PALAKKAD: The Fluid Control Research Institute (FCRI) at Kanjikode under the Ministry of Heavy Industries has set up a large water flow laboratory, which is one of the unique calibration/testing facilities in South-East
Asia. The water flow lab has been accredited by the National Board for Accreditation of Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL), FCRI director Jacob Chandapillai told ‘Express.’
He said that the major manufacturing and user industries which use the facility for calibration/testing of large-sized flow meters/control valves include water treatment and de-salination plants, irrigation and hydrology departments, power and sewage plants, potable water and sanitation authority, petrochemichal industries and refineries. The testing of centrifugal pumps for cavitation performance is also undertaken. The laboratory has been designed with a maximum pipe diameter of 2,000 mm with a maximum flow rate of 15,000 m3/hour.
Another recent addition to the FCRI, which is celebrating its silver jubilee this year, is the CNG lab, the first in India. FCRI carries out accuracy testing of CNG dispensing stations using master mass meter method. The calibrations are traceable to the National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi, which enhances the confidence of the customers.
Even multinational companies are using the services of the FCRI labs as it is cost effective. Moreover, unlike the lab under GAIL, this is an independent certification agency. The new lab facilitates gas flow testing at 4000 m3 per hour. This could be upgraded to test the gas flow at 8,000 or 10,000 m3 per hour, provided further investments are made, said an official.
“As the FCRI labs are unique in the country, its dynamic traceability was measured periodically with the European and the US labs,” the director said. The calibrated results of FCRI were retested at the National Engineering lab, UK, Netherlands Measurement Institute and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the US. He said that special tests like high pressure, high temperature facility of safety related electrical and mechanical components and had test facility for water transmission and butterfly systems. It was also equipped with an air flow lab, water flow lab, oil flow lab, physical standards lab, noise and vibration lab and electronics and instrumentation lab.