My II & III year classes at MIT
At the end of the first year course ( i.e after the second semester examinations including reexaminations) 31 students have been promoted to the second year. That included 20 of 18th batch entry & the rest from 17/16 &15 th batch entries For the second year course, we have been shifted to the Instrument Technology block. All our classes and practicals were conducted in that block only. In Instrumentation, we had the following subjects classes taken by respective subject matter specialists. Out of my lecturers 4 were themselves senior DMITs. The faculty members were:
Prof. GSS Sharma- HOD & Control Engineering
Prof.MM Rao- Optics
Mr VG Subramanian- Process Instruments
Mr KV Narayanan- Electronics
Mr L S Janakiraman- Electrical Instruments
Mr Sambasivam- Aeronautical Instruments
Mr W C Chitra- Measurement Standards
+ Mathematics, Physics & Chemistry subjects continued.
When we were students ( II& III year i.e 1967-69) the Instrument systems in factories were transitioning from mechanical age to pneumatic systems. As for electronics it was still in an infant state. Computers / Microprocessor and software development etc. were unheard of then. Yes, the ammeter, voltmeter, resistance bridge, inductance, capacitance & multimeter etc. were in vogue.
Similarly, the microscope, oscilloscope and allied optical devices were still in development state; only a few companies in Europe ( M/S Carl Zeiss Jena , West Germany & Sweden) were manufacturing them. As India had several import restrictions then, no one can import them.
Keeping those objectives in the background, our course syllabus was restricted to the following topics only. Servo Motors, 2nd order equation, first order equation, Time Constant, Lag & Lead, La Place Transformation
Optics- Convex, concave,opaque, transparent, prisms, refractory index
Process Instruments - Newton's laws, Archimedes principle, Boyle's law, Buoyancy,Bourdon gauge,Flapper-Nozzle, feedback mechanism,PID control terminology, Definition of Proportional,Integral & Derivative action, Diaphragm & Bellows, Temperature elements & thermowell. Flow elements
Electrical & Electronics- Ammeter, Voltmeter, resistance, Wheatstone Bridge, Network Theory, Inductance, Capacitance, Diodes, Triodes & Transistors
Aeronautical instruments - Speedometer, Altimeter
Measurement Standards- FPS, CGS, MKS and their conversion factors
In most of the above topics, only the names used to be mentioned as the teacher himself has neither seen nor studied their assemblies! The handicap was that the students did not have any idea about their functioning, or assembled components or their principles of operation. The curse was that the student did not gain any value or knowledge to realise their objective and use. The pity was that many of the teaching staff did not have exposure to them at all as they have never worked in industry. Also due to financial constraints the department did not have enough funds to source the sample devices for demonstration and explaining to the students. The same was valid when it came to the labs.& workshop also. In the optical lab. every student has to go on polishing the given glass disc to make it concave or convex for the entire semester ( approx. 6 months period @ 4 hours/ week). No one was clear about the overall objective with that? There was no measuring or inspection mechanism to verify its finish or the smooth polish quality etc. When it came for verification and grading the marks for each student, whatever the optics professor felt was the final. It was fortunate that he has not failed anyone but favoritism was very much prevalent.
When it came to the mechanical workshop things were even worse. Only fitting exercises like hacksaw cutting, filing, grinding of metal plates etc. were given as assignments. In the electrical & electronics lab. some small network applications and measurements tasks were practised.
Overall, if one evaluates the complete course in the institution, the students have heard the various technical terms of their subject but practically no knowledge to apply Where/Which one to suit the demand in their profession. But the beauty- all the students picked up the working knowledge of their trade during the mandatory industry practical training and courtesy the help & guidance of seniors ( earlier batch DMITs in those factories).
When it came for the subject matter textbooks, though there was a library in the department, only 2 books- Industrial Instruments by P Jones & Handbook on Instrumentation by Considine were the only two utilised by the lecturer as well as students. In the class room, I used to sit in the front row, very meticulous in taking notes- whatever the lecturer has said during the lecture hours. I used to take such notes from all the classes( irrespective of whether understood or not.) My hand written notes used to be verbatim. Rather that became handy to all my classmates during the semester examinations. Invariably as I used to move to the hostel prior to semester examinations, my notes used to have heavy demand- moving room to room at any given time ! We used to find it difficult to track its availability ! So my classmates gave me the title " Notes Ramanathan";this is over & above 'Aruvai'.
There are several instances which shall follow.
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