BHEL’s new development to reduce costs; optimize coal grinding capacity in thermal power stations.

For the first time in the country, Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has indigenously designed and developed a higher capacity Bowl Mill-BHEL 28 used for pulverising coal in thermal power stations.

With this development, BHEL is now in a position to supply the optimum number of mills for future 660 MW & 800 MW supercritical sets, besides conventional 500 MW sets, thereby deriving a techno-economic advantage.

The optimized capacity will result in reducing the number of mills required for thermal power stations, leading to savings in cost and commissioning cycle time. In addition, it will result in substantial saving of material due to reduction in associated components like coal piping, bunkers, feeders, motors etc.

The first such mill of 91 TPH capacity, has been commissioned at the 500 MW Unit 6 of MSEB’s Chandrapur Super Thermal Power Station (STPS), in Maharashtra. The mill was erected and commissioned by BHEL in a record time of 55 days, replacing the existing mill, during the capital overhaul period of Unit-6. It has been performing exceedingly well to the satisfaction of the customer.

In fiscal 2004-05, BHEL through commercialization of products and systems developed by way of inhouse research and development efforts, has achieved a turnover of Rs.942 Crore - nearly 10% of the company's total turnover for the year. This has been achieved on account of a constant thrust on developing new technologies and products, besides improving existing products and systems in terms of reliability, cost and quality.

R&D and technology development are of strategic importance to the company as it operates in a competitive environment where technology is a major factor. Over the years, BHEL's in-house developments have paid substantial dividends.

During the year, the company spent about Rs.125 Crore on R&D, which was the highest among comparable industries in India. The focus of BHEL's R&D programmes is on areas like state-of-the-art control & instrumentation systems; clean coal technologies including Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC,",",","); non-conventional energy systems; improved transmission and distribution products and systems; high efficiency, silt resistant hydro turbines and improved transportation systems.