World class set-up at Coimbatore for collaborative research
For decades, Coimbatore has been one of the best educational hubs in India, and the standard of education there is considered high compared to other regions in the country. Institutions here have excelled in the deliverance of high-quality education in various disciplines in order to enable students to be prepared for a highly competitive working environment after graduation. Though there are a number of universities in Coimbatore, the PSG College of Technology tops the list.
Coimbatore, one of the fastest growing Tier-II cities in India, has always been referred to the Manchester of South India, thanks to major textile manufacturing in the region. The Textile Department of PSG was formed in 1965 to nurture the spinning industry of the Kongu region.
Completing 50 years this year, the textile division entered into partnerships with international universities and signed MoUs with leading textile companies with a view to offering excellent professional guidance to textile students and researchers.
“Every year, a large number of students and scientists come to the city of Coimbatore to benefit from our high-quality study programs and excellent facilities,” said Dr. G. Thilagavathi, HOD – Textile Technology, PSG, in an exclusive interview to The Textile Magazine.
The Department of Textile Technology in Coimbatore is also one of India’s largest study centres for young textile engineers. The faculty offers outstanding facilities and a range of modern Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctoral programmes, leading to respective degrees like B.Tech, M.Tech and Ph.D.
The curriculum covers a detailed study of the entire textile value chain: spinning, weaving, knitting, processing, garmenting, and technical textiles. Students at PSG get to experience hands-on technology at its elaborate state-of-the-art laboratories. Equal importance is attached to both natural and man-made fibre technologies.
In the four-year bachelor course, students get adequate exposure in raw materials, manufacturing process and fashion designing. The faculty also encourages students to regularly visit industries in and around to gain better exposure.
The faculty’s 20 professors, contract lecturers and more than 25 supporting staff members provide the students the best classroom education and real time industrial training. It’s because of this unique approach that the textile faculty of this prestigious college has won many accolades over the years.
CoE in Indu-tech
PSG College of Technology has been recognized a Centre of Excellence (PSGTECHS COE INDUTECH) by the Ministry of Textiles and would focus on industrial textiles. Objectives of this Government funded CoE is development of products, prototypes and incubators, training, development of standards associated, a well endowed information resource center for the usage of industry stakeholders and finally developments of entrepreneurs in the field of technical textiles. The center is the joint efforts of the Departments of Textile Technology and Automobile Engineering.
The college is one among the eight centres across the nation, each with a specific line of research. PSG would be focusing on industrial textile and home textile products. The products include automotive filters, carpets, thermal and sound insulation with a emphasis on making use of bio-degradable materials. From the government approved fund of Rs. 25 crores, the college has purchased a number of lab testing equipments and industrial processing machines.
The list includes needle punching line from DILO, coir processing line, wet wipe machine, calendaring machines and plans to acquire a hot melt coating machine and a number of lab equipments for testing purpose that includes Zwick Z100, Lister, Ge-Te-Flow, Impedance tube, wrap reel, tensile testing machine, stiffness tester, abrasion resistance tester, spray rating tester, electron microscope, XRD and u-v accelerated weather-o-meter. Rest of the fund to be used for creation of world class resource centre.
Students, along with faculty, are conducting research in the field of nonwovens, technical textiles for application in sound absorption, geotextiles, filteration fabric and thermal insulation. Also research is being conducting in disposable wipes and its characteristics.
Interested candidates from the department of textiles and automobile are allowed to do R&D in textiles related to automobiles. “Every car has roughly around 15 kg of textiles, for e.g., oil filter, air filter, upholstery, insulation fabrics, noise reductions felts, carpets and heat-shields. These are some of the areas where textiles are effectively used in today’s vehicles,” said Dr. S. Neelakrishnan, HOD – Automobile Engg., PSG.
The incubation centre for Indutech COE will support the innovators to access funds and technical know-how for the development of prototypes and also support them during the establishment of production facilities.
Most of the research would be conducted using cotton, coir, jute and synthetic fibres. MoUs have been signed with a number of international universities to gain better exposure. At PSG, teaching and research are characterized by an international, innovative, and interdisciplinary approach and a close co-operation with industry.
The following projects related to Industrial Textiles are in progress:
• Development of natural fiber nonwovens for acoustic applications
• Development of jute/wool blend nonwovens
• Development of natural fibre nonwovens for application as car interiors for noise control
• Bamboo-blended nonwovens for automobile interiors
• Utilisation of chicken feathers for the development of nonwovens and value added products
• Development of natural fibre nonwovens for application as car interiors
• Production of a hydrophobic oleophilic kapok nonwoven fabric for its potential application
• Analysis of natural nonwoven geotextiles used in erosion control
• Design & development of nonwoven products using recycled fibres
• Nonwoven textiles as health care products
• Development of odour-free antimicrobial hospital linens
• Production and properties of nonwovens using comber noils
• Design and development of home textiles using nonwoven fabrics