A Visit to CSIR – National Physical Laboratory
28th September 2018
ASCE Student Chapter, Dronacharya College of Engineering, Gurugram organized a visit to “CSIR – NPL Open Day” 2018 on 28th September, 2018. 23 students of ME and Civil Department went for the visit under guidance of Dr. Sangeeta Singla.
The National Physical Laboratory is one of the earliest national laboratories set up under the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research. Late Shri Jawaharlal Nehru laid the foundation stone of NPL on the 4th January 1947. Late Dr. K. S. Krishnan, FRS, was the first Director of the laboratory. The main aim of the laboratory is to strengthen and advance physics-based research and development for the overall development of science and technology in the country.
After the registration, a guide (Ph. D. student) along with the route map was allotted to every group of students, who help them to visit various labs and campus.
PPMS/superconductivity Lab, Sputtering Lab, Bhartiya Nirdeshaka Dravya, Sound Transmission Lab, NPL Auditorium were the various lab visited.
At first, student saw the process of making the semiconductors. There was a chamber in which various mixtures were put according to their weights. After that, student saw the meissner effect on the semiconductors, used in Maglev trains. Liquefied Nitrogen was used to show the meissner effect and the semiconductor on which the experiment was being performed was made in the laboratory itself.
Next, student moved to the stall where they got to know about some new techniques that how any unit is standardised. They saw the standard rice flour. It was the prepared sample which will be sent for the standardisation so that any rice flour sold in the market will be compared with that standard sample.
In acoustic lab there were three chambers made for acoustic and vibration metrology. The chambers are equipped with advanced instrumentation for measurement of sound and vibration and calibration of electro-acoustic equipment.
Student test the absorption capacity of the materials. These are done in the reverberation chamber. The construction of the reverberation chamber has been done in such a way that the testing should be done with minimum errors.
Anechoic Chamber is designed to completely absorb reflections of sound. They are also often isolated from waves entering from their surroundings. This type of chambers are commonly used in acoustics to conduct experiments in nominally “free field” conditions, free-field meaning that there are no reflected signals. All sound energy will be travelling away from the source with almost none reflected back.
At the end of the visit, student went in the auditorium where a show was going on related to various activities happened in NPL. It showed how the scientists work on various labs and represent their work. Overall, it was a great experience to visit at the CSIR-NPL.