BHEL achieves Rs.11,510 Million turnover through products developed in-house.

The turnover of Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) for the year 2005-06 has risen 39% to Rs.144,100 Million. This includes a turnover of Rs.11,510 Million - about 8% of the company's total turnover - achieved through commercialization of products and systems developed by way of in-house Research & Development efforts. This is the result of a constant thrust on developing new technologies and products, besides improving existing products and systems in terms of reliability, cost and quality through in-house R&D efforts.

New products and systems developed during the year for various infrastructure sectors of the economy include a system which reduces Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) pollutants from coal-based thermal power plants by up to 50% from the present level; a 500 metre head Francis Turbine to exploit the full potential of hydro power generation in high-head sites and a steam leak detection system for timely detection of Boiler tube leaks to prevent catastrophic failures and large-scale outages in thermal power plants.

A significant achievement of the year was the filing of 84 patents, including 3 filed abroad, taking the total number of patents filed till date to 339. Out of this, BHEL has been granted 26 patents and the rest are in various stages of processing. 13 copyrights have also been filed.

For enhancing the country’s generating capacity at moderate investments through R&M of existing units, BHEL has developed a new LP Turbine variant, which can be used to up rate old 200/210 MW thermal sets by 8.5 MW and extend their life by another 20 years. There are 57 200/210 MW BHEL sets (based on LMW technology) with a service life of 20 years or more.

As a contribution to modernizing the storage and inventory management system of the Indian Army, BHEL is executing a contract for installing an Automatic Storage & Retrieval System (ASRS) at the Central Ordnance Depot, Kanpur. Developed by BHEL, the ASRS is spread at 13 warehouses and comprises over 1,26,000 storage bins and a computer-based ‘Warehouse Management System’ that facilitates automatic operation through Radio Frequency Communication.

During the year, the company invested about Rs.1,500 Million on Research & Development of products and systems, which was among the highest in India. R&D and technology development are of strategic importance to BHEL as it operates in a competitive environment where technology is a major factor. Over the years, BHEL's in-house developments have paid dividends. BHEL's R&D programme focuses on areas like state-of-the-art control & instrumentation systems; clean coal technologies; renewable energy systems; improved transmission & distribution products/systems; high-efficiency silt resistant hydro turbines and improved transportation systems, among others.