Initiatives
BHEL's investment in R&D is amongst the largest in the corporate sector in India.
During 2012–2013, the company invested about ₹1,252 Crore on R&D efforts, which corresponds to nearly 2.50% of the turnover of the company, focusing on new product and system developments and improvements in existing products. The IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) capital of BHEL grew by 21.5% in the year, taking the total to 2170.
The corporate R&D division at Hyderabad leads BHEL's research efforts in a number of areas of importance to BHEL's product range. Research & product development (RPD) groups for each product group at the manufacturing divisions play a complementary role. BHEL has established Centres of Excellence for Simulators, Computational Fluid Dynamics, Permanent Magnet Machines, Surface Engineering, Machine Dynamics, Centre for Intelligent Machines and Robotics, Compressors & Pumps, Centre for Nano Technology, Ultra High Voltage Laboratory at Corporate R&D; Centre of Excellence for Hydro Machines at Bhopal; Power Electronics and IGBT & Controller Technology at Electronics Division, Bengaluru, and Advanced Fabrication Technology and Coal Research Centre at Tiruchirappalli.
BHEL has established four specialized institutes, viz., Welding Research Institute (WRI) at Tiruchirappalli, Ceramic Technological Institute (CTI) at Bangalore, Centre for Electric Traction (CET) at Bhopal, and Pollution Control Research Institute (PCRI) at Haridwar. Amorphous Silicon Solar Cell plant at Gurgaon pursues R&D in Photo Voltaic applications.[14]
Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has achieved the historic milestone of supplying its 100th Space-grade battery to ISRO for the important and first-of-its-kind mission, Chandrayaan 3. The batteries are manufactured at the Electronic Systems Division (ESD) of BHEL in Bengaluru. They use various types of chemistry, including Nickel-Cadmium, Nickel-Hydrogen, and Lithium-Ion.[15]
BHEL-supplied equipment at Kaiga power plant creates a world record for continuous operation.[16] BHEL and NPCIL collaborated to develop the 220-MW Kaiga 1 nuclear power plant, an indigenously designed pressurized heavy water reactor (PHWR). On 31 December 2019, Kaiga 1 became a world record holder for running 962 unbroken days.[17]
BHEL is one of the only four Indian companies and the only Indian public sector enterprise figuring in 'The Global Innovation 1000' of Booz & Co., a list of 1,000 publicly traded companies which are the biggest spenders on R&D in the world.[18]
In 2011, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd was ranked the 9th most innovative company in the world by the US business magazine Forbes. It filed 303 patents and copyrights during the year. Its intellectual capital has gone up to 1,438 patents and copyrights.[19]
List of R&D breakthroughs
Source:[20]
- 1) Its an industrial technology and equipment provider for world's first commercial thorium reactor called Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor.[21]
- 2) Its R&D breakthroughs include 100 KW permanent magnet motors for India's submarine programme, which significantly reduce the size of the submarines for greater mobility.
- 3) The insulated-gate bipolar transistor-based inverter for railway locomotives. This propulsion system, which allows locomotives to use power more efficiently, helped BHEL bag a Rs 400 crore order from the Indian Railways, beating international rivals.
- 4) It's R&D developed the high temperature superconducting (HTSC) transformer, which is more efficient, smaller in size, weight, and volume, and can withstand twice the capacity overload without insulation damage or loss of product life.
- 5) In 2011, the World's first 1200 kV Ultra High Voltage Alternating Current (UHVAC) Transformer of 333 MVA rating. The Transformer has been developed, manufactured, and successfully tested by BHEL entirely through in-house know-how.[22]
