Er. Perumal Manimekalai College of Engineering AutonomousAccredited by NAAC with 'A' Grade Approved by AICTE, New DelhiAffiliated to Anna University, Chennai

02 Research

Centres of Excellence

Four centres where students and faculty train, build and test — in robotics and automation, advanced manufacturing, renewable energy and electric vehicles — with laboratories run with industry beside them, and a consultancy service that takes the work to companies.

A robotic welding arm inside the fenced cell of the Centre of Excellence in Robotics
The robotic welding cell
A CNC machine with its control panel, in the centre of excellence
CNC machining
Rows of solar concentrator dishes on a PMC Tech rooftop
Solar concentrators on the roof
Electric two-wheelers and an open electric-vehicle chassis in the EV laboratory
The electric-vehicle laboratory

The centres

Four centres of excellence

Each centre is a working laboratory: it trains students — and, in two of them, people from industry and the public — and builds products of its own.

  • A robotic welding arm inside the fenced cell of the Centre of Excellence in Robotics
    The robotic welding cell
    Rows of automation trainer panels in the centre of excellence
    Automation trainers

    Robotics & Automation

    A robotic welding cell built around a Yaskawa Motoman welding robot — an investment of ₹43.23 lakh — with automation trainers beside it, for training in robotic welding and automation for PMC Tech’s students and for people from industry.

    Students trained
    360
    Products
    4
  • A CNC machine with its control panel, in the centre of excellence
    A CNC machine
    Two 3D printers on a bench in the centre of excellence
    3D printers

    Advanced Manufacturing — CNC & 3D printing

    Computer-controlled machining and 3D printing, where parts are programmed, printed and made — the centre that has produced the most products, a patent and a doctorate.

    Students trained
    401
    Products
    7
    Patent
    1
    PhD
    1
  • Rows of solar concentrator dishes on a PMC Tech rooftop
    Solar concentrators
    Photovoltaic panels on frames in the campus grounds
    Photovoltaic arrays

    Renewable Energy

    Solar concentrator dishes on the roof and photovoltaic arrays in the grounds: a centre that trains students and, through the Suryamitra programme, members of the public.

    Students trained
    480
    Members of the public
    30
    Products
    4
  • Electric two-wheelers and an open electric-vehicle chassis in the EV laboratory
    The electric-vehicle laboratory

    EV Technology

    Electric two-wheelers and an open vehicle chassis, for training in the technology of electric vehicles.

    Students trained
    480
    Products
    4

Together 1,721 students trained and 19 products built across the four centres — with a patent and a doctorate.

Figures as the centres reported them to the Research and Development Cell.

Run with industry

Laboratories that industry teaches in

Two courses bring industry’s own methods to the campus — one in how Japanese manufacturing is managed, one in programming the machines that make parts.

A Visionary Learning Community of India training programme in the Department of Mechanical Engineering
A Visionary Learning Community of India programme in Mechanical Engineering

VLCI

Visionary Learning Community of India

The Visionary Learning Community of India takes the Visionary Leaders for Manufacturing programme — Japanese manufacturing management, taught to senior and middle managers — into colleges, in support of Make in India. Its “Big M” view of manufacturing runs from conceiving a product to its after-sales service.

PMC Tech offers it to its students as an open elective and a value-added course.

What it practises

  • Leadership development
  • Skill building
  • Learn, apply, learn
  • Tools and techniques: 3S, value-stream mapping, heijunka and standardised work

Syllabus

FANUC · Department of Mechanical Engineering

FANUC CNC programming

A course in CNC part programming for the engineers who prove out components, the operators who run the machines, and the maintenance engineers who diagnose their faults.

What it covers

  • Machine axes and coordinate systems
  • The structure of a part program: G-codes and M-codes
  • CNC programming
  • Turning, milling and drilling programs
  • Macro programs

Documents

Proposed

The centres on the drawing board

The Research and Development Cell has proposed eight more centres of excellence. None is open yet; together they sketch where research at PMC Tech means to go.

  • Proposed Research in Nanoscience and Engineering
  • Proposed Centre for Sustainable Energy, Storage and Green Earth
  • Proposed Hydrogen Energy Research
  • Proposed Centre for Artificial Intelligence and IoT
  • Proposed Structural Innovations and Design, with TANCAM
  • Proposed Centre for Aviation Management
  • Proposed Statistics, Modelling and Simulation
  • Proposed Content Creation and Digitalisation

For industry

Consultancy and research for industry

The Centre for Industry and Consultancy Services takes the centres’ expertise to companies — through consultancy and industry-sponsored research — and brings companies’ problems to the campus.

Consultancy services

  • The construction industry
  • Skill development
  • E-mobility
  • IoT and sensors
  • Innovative engineering products

Consultancy in renewable energy systems is in preparation.

The Industry–Institute Partnership Cell

  • Industrial research on duty, for fifteen days to a month
  • Hands-on training in industry
  • Internships and industrial visits — 219 and 26, as the Centre reports them

2024–27 Recognised as a Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (SIRO)

The robotic welding cell trains people from industry as well as students, and the renewable energy centre has trained members of the public.

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Next chapter

03 Innovation & Entrepreneurship

From idea to venture Five students beside the posters of their projects at an exhibition