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Engineering was, simply put, nothing but applied science and the many formulae in Engineering textbooks helped us understand the behaviour of various parameters in nature, he said. He, however, elaborated that since nature as a force is very dynamic, a student / engineer has to apply his mind independently. The learning in engineering syllabus would come to one’s use as guidelines. Out of his own experience, he said that an engineer learns more in practice while trying to solve problems and coping up with nature.
For the benefit of the young minds, he stressed on the importance of ‘cost’ as a constraint while one endeavoured to manufacture equipment, to different process specifications, on a large scale. He went on to recount his thought process that led him to innovate and introduce a novel ‘shrink ring’ technology (added steel on the channel barrel) pertaining to Screw Plug Heat Exchangers, used in high pressure and high temperature applications in Hydrocarbon processing.
In response to a query regarding baffle arrangement in shell-&-tube heat exchangers, Mr. Haresh Sippy explained the Helixchanger equipment and recollected his remarkable experience when he offered this heat exchanger (the largest and one of the most complicated, in India) to Reliance Industries in India. While responding to another question regarding determination of heat transfer at various points in a shell-&-tube heat exchanger, he emphasized on the merits of deploying technology & software and on the advantage provided by sheer experience.
In his concluding note, Mr. Haresh K. Sippy expressed optimism that in course of the Modi government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative (and ‘Innovate in India’), the wealth of 6 lakh engineers graduating every year in India, would get harnessed.