ECIL hands over vital control systems for PSLV vehicles to Satish Dhawan Space Centre. Customised PLC has undergone a series of validation exercises.

Hyderabad-based Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) has formally handed over indigenously built Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC), which will be used in a critical final stage during rocket launches, to Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), the satellite launching station of ISRO at Sriharikota.

The controllers will play a vital role in filling aviation fuel in the satellite launch vehicles of ISRO’s -Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and Geosynchronous Satellite launch Vehicle (GSLV).

“We will use these indigenous control systems for a critical function, which is to load fuel at the final countdown stages of PSLV and GLSV rockets before they are launched. Our researchers and ECIL collaborated for nearly two years to build custom-made control systems for us,” said Director SDSC, Dr. M.Y.S. Prasad.

In another three to four years, all the critical mission systems, which are part of the ground control and used to launch rockets, will undergo complete indigenisation, he said. “We will phase-out the existing 20 imported control systems, which form the ground control at the space station. The value of the indigenous PLC is nearly Rs. 3 crore and we are going to get similar control systems from ECIL worth Rs. 15 to Rs. 20 crore in the coming years,” Dr. Prasad said.

The customised PLC has already undergone a series of validation exercises to meet the stringent requirements for the space centre. “By June, we will start the process of setting-up the control system in the space centre. We are planning to use control systems in real time in September-October when we launch a PSLV,” he said.

Giving more details on the role of the control systems, Dr. Prasad said that typically 40 tonnes of fuel is filled in a PSLV in two hours without spillage of even a single drop.

“This process is fully automated because nobody is allowed in the vicinity of the launch vehicles. It’s an achievement that Indian researchers have managed to develop systems that will ensure this complicated process without any hiccups,” he said. Top scientists including CMD, ECIL, Dr. P. Sudhakar were present in the handing over ceremony.