL Ground power units(GPU) for Air-craft starting-40KW/28.5V DC High frequency (400Hz) alternator up to 1000KVA confirming to international standards for hi-tech applications.

Alternators for wind mill.

Through it's five production facilities, located in various districts of the State. Train

Lighting Alternator Division Kundara Unit (Kollam District), Transformer Division Mamala Unit (Ernakulam District), Structural Division Mamala Unit (Ernakulam District), LT Switchgear Division Olavakkod Unit and General Purpose Alternator Division Kasargod Unit (Kasargod District). This ISO 9001 : 2000 complaint company provides basic engineering services / products besides executing projects of national significance for high profile clients like the various defence establishments. The company manufactures and markets products like general purpose brushless alternators, brushless alternators for lighting and air-conditioning of rail coaches, medium power

and distribution transformers as well as structural steel fabrications. The product categories for
defence applications include high frequency alternators, frequency convertors, special alternators and power packs for missile projects. The power packs designed and supplied by the company for missile projects like Falcon, Prithvi, Trishul and Akash have been pioneering efforts. The company has also supplied special alternators to the Army (Military Power Cars) and Air Force (Radar Applications). The company's all-India marketing network with regional offices in all

metro cities cater to major institutional clients like the State Electricity Boards, Indian Railways and various defence establishments besides the general market clients.

ABOUT KUNDARA UNIT

This ISO 9001 certified unit was initially started in the year 1964 imbibing technical know-how from EVR of France for the purpose of manufacturing Statodyne brushless alternators used for lighting and air conditioning of Railway coaches. There are two divisions in this unit, namely Statodyne Alternator Division (Train Lighting Alternator Division) and Foundry Division. Statodyne Alternator Division has an Installed capacity of 3000 numbers of alternators per annum. There are more than 40,000 alternators in service with the Indian Railways alone.

Foundry Division has a capacity of 1500 MT per annum and manufactures Spheroidal Graphite Iron & Grey Iron Castings. This unit has fully mechanized moulding lines with sophisticated testing equipment to ensure quality castings. The unit also has 2 x 3t capacity Induction Furnaces. Indian Railways, BHEL, Crompton Greaves Ltd., BEML, R & DE (Engineers), Pune, BDL Hyderabad are some of the top customers of this unit.

The major sections of this plant includes Foundry Machine shop Fabrication unit Regulator and Rectifier unit Condy and Assembly unit Testing and Quality control

FOUNDRY DIVISION
KEL has a modern cast iron foundry with capacity of 1500 MTs/annum; manufacturing speriodical graphite iron and gray iron casting of various grades. A foundry is a place where the casting is produced. Casting is a mechanical process for producing required components. Through all metals can be cast, cast iron is more widely used for casting. This is because of its fluidity, small shrinkage and case with which its properties can be controlled. Principle of casting consists of introducing molten metal into a cavity or mould of desired shape and allowing it to solidify. Cavities are formed by using patterns and cores of required shape. The casting material of foundry at KEL is cast iron of different grades 15,20, 25 etc. About 50% of the production here includes various parts and accessories of the brushless alternator. Other major products include end brackets for diesel generators sets, break block for railways etc in cast iron and inserts for railways in SG iron etc. A well equipped laboratory with sophisticated materials ensures production of quality casting.

MACHINE SHOP
It is a place where various machining process are carried out as required. There are two machine shops in this unit- new machine shop and old machine shop. The different machines used are lathe, drilling machine, milling machine, grinding machine, pressers, shapers etc. The section deals with the following production processes: Insertion of stator stampings in to fabricated outer frame Assembly of rotor Fabrication of pulleys

These processes are explained in detail

STATOR FRAME
Based on the shelf number, the stator diameter is fixed. the inner diameter corrected to accommodate the windings. Consider a 25 KW alternator. The unite obtained from fabrication is of 249 mm diameter, which is corrected to 255 mm only 52 micron variation is permitted. After this, it goes to stacking and pressing equipment. Here silicon steel laminations are stacked on one another as shown in diagram. Fiber laminations are fixed on to the circular clips to prevent loss of insulation. This is then compressed under a pressure of 6 kg/cm to press it. A guiding ring is used to prevent twisting. Thus the following processes are carried out on the stator frame: Boring Drilling Slotting Stacking of Laminations Filling

The stator frame is now passed on to the winding section

FABRICATION DIVISION
Gillet shearing machine Here electric motor is used as the driving unit. A-gear train is used between the drives and the driver. Thus the rear speeds can be attained by shifting the gears. During cutting, a clutch is engaged by operating the pedal. Up to 5mm thick sheets can be sheared in this motion.

Gas cutting The principle of gas cutting is the conversion of metal into its oxides. The mechanism of

material removal is melting sheets. For fabrication stator core we use this machine for cutting. Rolling machine The distance between the rolls can be adjusted. Stator cores are rolled in the machine.

Multipurpose purching and shearing machine The working principle of this machine is the same as that of gear shearing machine. The

difference between them is that, in multipurpose purching and shearing machine more than one coil is held for performing different operations. Press work Hydraulic press Eccentric press Hydraulic press with heating arrangement

Fabrication Of Stator Frame The alternator stator frame is made of mild steel. The body is not cast because it

increases the brittleness. It is constructed by basically rolling steel sheets. the plate sizes are according to requirement . They are dimensioned, cut and welded. The type cut depends on the thickness of the plate. It is cut using a gas cutter, usually using a double V joint, after which a driller is used to punch it. To get perfect circle, before rolling, the sheet is subjected to prebending in hydraulic press. Different tests for checking the quality are then conducted. Some of the tests conducted are X- Ray test Radiography Die- penetrate test

The purpose conducting these tests is to check for cavities and cracks. Before doing any test the surface should be made smooth by grinding and finishing. For example, in the Die penetrate test, at first a cleaner is sprayed and the surface is cleaned with cotton. Then a color is sprayed to see the cracks clearly. After this a developer is used to make the cracks, if any, to be seen more clearly.

After the test is conducted, the various accessories like the tension lag and lead box are provided the frame. A suspension pin =, which is the hanging unit, is also provided so as to support the alternator. Fines are provided on the outer frame to facilitate air-cooling. There is a regulator rectifier unit by means of which the output of the machines kept constant always even if the speed of the train varies, due to which the input to the machine changes.

VARNISHING
This is a trivial section of the manufacturing process. The stator frame when the winding shop is given to the varnishing section. Here at first the varnish is mixed, and then its viscosity is checked after that preheated stator frames are transferred to a chamber, inside which a vacuum is created. Then the varnish is admitted and pressure is applied. The remaining varnish is return to the tank. The chart below gives the criteria for varnishing different alternator.

Capacity 25KW

Class H

Preheating 4-5Hrs at120

Cooling Till temp reaches 50 Till Temp reaches 50

Curing 8-10 Hrs at 120 4-6 Hrs at 140

4,5,12,18 KW

4 hrs at 1200130

FLOWCHART FOR VARNISHING

Mixing

Checking of viscosity of varnish

Transfer of heated frames to vacuum

Apply pressure (curing)

Return to varnish

Cooling WINDING AND ASSEMBLY UNIT

The most important step in the fabrication of alternator is the winding of the field and phase coils.

Assembly
Assembly consists of the alternator can be processed on the reverse way with special care on the following points. The inner race of the bearing should be heated in an oil bath at about 80-90 degree before insertion on to the shaft. The end shield should be heated in an electric oven to about 120 degree Celsius before locating the bearing in it. The bearing should not be pressed with hydraulic press. In order to seat the bearing properly, internal bearing cover should be fixed onto the end shield before heating the eng shield. Assembly of pulley should be made with extreme case. See that the pulley bore males exactly with tapered shaft. Gasket shellac is applied evenly on all the mating surface of bearing cover and end shield. While removing and fixing 5KF lock nuts use a hook spanner. Never use any other tool for this purpose. Lock washer should be replaced by a new one.

REGULATOR AND RECTIFIER UNIT

Because the voltage induced in the alternator depends on the speed of the rotor, the output of the alternator is obtained through the regulator rectifier unit. Regulator unit regulates the voltage and rectifier unit converts the AC voltage to DC and stores in its batteries.

TESTING SECTION
This is a section where the machine is tested for the various aspects such as efficiency, voltage regulation, temperature rise perfection windings, insulation etc. The assembled alternator is subjected to various tests as per RDSO specification before dispatch. They are briefly explained below.

High Voltage Test

This test is performed to find the leakage current. For this all the current carrying parts are shorted and earthed. A supply of 1500V is given to the stator plate. The leakage current can be directly read using a milli ammeter. The maximum limit is 20 mA. This test can be used to check whether the machine has the capacity to withstand such a high voltage.

Insulation Test
Insulation meager is used to perform this test. The current carrying parts are shorted and connected to one of the terminals of the meager. The other terminal is given to the stator frame. The resistance value can be directly reads. The minimum value of insulation resistance is 20 MC2. This test is done both before and after the high voltage tests.

Mechanical Over speed Test

The field is separately excited and is run at a high speed in both the directions. The speed range is as given below

4.5 kW 18 kW 22.75 kW

3275rpm 3035rpm 3035rpm.

The induced emf in all three phases in both the directions is noted. The value should be within the specified range.

TESTING OF COMPONENTS
1. Testing of copper wire A) PEEL TEST
A specimen of wire about 600 mm length shall be placed in a key the apparatus consisting of two fixing devices 500 mm apart in the same axis. One of there is able to rotate and other cannot rotate, but can displace axially. The later is loaded according to the table to apply tension to the rotating wire.

Nominal diameter of the conductor 1.18 1.25 1.40 1.60

Load

No. of revolutions

2.85 2.5 2.5 4

93 88 78 68

B) DIMENSIONAL CHECK
1.5 m length of wire shall be taken from the reel 1) Two pieces of 250 mm long wire shall be the cut from both ends. 2) The diameter of enameled conductor shall be measured using a micro meter at three position are 1200 angular displacement around the circumference of wire.

Nominal conductor Diameter (mm) 0.417 0.9 1.00 1.18 1.25 1.40 1.50

Max overall Base Max diameter(mm)

Cu Min diameter

Insulator Max

Thickness

0.466 0.989 1.094 1.279 1.349 1,502 1.606

0.422 0.909 1.010 1.192 1.263 1.414 1.515

0.412 0.891 0.990 1.168 1.2370 1.386 1.485

0.022 0.060 0.063 0.067 0.067 0.069 0.071

The average of 6 measurements shall be reported as over all diameters. The enamel shall be from a length of 60 mm of wire by exposing it to flame till it come red-hot. Then dip is in ethanol. The wire shall be cleaned using a piece of cotton. The diameter of the bare copper wire shall be measured as above the and their average is the bare copper diameter. The difference between the overall diameter and the base Conductor diameter shall be found and the overall diameter conductor and increasing diameter shall be according to able.

C) SPRINGNES TEST
Method of test: A sample of about in shall be wound 5 times around the manned with a diameter as given the table three. Test Apparatus: the general arrangements of the apparatus is shown figure. The dial is marked with 72 equally spaced divisions. So that the spring aback for one turn is read directly in degree. The apparatus shall be maintained twit the shaft of the mandrill horizontal. The specified mandrill shall be locked in position so that the hole form fastening the wire and the

commencement of a the helical grove is a vertical position to correspond with zero on the dial and shall then be dusted with finally powdered talc to avoid danger of the annealed wire dinging to the surface of the mended. The specified weight is attached to one end of the sample of wire and after unlatching the meandered so that it will rotate freely the other and of the wire is inserted through the transfers hole in the mandrill at the commencement of the helical grove so that sufficient wire project on the other side of the mandrill. This end of the wire is hold firmly and the weight is carefully lowed to apply tension the sample. The mandrill is thus aligned with the dial zero vertically downwards.

2) Testing of lamination
A) Core loss measurment The core loss shall be measured using lamination tester the value shall be as given below. The tolerance on the measured core loss shale is 0.5 watts.

Material Grade CRNGO M-36 M-43 M-45 M-47

Core loss 3.57 4.01 5.31 8.01

The tested components are passed on to winding section

Nominal dia of the conductor 0.417 0.90 0.95 1.00 1.12 1.18 1.25

Mandrel dia(mm)

Tension (kg)

Spring back(max)

25 50 50 50 50 50 50

0.8 1.53 1.53 1.53 1.53 1.53 1.53

44 48 46 45 41 39 37

QUALITY CONTROL
For gaining customer field satisfaction, the supplied product should have good qualities that they deserve. Each and every customer has his own quality requirements and its fulfillment is an important way to customer satisfaction. As a part of the quality assurance system, all the raw materials and certain components which come from outside are checked for its desired quality. Acceptance of material is only after quality assurance. The system calibrates all the measuring instruments and equipments that are used in various sections of production. It checks for the required diffusion for various products and accepts only if the dimensions are within the allowed tolerance. Moreover, the system gives record of all the details for the finished product before its dispatch.

PRODUCT RANGE
Inductor type brushless alternator for train lighting and air-conditioning - 1 kW to 40 kW. 12 kW alternators specially designed for powering Janashatabdi Express Trains of Indian

Railways. Inductor Type brushless alternator for automobiles and for charging systems in diesel engines - 12 V, 24 V upto 50 A. High frequency alternator - 400 Hz; up to 100 kVA. Ground power units for starting Avro and Dornier aircrafts and for powering Boeing aircrafts. Ground Support units with dual voltage system for starting fighter aircrafts. DC, AC power frequency and high frequency power pack for missile firing auxiliary power support.

USP
Induction Alternator - Brushless excitation without winding on the rotor, with both field and armature windings embedded in stator slots. Hence unlimited working speed and ideal for variable speed applications like Train, Automobile, Windmill etc. Totally enclosed fan cooled version available for dusty humid / corrosive environments.

CONCLUSION
In the Train lighting Alternator Division of KEL we got an opportunity to visit the on going process to deliver specific design of various ratings of brushless alternators as required by the railways. Design and development of various type of this brushless type alternator (3.0kw, 4.5kw, 12kw 18kw, and 25kw), microcontroller based electronic rectifiers regulator unit (ERRU) for 4.5KW and 25KW brushless alternator etc. Foundry division gave an idea about the fully mechanized moulding lines with sophisticated testing equipment to ensure quality castings. Various section of the unit like Foundry, Machine shop, Fabrication unit, Regulator and Rectifier unit, Condy and Assembly unit & Testing and Quality control was helpful in knowing about the Various stages of development.