Shri. P.K. Kognolkar obtained his B.E. (Electrical) in 1972 from MACT,  Bhopal and M.Tech (Control Systems)  in 1974 from IIT  Kanpur.  Kongolkar began his career at  Crompton Greaves Limited as Design Engineer in 1974 – 1976.  He joined Central Electricity Authority through UPSC examination for All India Power System Service in the year 1976 .   He was assigned the Design and Estimation of substation upto 220 kV class.

       P.K. Kognolkar is associated with Switchgear Testing and Development Station a unit of Central Power Research Institute since 1977.  He was responsible for exploring and utilising the short circuit alternator based facility to the optimum stage for evaluation of performance of power system equipments such as circuit breakers, switchgears, power transformers, Current Transformers, Busducts, Isolators, fuses Reactors, Lightning Arresters, Switches.

Shri P.K. Kognolkar,  Director General I/C, CPRI

       He was associated with the project of developing Short Circuit Testing plant by drawing power from Madhya Pradesh Electricity Board at 132 kV grid system in the year 1983 – 1985.  This station is suitable for performing large number of test on Low Voltage Equipments & Distribution Transformers.  He also developed the Quality Systems in accordance with IEC 17025 for the testing activities at CPRI, Bhopal and obtained NABL as well as IECEECB  & ASTA BEAB  UK  Accreditations. 

       He was participating in the international group on Harmonization of International Test Practices called STL (Short Circuit Testing Liaison) and CPRI has been awarded full Membership of STL which is prestigious Membership for International recognition of the Laboratory for short circuit testing of power equipments.  He is also a Member of Institution of Engineers – India and represents Central Power Research Institute on Advisory Committee of Madhya Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission.  He is also a Member of Bureau of Indian Standards on Switchgear & Controlgear and Transformer Committees.

            Email: dgcpri@cpri.in

Telephone: 080-23602457

           S. Vijaya Kumari is a  Joint Director at the Liquid Dielectrics Laboratory in the Central Power Research Institute, Bangalore. She is a postgraduate in Chemistry. Prior to joining CPRI, she was a CSIR Research Fellow for two years. She has twenty-five years of experience in Research & Development, Testing & Certification, and Consultancy in the field of liquid dielectrics. Her research interests are antioxidants, metal deactivators, heat transfer & flash point improvers, correlation between different parameters, corrosive sulphur studies, optimization of chemical composition of insulating oil, & RLA of power transformers. She has completed projects for REC, KEC, G E Bayer Silicones (India) Pvt. Ltd., & IGCAR.

 S. Vijaya Kumari

           She is involved in third-party inspection, testing & certification of new insulating oils for power transformers for electrical industries & utilities in the country. She is the principal Member of the ETD 03 Committee on Electrotechnical Fluids of the Bureau of Indian Standards & a member of the Indian Society for Analytical Scientists. She has participated in the Certified Internal Quality Auditor ISO / IEC 17025 & NABL proficiency testing programmes. She has imparted training on transformer oil testing to delegates from oil industries, electrical industries, and electrical utilities. She is a consultant for condition monitoring of power transformers through liquid insulation, and also for setting up of centralized / stationary reclamation plants for discarded transformer oil for electrical utilities in the country. She has published & presented papers in national & international journals & conferences.

            Email : svk@cpri.in /svijayakumari@gmail.com

                                          Telephone : 080-23604448 (O) / 080-23601435 (R)
 

              R.K.Hegde, Additional Director has been with CPRI for the last 16 years. He obtained his M.Tech. Degree in Electrical Engineering from IIT Kanpur in the year 1972. He has held several important positions in CPRI and worked in various capacities and is also the Leader for the project called “Centre for Research & Continuing Education”, a project which will accommodate researchers from India and abroad for pursuing research & imparting need based continuing education. He has 28 years of experience in Industry, R&D and consultancy. During thips tenure R&D projects were conceptualised and guided to develop a number of Power system Instrumentation products and services. A large part of the work is in the area of power quality & energy metering. Before joining CPRI, he worked with M/s.Larsen & Toubro, M/s. APLAB Electronics Ltd., and M/s. Tata Consulting Engineers.

 R.K.Hegde

       He has been able to introduce successfully the concept of achieving energy efficiency and energy conservation. The energy meter test facility was established under his guidance at CPRI, Bangalore.
       His areas of interest are IT for Power Systems, Distribution Systems & Distribution, Automation Energy conservation, distributed generation & Metering Systems. A total of fifty six papers have been authored individually and jointly by him in various national & international conferences and journals in the field of power engineering.

                                        Email :   rkhegde@cpri.in

Telephone :  080-2360 7823 (Office) / 080-2360 0353 (R)

                                       Mobile:  9448282324

 

         A.Amruthakala received Bachelors Degree in Electronics Engineering from Bangalore University in 1981.  She worked as Project Assistant in the Indian Institute of Science from 1980 to 1981.  She has been with CPRI since 1981 and has worked in the High Voltage Division and Instrumentation Division.  Presently she is working in the Power System Division in the Simulator Laboratory.  Her areas of interest are Power System protection, :C based instrumentation for power systems, testing of protective relays including special application tests. 

A. Amruthakala

       Amruthakala has carried out research projects in the areas of metering and development of PC based test equipments for testing of Energy meters and relays.  She has worked in the area of testing & certification of protective relays.  She has published about 25 technical papers in national and international Journals. 

                                            Email :  amr@cpri.in 

             J.Santhosh, Joint Director obtained his  M.E. (High Voltage Engineering) – 1984, Anna University, Chennai. His experience includes - Erection and commissioning of 2500 MVA short circuit generator and its auxiliaries;  Erection and commissioning of control and measuring systems of High Power Laboratory,  Operation, maintenance and trouble shooting activities of laboratory main equipment like short circuit generator and control systems;  He has 12  years experience in switchgear and transformers and other power equipments like line trap, reactors and fuses testing;

J.Santhosh

        His areas of interest are  Power transformers and switchgear testing; Computerisation of test measurements and recording; Modernising and augmentation of laboratory Facilities; Switchgear development using vacuum and SF6 gas. He has published paper on “ Electromagnetically and Electrostatically Induced current Switching of Earthing Switches” in the INDUCTICA international conference held in Berlin  in 2004. He has delivered number of lectures in PSTI, Annamalai  University,Chidambaram and KPTCL. He has guided four batches of B.E students and one  ME student  for their project work.  

                                                E-mail: js@cpri.in

Telephone: 2360 0574(Office) / 2360 2747 (R).

                                               Mobile: 9448968368

            S.Ramaprasath is a Joint Director in Diagnostic, Cables & Capacitors Division , CPRI, Bangalore. He is a Science graduate from Bangalore University and is a graduate of The Institutions Of Electronics & Telecommunication Engineers, New Delhi.   Since joining CPRI in 1975, S.Ramaprasath has worked in the field of Power Cables & Power Capacitors. His area of specialization is Underground Power cables & Power Cable Accessories including testing, evaluation & failure analysis. He has carried out  for the first time in India type testing of  220 kV  XLPE Cable system comprising of XLPE cable, termination, straight through joint and sheath separation joint  as per IEC at CPRI, Bangalore.   He has contributed about 20 technical papers for various National & International Seminars / Workshops. He was the project leader for a  mission oriented project for LT cable joint and a member of a joint project on 33 kV SF6  Proto- Type Cable Termination.

S.Ramaprasath

           He has delivered lectures on Power Cables for TNBR, Malaysia & trained quality system auditors for TNBR, Malaysia for auditing of Power Cable manufacturing units at Malaysia. Conducted Technical Capability Study on Power cables for a Power Cable manufacturing unit at Thailand. He is a recipient of the Best Paper Award as a joint author in INSULEC-2000 held at Hyderabad during Nov'2000.  He is the Chairman of Power Cables Sectional Committee ET 09 of  Bureau Of Indian Standards. He has been nominated by CPRI as a member of  CIGRE- India Committee for " B1- High Voltage Insulated Cables". He is the Chairman for B1-HV Insulated Cables-CIGRE Study Committee India. He is representing India in CIGRE Study Committee B1 on HV Insulated Cables at paris.He was nominated by CBIP as the Session Secretary for " B1- High Voltage Insulated Cables" for the pre& post  CIGRE- India session held during July 2004 & May 2005 held at New Delhi.

                                              E-mail : ramaprasath@cpri.in

Telephone: 080-2360 4435 (O) / 2838 8916(R)

M. Siddhartha Bhatt is Additional Director and Divisional Head of the Energy Conservation & Development Division which provides energy related consultancy services.  He has a professional experience of 28 years at CPRI at its Centers in Bangalore &  Thiruvananthapuram and has extensively contributed in the areas of energy analysis, energy efficiency & renewable energy.  He was Unit Head of Energy Research Centre at Thiruvanathapuram. He has published over 40 international journal papers in the area of energy efficiency and one book on Wood Energy Systems (1987). He has developed several energy products such as steam pumps, sensors for coal flow, thermal energy meters, wood burning stove, biomass gasifier, heat pumps, etc. and holds 5 patents.  He is on the committee of invention evaluation and challenges in the field of energy conversion. He is certified in Energy Efficiency from UK and Italy. In the area of industrial consultancy he undertaken a large number of power audits, energy efficiency studies  and studies on renovation, modernization & life extension of thermal power  plants, hydro stations, energy intensive industries and buildings.  He has guided over 34 M.Tech. students for project work at CPRI. He has specialized in the area of energy audits of thermal power plants especially coal fired stations.

M. Siddhartha Bhatt

Has completed B.Tech. (Mech.) from KREC Surathkal 1980, MSc. Engg. (Mech.) from Indian Institute of Science.  He has been awarded the National Science Talent Scholarship (1975), Young Scientists Award (1984), Mysore University Golden Jubilee Award for Science and  Technology (1988), CBIP Best paper Award (1998). He is Life Member of Solar Energy Society of India, Indian Science Congress, Indian Society of Heat and Mass transfer, Energy Conservation Society and Fellow of Institution of Engineers (India).          

Telephone: 080- 23604682 (O)/23722878 (R)

E-mail: msb@cpri.in; msbhatt1@yahoo.co.in

     Dr. K. T. Varughese has joined in the Institute in November 1989 and presently working as  Scientific officer Grade V at the R&D Management Division. He has more than 20 years of research experience with specialisation in the area of polymer science and rubber technology. He received his Ph.D. Degree from Jadavpur University, Calcutta in 1990 for his work on miscible blends of  polyvinylchloride and epoxidised natural rubber. He has obtained Post Graduate Diploma in Intellectual Property Rights law (PGDIPR) from National Law School of India University, Bangalore in 2007.  Prior to Joining CPRI, he has worked as guest faculty at the Division of Rubber Technology, Anna University, Chennai, as Senior Research Fellow at the Rubber Technology Center, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur and as Junior Research Fellow at the Department of Polymer Science and Rubber Technology, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Cochin. His professional interests are  R&D, testing and consultancy  on  Polymers in Power Engineering and Intellectual Property related issues.

K. T. Varughese

At CPRI, he has carried out sponsored and inhouse research programmes. The  sponsored project “Development of weather resistant high performance polymer concrete for (a) rapid repair of runways and(b) soil stabilisation in desert conditions for helipads” was undertaken for DTSR, Ministry of Defence, Government of India. Other completed inhouse projects are Polymer Concrete Insulator Systems, Polymer Concrete Composites for Transmission Tower Foundstion, Semiconducting Compound for Power Cables, and Antioxidants for Polyolefins. During 2000-2004, he has been associated with Thermal Research Center, CPRI, Nagpur and has involved in the Remaining Life Assessment and NonDestructive Testing of Boilers and Turbines in Thermal Power Plants . Presently he is engaged in the research studies on  compatibilisation, miscibility, rheology, viscoelasticity, dielectric properties of polymer blends, polymer composites, polymer nanocomposites and polymer-ceramic composites. Dr. Varughese has successfully organized the “International conference on Polymers in Power Engineering (ICPMPE-2007), October 4-6, 2007 as Organizing Secretary of the conference.   He has published 42  papers in international journals in addition to technical reports, articles and papers in conference proceedings. He has been associated with  national and international scientific committees as member or Life member. Dr. Varughese  is also a recognised Ph.D guide in Chemistry of Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottyam and has produced 3 Ph.D degrees.

                                    Email: drvarughese@cpri.in

                            Telephone: 080-2360 0499,2360 1442 (Office)/080-2364647 (R)                                                         Mobile: 09845501548

                                       Fax: 080-2360 0499

                Dr.P.V.Reddy is a Scientist working on Research and Development of electrical insulating materials based on polymers at Central Power Research Institute (CPRI), Bangalore.  He obtained bachelors degree in Science and Masters Degree in Chemistry from Bangalore University, Karnataka. He was awarded Ph.D. degree for his thesis ‘Studies on the use of transition metal chelates as accelerators for epoxy resin systems’ by Bangalore University in the year 1992. Prior to joining CPRI, he worked as a Lecturer in Chemistry at Rashtreeya Vidyalaya College of Engineering (RVCE), Bangalore.  He has a professional experience of 24 years at Central Power Research Institute, and has been conducting research on various aspects of electrical insulating materials. His interests are in the development of Curing agents for Epoxy resin systems, Flame retardation of wire and cables, high temperature thermoset materials and high voltage polymeric insulators.  His current research studies are in the area of development of high voltage polymeric insulators for outdoor applications, nitrogen hetero cycles as curing agents along with zero halogen based compounds for special purposes.

Dr. P.V. Reddy

              He has taken up prototype / scale up studies based on the technologies developed in the laboratory and transferred the technology for production of sulphate glass based PVC compound for flame retardant low smoke cable applications for a private firm in Bangalore. He has published and presented more than 35 technical papers in National and International journals and conferences. He got a patent to his credit and 4 patents are under processing.  He has been working on Polymer testing and certification of electrical insulating materials and responsible of accreditation of Polymer Laboratory as per NABL guidelines of 17025. He is a member of Technical committee ET-02 of Solid Electrical Insulating materials, BIS, New Delhi and nominated to CBIP, New Delhi, as an expert from CPRI for coordinating the activities on matters relating to enclosure to Energy Meter. He is also a member of Institution of Chemists.

Telephone:  080-227890 / 261284/261745 (office)

                                                          Mobile:  9810595385

            B.H.Narayana has B.E. (Metallurgy) from KREC, Surathkal and M.Tech (Metallurgy) from IIT, Kanpur.  He was a Research Engineer in the Hindustan Brown Boveri Ltd., Vadodara before joining CPRI in 1985 as an Engineering Officer in the Materials Technology Division.  Served as the Head of its Unit, Thermal Research Centre, Koradi till 2000. His initial research interest included Engineering Ceramics, Failure mechanisms in metallic components.  Current interests include industrial consultancy in the area of remaining life assessment, condition assessment of in-service equipment and system, energy conservation approaches.

B.H.Narayana

         Field application of Non-destruction testing (NDT), process audit in energy system, renovation and modernisation of power plants and process industries, working out business models and strategies for process improvement and energy conservation are his professional interests. He is a life member of Indian Society for Non destructive testing (ISNT).

                                        Email:  bhn@cpri.in 

          B.S.Ramesh is a Joint Director in High Power laboratory.  He is an engineering graduate in Electrical Engineering from Mysore University.  Shri Ramesh has 28 years of experience in maintenance of electrical systems for specialised laboratories of CPRI.  Since 1992, he is working in High Power Laboratory in Bangalore and associated with the following.

B.S.Ramesh

         He is in-charge of operation and maintenance of 2500 MVA short circuit generator, Master circuit breaker and associated system.  He is looking after operation, maintenance and augmentation of 220 kV and 33 kV substations, 11 kV power supply to new laboratories.  He is associated with research work involving the indigenisation of imprted components for the 2500 MVA master breakers an make switch of the High Power Laboratory.  Shri Ramesh is a specialised in remaining Life Assessment and Diagnostic tests on High voltage circuit breakers.  He was  a member of Expert Committee on Sub-station – Maintenance – manual of CBIP.

                                     Mobile:  9448361755

           Ramakrishna  is a graduate in Science and Post Graduate in Chemistry with specialization in analytical chemistry from the University of Mysore.  He is a Associate Member of Institute of Chemists, Kolkata, Life Member of Society of Analytical   Scientists, Mumbai and Donor member of Karnataka Rajya Vignana Parishat, Bangalore. 

Ramakrishna

           Ramakrishna joined Central Power Research Institute in the year 1977 and presently working as Joint Director in Materials Technology Division.  His areas of research interests are essentially focused towards power sector and multi-disciplinary in nature.  He was involved in the establishment of Gas Chromatography, Spectroscopy (UV, IR, X-ray), Corrosion and Weathering Facilities for testing as well as Research & Developmental works in the area of power sector.  He was associated with the establishment of Thermal Research Centre, Koradi, Nagpur.  He worked in the areas of Liquid Dielectrics, Environmental Pollution (including environmental audit) and material characterization. 

            His current interests are fuel combustion, corrosion of materials, failure analysis of thermal power plant components.  He is looking after testing and certification of solid fuels and evaluation of materials for corrosion resistance and weatherability.  He has published and presented more than 35 papers in national and international Conferences / Journals.  He contributed an article entitled “Corrosion in power equipment” to corrosion Handbook published by the Electro-chemical Society of India, Bangalore.

                                            Email: hrk@cpri.in, hramakrishna@hotmail.com

               V.N.Nandakumar is Additional Director, Group Head in charge of Instrumentation Division, Electrical Appliances Technology Division and Information Technology Implementation Division.  He is B.E.(Electronics & Communication) ,University of Mysore & M.Tech.(Industrial Electronics) from Karnataka Regional Engineering College. 

V.N.Nandakumar

              Mr. Nandakumar’s areas of research interest are essentially – Power Electronics, Microprocessor based Instrumentation/Control, Energy Metering covering AMR & Communication Technology related to metering. During his tenure (8 years during 1997-2005) as Head of Instrumentation Division has established extensive test facility in the area of Energy Meters, Protective Relays, EMI/EMC, Calibration, UPS etc.  He is instrumental to get accreditation to some of  these facilities as per ISO17025 & BIS.  In addition to this, he has wide experience in execution of third party Field Testing in the Energy Meters & Protective Relays.  He has also coordinated C&I and Relay testing under RLA for Power sector.   He has published & presented more than 25 papers in National & International Conferences.  He also instrumental in organizing Seminars, Workshops & Training programmes in different areas indicated above.

              During the period 1995-97 has was the Unit Head of Energy Research Center, CPRI, Trivandrum.  The activities of Energy Research Center are – Research on Non-conventional Energy like wind, solar etc., Energy auditing of industries / power stations etc.

         K.B. Manjunath is a Additional Director at CPRI, Bangalore.  He graduated in B.E. in the year 1976 from Siddaganga Institute of Technology, Tumkur.  Completed M.Tech in the Industrial Electronics Technology at Suratkal Regional Engineering College in the year 1978. Before joining CPRI in the year 1980 he has worked as Lecturer at R.V.College of Engineering, Bangalore & M.S.Ramaiah College of Engineering, Bangalore.  He joined CPRI in 1980. 

K.B. Manjunath

         He was associated in establishing the Conductor Vibration Laboratory and setting up of Wake Industrial Oscillation Laboratory at CPRI.  He was instrumental in setting up Vibration test Facility for carrying out Dynamic Testing on Electronic Instruments, Power Instruments viz., Relays energy meters, MCCBs of specimen weighing 270 kgs.  He established Earth Quake Engineering Laboratory at CPRI in the year 2002.  It is a unique and only facility in Indian for simulation of Earth quakes. 

             At present involved in the areas of testing of Energy Meters and Relays.  He has published about 40 papers / periodicals in various national / international seminars.

                                   E-mail: kbm@cpri.in 

              Dr S. Seetharmu is a Additional Director, received M.E and Ph.D degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and has been working in CPRI since 1985.  Currently he is coordinating the activities of Materials Technology Division as Additional Director.  He has also served as a Teaching Faculty at Toyohashi University of Technology, Japan.  His interest include structural integrity and remaining life assessment of plant components and has carried out several R&D programmes in structure-property correlation in advanced material – schemes as well as energy engineering studies.

Dr S. Seetharamu

             Dr. Seetharamu is the author of more than 40 technical papers in peer reviewed international journals and has presented more than 100 papers in conferences. Recipient of a few awards and a member of professional bodies, he is also the holder of many patents.  He has given guidance to 40 Bachelors, 30 Post Graduate and 8 Doctoral students.

                                            Email: ssramu@cpri.in 

               Dr. R.S. SHIVAKUMARA ARADHYA is an engineer holding the position of Additional  Director in the Power Systems Division. He is a graduate in Electrical Engineering and post graduate in electrical Power Engineering, both from University Visweswaraya College of Engineering, Bangalore.  He obtained his doctoral degree in Electrical Sciences (High Voltage Engineering) from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.    

Dr. R.S. SHIVAKUMARA ARADHYA

                Dr. Aradhya has been working in Central Power research institute in various capacities since April 1981.  He worked in the High Voltage Division till early 1994, where, he was responsible for coordinating the activities of the state of art Mobile Field Testing Laboratory, engaged in the conducting switching and staged fault tests on HV / EHV transmission and distribution systems and associated equipment.  Measurement of harmonics in power systems and realization of instruments for characterizing power frequency electric and magnetic field in AC power networks were his other activities during this period. During the same period, he did extensive research in the area of thermal performance of Metal Oxide Surge arrester under polluted conditions. Between 1994 and 2000 he worked in the UHV research Laboratory at Hyderabad, during which period, his areas of interest were insulation requirement of 800 kV and 1050 kV AC transmission lines, high voltage testing of EHV line insulators & substation equipment and UHV line insulation.  He also undertook collaborative research in the area of biological effects of Extremely Low Frequency electric and magnetic fields.

From 2001 to early 2004 Dr. Aradhya was responsible for the coordination of  implementation of total automation in quality assurance testing laboratories of CPRI and also responsible for coordinating CPRI’s research activities as advisor to the Director  General.  Since early 2005, Dr Aradhya is heading Power Systems Division and coordinating its R&D and Consultancy services.  His current interests are Distribution System studies for loss estimation, protection of industrial power network and failure investigations on power system equipment.  He has published more than 65 technical papers in national and international seminars, workshops and refereed journals.

                                        E-mail: aradya@cpri.in 

                                       Mobile: 9448282334

               Dr. M. Shekhar Kumar is a Scientific Officer in the Materials Technology Division working in the area of Industrial Solid Waste Management.  He is a Ph.D in Chemistry from Bangalore University, Bangalore.

M. Shekhar Kumar

               He is actively involved in testing, research & development, and consultancy for the past 16 years in areas of pollution monitoring, environmental audit of thermal power plants, fly ash utilisation, and industrial solid waste utilisation. Notable contribution by him is, establishment of a Centre for Ash Utilization Technologies and Environment Conservation (CASHUTEC) at Raichur Thermal Power Station under the Indo-Norwegian Environment Programme.   

                Dr.Shekar Kumar’s current research interest include development of value added products from fly ash, fly ash derivatives and other industrial solid wastes.  He is presently the Chief Researcher at the Industrial Solid Waste Utilization Centre at CPRI.  Other consultancy projects handled by him are, characterization and beneficiation of Fly Ash Cenospheres generated at NTPC, Ramagundam; establishing correlation between particle size and Blaine fineness of fly ash for NTPC; preparation of comprehensive industry document for Coal / Lignite fired thermal power plants from Central Pollution Control Board. He has published an presented more than 25 research papers in national and international conferences.

                                        Email: shekar@cpri.in , ms_kumar7@hotmail.com 

            V.Arunachalam is a Additional Director and head of Information Technology & Implementation Division in CPRI. He is an engineering graduate in ECE and a post-graduate in Electronic Instrumentation.

V.Arunachalam

           His group is responsible for the implementation of Knowledge Management System in CPRI, maintenance and augmentation of IT facilities in CPRI, establishment of Communication Protocol Laboratory besides consultancy in those areas.  His experience is in the area of design and development of electronic products and systems including system architecture. Some of the products are Bi-Directional Data Communication over LT/HT lines, Radio Based control of Street Lights, Time Synchronizing Unit and Remote Meter Reading System. He has also set up Energy Meter Testing laboratory and Relay testing laboratory. 

           Before joining CPRI he has worked in private sector for 10 years in R&D. Major projects are Metering System for Crossbar Telephone Exchange, Energy Management System, Remote substation Monitoring and Control. His current areas of interest are expansion of Knowledge Management System for wider cross section, induction of ITES services for CPRI, Distribution automation and Broadband over Power lines as last mile option.  He has published and presented more than 20 papers.

                                                            Email: varun@cpri.in

Telephone: 080-23600045 (Office)

                                                          Mobile: 9449069902

           Dr.K.  Dwarakanath obtained M Sc. (Nuclear Physics) from Karnataka University, Dharwar in 1973.  Obtained Post graduate diploma in Nuclear Physics from Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Calcutta during 1974.  Subsequently he obtained M Sc.(Engg.) and Ph D(Engg) from High Voltage Engg. Dept., Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore during 1977 and 1982 respectively.  The area of specialization during Ph D Programme was Gas Discharges.  From 1982 for 18 years he worked in Insulation Division.  He worked extensively in area of compressed gas insulation system,  detection of SF6 byproducts by GC/MS method and got   associated with research work on flow electrification in transformer oil.   After working as in-charge of insulation laboratory worked as unit head at Regional Testing Laboratory, Muradnagar during 2000 – 2002.

Dr.K.  Dwarakanath

          He was deputed to CESI, Milan, Italy in 1986.  During this period he worked in High Voltage department and was associated actively in the evaluation of VFTO in 245.kV GIS disconnector operations.  Worked as post doctoral fellow at the university of British Columbia during 1994.  He was awarded for his contribution to  “Development of 33 kV cable terminations for GIS applications in 2000.  He has published over 60 technical papers in national / international conference / journals.  Dr.Dwarakanath has guided two MSc. (Engg.) research work and two PhD programmes.

           Presently he is working as Additional Director and Head of the Division of Dielectric Materials Division and is looking after the testing activities and research programme of the division in many areas of current interest to power sector,  such as development of outdoor polymer insulators furan analysis in transformer oil, corrosion by sulphur in transformer oil. Development of New Dielectric fluids from non-edible seeds etc.

                                       E-mail: dwaraka@cpri.in 

           S.Sridhar obtained B.Sc (Hons) and M.Sc Degree from Bangalore University in the year 1969 and 1971 respectively. Worked as a Research Scholar at IISc, Bangalore from 1971 to 1972 and later worked in Polymer Industries in different capacities for over 12 years (1973-1985).  Developed various Polymeric materials in the area of thermoplastic and thermoset polymeric materials, wood resins, paper & fabric laminates, copper clad laminates, moulding materials, resins for wide range of applications.

S.Sridhar

         Joined CPRI in 1985 and set up the Polymer Laboratory.  He developed several resins of which the important being Epoxy Novolak.  The developments also include cable compounds, capacitor liquid from vegetable oil, reclamation of transformer oil.  He headed the Dielectric Materials Division and was In-charge of Liquid Dielectrics laboratory, Polymer Laboratory, Insulating materials laboratory and Lubricating oil laboratory from 1997 to 2002.  He was In-charge of Regional Testing Laboratory, Ghaziabad and looked after High Voltage Laboratory, Cables Laboratory and Transformer Oil Laboratory between 2002 and 2004.  From 2005, he is working as Additional Director in Planning & Coordination. 

         He is Chairman of the Sectional Committee on Liquid Dielectrics of BIS, India.

                                         Email: sridhar@cpri.in 

        N.Vasudev joined CPRI in 1987 & has been working in the  High Voltage Division.  He started with study of break down characteristics of long air gap under impulse voltages. He is presently working in the areas of pollution performance of ceramic and non ceramic insulators and lightning arresters.  

Dr.N.Vasudev

         He received BE degree in Electrical Engineering from Bangalore University during 1982. He completed his ME degree in Power systems from National Institute of Engineering, Mysore during 1987. He obtained PhD degree in Electrical Engineering from Bangalore University during the year 1999 for the thesis “"Pollution ageing studies on composite insulators subjected to AC & DC voltages". 

        His areas of interest are out door insulation, design of external insulation from the point of view of pollution for AC and DC voltages. Profile evaluations for DC insulators for higher pollution withstand capabilities. Pollution mapping en-route transmission lines. Pollution Performances of DC insulators, lightning arrester and polymeric insulators.  Presently working in the area of Pollution performance of DC and AC insulators. Pollution ageing  studies on composite insulators.     Published more than 50 national and inter national papers at various conferences and international forums. More than 20 technical reports have been brought out in the area of pollution performance of insulators, cable termination, polymeric insulator and surge arresters.

                                         Email: vasu@cpri.in     

             Vasudevan Nambudiri is a Additional Director born on 4th December 1951 and obtained his Engineering Degree in Electrical engineering in First class from Kerala University in 1975.  He started his carrier in Insulation Laboratory of CPRI, Bangalore in 1977.  Since 1982, he is working in the High Voltage Division. 

            The main area of expertise cover: design and development of electronic equipment/control system, measuring equipment and creation of new test facilities / test methods as per national and international standards, especially for High Voltage / EHV applications.  He has authored and co-authored many research papers which have been presented in national and international conferences. To his credit he holds two Indian Patents.

Vasudevan Nambudiri

           The assignments carried out are unique in nature, since many of them were done for the first time in the country. The thrust of the activities were focused to cover indigenization of sophisticated foreign testing/measuring equipment, development of testing/measuring equipment for the country.  Presently he is holding the post of Joint Director and Head of High Voltage Division of CPRI, Bangalor e. 

                                                   Email: nambudiri@cpri.in

Telephone: 23601917 (Office)/23602205 (R)

                                                 Mobile: 9880628042

                Dr. J. Sundara Rajan received his Masters Degree in Physics from the Bangalore University in the year 1979. After two years of teaching at graduate and Post graduate levels, in 1981 he joined the Central Power Research Institute, Bangalore. Since then he has been working in the Insulation Laboratory of CPRI. He obtained Master of Science (Engineering) from the Department of High Voltage Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, for his thesis on surface flashover across insulating barriers in Compressed SF6 gas.

J. Sundara Rajan

               He received Ph.D. in Engineering from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Bangalore University for his contributions in the area of N2-SF6 insulation as an alternative to SF6 gas for high voltage applications. His area of specialization includes testing and evaluation of solid insulating materials and systems, surface flashover  across insulating barriers and spacers in compressed gases and its associated problems like VFTO, dielectric covered conductors, gaseous by-products etc. His Research areas of interest include solid insulation, solid-gas and solid-liquid composites. He is presently working on the problem of “Particle initiated breakdown of N2-SF6 gas mixtures” and “corrosive sulphur in paper-oil insulation of Power transformers”.

                                                           Email: sundar@cpri.in

             C.Viswanatha obtained MSc (Physics) from Bangalore University in 1979 and obtained MSc (Engg) from   IISc in 1997. He obtained PhD from Bangalore University in Electrical engineering in 2005. Prior to joining CPRI in 1981, he served as Lecturer for two years. Presently, he is working as Engineering Officer in Insulation Division.

C.Viswanatha

             C.Viswanatha worked in several research projects in the field of insulating materials and systems which are of industrial importance. The fields of work include studies  on i) Accelerated ageing on insulation systems ii) Effect of combined and composite stresses on paper-oil system iii) Evaluation  of insulation  systems under different simulated conditions. iv) Condition monitoring of various High Voltage equipments at site and their Diagnostics on the status of insulation system in service. He is currently working on the research problem of unconventional voltages on Transformer insulation. He published several research papers and technical reports at various National and International Conferences. He received best technical paper award at CBIP on diagnostics of machine insulation in1994. 

Telephone: 080-2360 4435 (Office) / 080-2360 0081 (R)

                S.Ganga  is a Joint Director in Insulation Laboratory of Dielectric Materials Division.  She is serving Central Power Research Institute since 1979, at various capacities. She is a post graduate in Mathematics (MSc. Mathematics) from Delhi University and post graduate in Engineering (MSc. Engineering) from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

S.Ganga

               Her area of research interests are essentially end use focused and multidisciplinary in nature.  She has carried out R&D studies in few areas of Electrical Insulation including GIS, Solid-liquid/solid and gas composites, life evaluation studies relating to insulating materials employed in cables and capacitors. She has also carried out electrical field distribution studies in HV equipments employing FEM. She has studied electrical field enhancements in presence of defects and its influence on  pre breakdown phenomenon.  She has worked on evaluation of functionally gradient material as a substitute to conventional insulation.   Her current research interests are : Compatibility studies of insulating materials, Investigations related to outdoor insulations, Evaluation of new insulating materials, Magnetic and electric field distribution using FEM and computer aided design for HV equipments. She has published several papers in National and International Conferences. Her paper on Spline technique to convert censored data to complete data won cash award for meritorious contribution at the 3rd International Conference on Properties and Application of Dielectric Materials sponsored by IEEE Dielectric and Electrical Engineering Society, IEEE Japan, 1991. Also a paper entitled “Design and development of 33kV cable termination for GIS application”, won the best paper award and Ist prize at the International seminar on Electrical & Electronic Insulating Materials and Systems, “INSULEC 2000”, organized by IEEMA  in  Hyderabad.   She is rendering technical expertise in the Computerization activities of Karnataka State Government.   She is an active working committee member in implementation of knowledge management system of CPRI.

                                                               Email: ganga@cpri.in

Telephone: 2360 2919 (Office)

              Dr. Nagamani H N obtained M.Sc.,(Physics) Degree from the University of Mysore in the year 1979,  M.Sc. (Engg) degree in High Voltage faculty from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in 1994 and  Ph.D  in  Electrical Engineering from the University of Bangalore in 2004. Since joining CPRI in 1981, Dr. H N Nagamani has handled several industry sponsored research projects and consultancy programs in the areas of Underground power cables, power capacitors and power transformers. Project leader for setting up of testing and research facilities for power capacitors of rating up to 1000 kvar, 20 kV ac. She has established facilities for on-line testing of power transformers by Acoustic Emission technique.  Her special fields of interest are, Under-ground Power cables, Power capacitors and Reliability study on insulation system and partial discharge phenomena. Current area of interest is on-line testing of power equipment and location of PD sources in power equipment.

Dr. Nagamani H N

          She is a recipient of a few awards like Cash award for contributing a meritorious technical paper (as a co‑author) to 3rd ICPADM‑91 organized by the IEE of Japan, at Waseda University, Certificate of Merit for Distinction in Engineering Technology by CBI&P, New Delhi for the year 1991 and Second Best Paper Award in INSULEC 2005 at Mumbai during 20 –21 Jan 2005. She has contributed about 45 research papers for various National and International Seminars/Workshops and Journals.  She is a member of the Sectional Committee of Power Capacitors ET 29 of Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi, India. Certified Internal Auditor for Quality Assurance as per ISO 9001: 2000 and ISO 17025: 2000.

                                                            Email: hnn@cpri.in, hnnhebbale@hotmail.com

 Telephone: 080-2360 4435(Office)

          M.M. Babu Narayanan is a Additional Director in the R&D Management Division of CPRI. He graduated in Electrical Engineering from National Institute of Technology, Calicut and obtained his Masters degree from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore with specialization in HVDC Transmission. After a brief service in Kerala State Electricity Dept, he joined the Central Electricity Authority, New Delhi in 1978. In 1980, he joined the Central Power Research Institute as Engineering Officer. He has been with the Power Systems Division at CPRI, Bangalore. Since February 2005, he has been functioning as Joint Director (Research & Development) in CPRI.

M.M. Babu Narayanan

          Mr. Babu Narayanan has made significant contribution to the R&D in power sector during his 25 years of service. He has been engaged in consultancy services in power system analysis, planning & operational studies. Besides, he has designed earthing systems for a number of power projects and sub stations in India and abroad. He is a recipient of Central Board of Irrigation & Power (CBI&P) award for Excellence in Power Transmission systems He coordinated the control & protection system testing for India’s National HVDC Project. He has been a Consultant to Kerala State Electricity Board for their Research Projects.  Mr. Babu Narayanan has been responsible for setting up a state-of-the art Real Time Digital simulation facility in CPRI in 2004.  He is Member of Karnataka Government Technical Advisory Panel on E-Governance of various Ministries. Since 2002, he is actively involved in the Distribution reforms as Principal co-ordinator in CPRI for the Accelerated Power Development & reforms Programme (APDRP) of Govt. of India. CPRI is the Advisor-cum-Consultant of the MoP for the states of Karnataka, Kerala and AP.  Mr. Babu Narayanan is a Member of several professional Committees namely:

·         Indian National Study Committee of CIGRE, Paris in Working Group B4: (HVDC and Power Electronics Equipment )

·         Ministry of Power Committee for preparation of Project Management Document for up gradation of distribution network of SEBs.

·         Task Force on “Distribution & DSM” constituted by the Standing committee on R&D of MoP.

·         Ministry of Power Committee for identification of software packages for Distribution system analysis.               

             Mr. Babu Narayanan’s research interests are in simulation of HVDC & FACTS and power system grounding. He has published more than 30 research papers in National & International Journals including the IEEE (USA) Transactions and CIGRE (Paris).

                                        E-mail: babu@cpri.in

Telephone: 080-23605367 (Office) / 080-23602267 (R)

                                       Mobile: 9448282321

           Gautam Sengupta is an Additional Director, In-charge of High Power Lab, CPRI, Bhopal.  He is an electrical engineering graduate from Regional Engineering College, Durgapur.  He is having 29 years experience in the field of Short Circuit testing and Network switching tests on LV & HV Switchgears & control gears and also on power transformers & other power system equipment.

Gautam Sengupta

          Sengupta was involved in the planning, erection and commissioning of High Power Laboratory of CPRI, Bangalore which consists of 2500 MVA Short circuit direct test facility and 440 kV synthetic testing facility.  He was test-in-charge at 2500 MVA High Power Laboratory, CPRI Bangalore for more than ten (10) years wherein medium & high voltage circuit breakers, switchgears power transformers and other power equipment are tested to National & international standards.  He was also responsible in planning, execution and successful commissioning of many projects at High Power Laboratory for augmentation and modification of test facilities.  He was also responsible in design, planning, in-house fabrication & installation of many test set up to meet the specified test requirements of national & international standards. Shri Sengupta has published and presented more than 25 papers in national & international seminars and conferences.  He is member in various committees of BIS and CIGRE in India.

                                                         Email: gsen@cpri.in 

                                                 Telephone: 080-2360 0574 (Office)

           Dr. P.V.Balasubramanyam received Bachelors Degree in Electrical Engineering from Osmania University in 1976.  M.Tech from Regional Engineering College, Warangal in 1978 and Ph.D degree in Electrical Engineering from Bangalore University in 1997.  He worked as Lecturer, Department of Electrical Engineering, Regional Engineering College, Rourkela (Orissa) prior to joining CPRI in 1985. 

Dr. P.V.Balasubramanyam

           Presently Dr. Subramanyam is with Power System Division as Engg.Officer Grade-6.  His areas of interest are power system analysis, power system operation and control, reactve power optimization, application of advanced controls to power systems.  Dr.Subramanyam carried out research projects in the areas of voltage stability studies, analysis of regional grid failures, design of advanced controls, large-scale system studies, estimation of transmission losses etc.  His research interests in the areas of power system dynamics and controls, control interaction of FACTS devices etc.  He has published about 40 technical papers in national & international Journals.  Dr Subramanyam is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers (India).  He is a “distinguished Visiting Professor” under INAE-AICTE scheme and Member, Board of Studies, Annamalai University. 

                                        Email: peri@cpri.in

Telephone: 080- 2360 4465 (Office)/080- 2360 2692 (R)

                                                   Mobile: 9480259438

          K. Mallikarjunappa, Joint Director, at Central Power Research Institute, Bangalore is an Engineering Graduate and a Post Graduate from High Voltage Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.  Before joining CPRI, he was a lecturer in Govt. Polytechnic, Hubli.  Joined CPRI in 1981 and has been working in the Diagnostic Cables & Capacitors Division at various capacities.  For the past 24 years he has been associated with the consultancy involving field testing, Residual Life Assessment (RLA) / Life Extension (LE) studies on the power plant equipment like Turbo and Hydro generators, Power Transformers, HV Motors, Power Cables, Switchyard equipment etc. He is also involved in the R&D projects in the field of performance evaluation of high voltage insulation systems and partial discharge measuring and analysis techniques.

K. Mallikarjunappa

        He has received the NRDC Independence Day award in 1989.  He has received best technical paper awards from CBI&P at Kolkata in 1994 and at Diamond Jubilee R&D Session in 1996.  He has authored more than 30 technical papers published in National/International conferences. Currently, he is involved in Renovation & Modernization (R&M) and RLA / LE studies on power plant and substation equipment.

His areas of interest are:

·          Performance evaluation of insulation system of high voltage power equipment.

·          RLA of power plant electrical equipment & substation equipment.

·          Failure analysis of high voltage equipment.

·          Partial Discharge measuring techniques.

·          Design & Development of new techniques for On-line condition monitoring of HV equipment.

                                                      Email:  mallik@cpri.in

Telephone: 2360 4435 (O), 2360 2613(R)

           Dr. R.Ramesh Babu is a Additional Director obtained his M.E.,(Structural Engg) in the year 1982 from IISc, Bangalore and  Ph.D in 1999 from IISc., Bangalore.  His areas of expertise are :  Design & Prototype testing of Transmission line Towers as per Indian and International Standards,  Testing of Exact Scale down Tower models,  Design of Poles as supports for Transmission lines,  Design of Sub-station Structures,  Design and Testing of Tower Foundations,  Up rating/Upgrading of existing transmission lines,  Design of Microwave towers/antennae,  Design of compact Transmission lines,  Design of Structures for Seismic Loading.  

Dr. R.Ramesh Babu

           His areas of interest are :   Design of Equipment/Structure for Seismic loading,   Optimum design of mechanical components for Dynamic loads, Testing of Equipment for Seismic qualification.

                                        Email: rbabu@cpri.in

Telephone: 080- 23604683 (Office) / 080- 23331994 (R)

                                                   Mobile: 9886186595

            K.Manohara obtained his Master‘s degree in Physics with electronics as specialization from Mangala Gangotri post graduate centre of Mysore university in the year 1972.Worked as a lecturer at Junior college Kadur for few months and joined National Aerospace Laboratory (NAL) Bangalore as CSIR Junior Research Fellow in the System Engineering Division for two years and appointed as Junior Scientific Assistant in the Noise and Vibration Control group where he worked from 1974 to 1981.

             He joined Central Power Research Institute’s (CPRI) Vibration Laboratory during 1981, where he was associated in the R& D, setting up of test faculties as per national and international  standards to conduct commercial tests on ACSR conductors, 2R & 4Rdampers and associated hard ware power system accessories to improve their field performances.      From 1991 to 1995 worked at CPRI’s Ultra High Voltage Testing Laboratory, Hyderabad; where an 720 meters of 10 bundle conductor ultra high voltage experimental line was erected to facilitate electrical and mechanical R& D activities in the field.

              From 1995 he is working in the Electrical Appliances Technology Division (EATD)which comprises Ingress Protection Laboratory, where safety and environmental effects like solid and liquid are simulated on LT panels are assed for their field performances: Flame Proof Laboratory, where electrical equipment/enclosures used

K.Manohara

in hazardous environment were tested under simulated  conditions to evaluate  there performances: Automotive batteries are tested in the Battery Testing Laboratory  :Tube lights, CFL, conventional and electronic ballasts are tested at Illumination Testing Laboratory: Ceiling and Pedestal fans are tested in the Fan Testing Laboratory: Direct  cool and Frost free refrigerators are tested in the Refrigerators Testing Laboratory : Window and split type air conditioners are tested in the Air Conditioner Testing Laboratory as per National  and International standards. All these laboratories are NABL and BIS accredited and recognized by UL , CSA and ASTA. The division is actively participating in the Standards & labeling (S&L) programme on domestic electrical appliances like Tubular Fluorescent (TFL),Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL), Refrigerators, Air Conditioners, Ceiling Fans , etc.,  scheduled by  Bureau of Energy Efficiency, New Delhi as per GOI Energy Conservation Act 2001.

          He has visited CESI, Milano, Italy under Itallian government fellowship during 1986 and United States of America under Standards & Labeling programme of Bureau of Energy Efficiency, New Delhi during 2002.

           Presently he is working as Additional Director at EATD , CPRI, Bangalore 560 080. His areas of interest are field measurement of noise & vibration and analysis, power quality field measurement and analysis and establishing testing facilities to meet the national and international standards.

Email id: manohar@cpri.in

Telefax : 091 080 23604572

Mob:09448361464

      R. Gavirangappa is Scientific Officer in Information Technology & Implementation Division (IT&ID) of CPRI, Bangalore. He has joined CPRI during 1977. He worked in Power Systems Division during 1977-1998. In this period he was involved in the development of computer application software for design & testing of electrical transmission towers, power system studies & CPRI Accounts. He was also involved in research activities on the application of Artificial Neural Networks, Fuzzy Logic, Kalman Filters for the Electrical Utility Load forecasting and optimal hydro thermal scheduling & unit commitment using dynamic & quadratic programming techniques. He worked at CESI, Italy during 1989 as a team member for the project “Power Systems Network Simulator” under CPRI – CESI Long Term R&D Cooperation Project. Since 1998 he was involved in building the IT infrastructure for CPRI. He was also involved in  setting up of IT&ID formerly Centre  for Software Engineering & Training (CSET) (Rs.374 lakhs). He worked as project leader for implementing Digital Library & Knowledge Management Systems for CPRI (Rs.150 lakhs).He received M.Sc. degree in Mathematics from Bangalore University during 1975. He has undergone training in Assembler, Fortran, Unix & C, Visual Basic & Foxpro, Advanced Database Management Systems, etc. at IISc., ECIL, NAL, etc.

R. Gavirangappa

His areas of interest are application of IT & Knowledge Management Systems for Power Sector. He has published about 10 papers in national and international conferences.

                                                                  Email: rangappa@cpri.in

Telephone: 080-23600045

  Mobile: 9449568398