The Hindu Business Line : IT-based energy conservation system for Kerala's traditional sector

THE Temperature Monitoring and Alerting System (TMAS), developed as part of a collaborative research programme by two small Kerala-based players in the energy conservation space, is proving to be a boon to the traditional sector.

Poor finances did not allow the traditional sector the luxury of technology-based initiatives which the medium and large scale sectors had employed to improve product/manufacturing quality and competence.

This prompted the Energy Management Centre (EMC), an autonomous body under the Government of Kerala, and the Thiruvananthapuram-based R&D Division of CMS Computers to jointly develop an IT-based TMAS to help the brick and tile industry trim fuel expenses to a large extent.

TMAS is said to have great scope in rice mills, rubber processing and food processing where temperature is one of the critical parameters determining energy consumption and product quality.

Speaking to Business Line, Mr N. T. Nair, Vice-President, CMS Computers, and Mr R. Harikumar of EMC, said the brick and tile industry in the country was undergoing a severe financial crunch.

With fuel bill accounting for around 40 per cent of costs, attention was focused on reducing the expenditure through energy conservation initiatives. A two-pronged strategy of improved product quality and reduced wastage due to over-burning could ensure the survival of the industry.

The industry has a strong presence in Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Haryana. Thrissur in Kerala is one of the key areas of operation. There are about 300 industries manufacturing clay-roofing tiles in the State. Production capacity varies from 2,000 to 40,000 tiles a day. The total annual production in 1997 was about 200 million tiles valued at Rs 32.5 crore. The total installed capacity is of the order of 400 million tiles per annum.

It has been found that temperature fluctuation in kilns had led to increased consumption of firewood and quality differentials in fired tiles. EMC sponsored a project in Thrissur-based Raja Tiles to address this issue by retrofitting the kiln with TMAS.

The system had been in operation in the plant for more than two years. Raja Tiles reported that the rejection rate had come down to 10 per cent and the firewood consumption by 10 to 15 per cent, providing a payback of less than six months.

The unit was also able to increase the percentage of tiles coming under first and second category from 60 per cent to 80 per cent, thus raising quality and profit margins.

4 Thrissur units opt for TMAS

The experience gained from the project at Raja Tiles, enriched further by suggestions from the Centre for Development of Glass Industry (CDGI, an R&D institute of the Government of India at Firozabad), encouraged efforts to upgrade TMAS. Confident of its cost effectiveness, EMC supported a programme to upgrade and demonstrate the system in four tile industries in Kerala with 75 per cent cost share from the client units.

A workshop was organised in March 2003 at Thrissur to present the features of upgraded TMAS, solicit suggestions from tile industries and obtain the required finance (75 per cent of the total project cost of about Rs 80,000) from the four industries.

Following the workshop, visits were made to the premises of 12 interested units in and around Thrissur to finalise proposals for installing TMAS.

The first four units, which confirmed their financial participation with an advance of 30 per cent of the cost, were selected for the purpose. Designing, developing and commissioning of TMAS was done by March this year in the four units - Mandakan Ceramics, Smarana Tiles, Standard Ceramics and Thomson Tile Factory.

``A number of enquiries have since been received at CMS (which has already brought out TMAS as one of its products in five models with further cost reduction through design improvements) from other tile industries based in Thrissur.

A symbiotic relationship between EMC and CMS seeks to ensure that the efforts of the former in providing the logic to develop the IT system aimed at energy conservation and other advisory/logistics support is acknowledged by way of CMS placing future orders for TMAS,'' Mr Harikumar said.

TMAS was developed as a cost-effective, computer-based system to address fuel savings and quality issues. The system consists of a temperature display of critical zones and an alarm system that determined the optimum range. The alarm would alert the operators to adjust temperature.

The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation awarded EMC a project for developing and demonstrating energy efficiency in the glass industry cluster in Firozabad (Uttar Pradesh), which is part of the Taj Trapezium Zone. TMAS was successfully installed in six glass industries.

Apart from Mr N. T. Nair and Mr Harikumar, the project team comprised Mr P. Dhandapani (CMS), Mr K. Siva Gopal (CMS) and Mr Biju S. Nair (CMS) with advisory support from Mr G. Rajagopal (Director, EMC) and Mr K. M. D. Unnithan (Joint Director, EMC).

More Stories on : Research & Development | Ceramics | Kerala

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page