Crompton Greaves Soon To Unveil New Transformer

Crompton Greaves in collaboration with Allied Electrical of the US will soon commence commercial production of newly developed transformer of higher rating.

There has been strong pressure from international markets to improve efficiency of the machine by removing unreliable points, which is exactly what the company is planning to achieve. The energy-efficient transformer uses Metglas as a prime ingredient.

According to R Dasgupta, director, transformer, switchgear and electrical division, "the new ingredient helps in reducing heating losses by almost 10 per cent which would clearly imply an increase in the capacity of the transformer by the same amount."

The technology was developed by Electrical Products Research Institute (EPRI) of the US. This helps in curtailing NPL (not performing losses) by reduction in the heating of the coil substantially besides better utilisation and safety standards.

 

Normally, heating occurs in the step-up process where a low voltage input is stepped up to a higher voltage as output. The company is eyeing to tap international market for this product, mainly Japan, which has tremendous demand for the product. At present there are only three manufacturers in Japan supplying transformers of higher ratings which barely meets the local needs. For this reason that country relies heavily on imports to meet the demand. It is here where Crompton Greaves is planning to create a niche market.

"The company has targeted exports of Rs 180 crore this year against Rs 90 crore achieved last year," said Dasgupta.

He further added that the company could have achieved the target of Rs 14-crore exports but for the south-east Asian crisis.

Crompton Greaves was planning to carry out the final testing of the transformer at the end of this week. But it has been pushed forward by another 10 days because of non availability of testing facilities.

The transformer division accounted for Rs 281.91 crore in the last fiscal which was about 18 per cent of the total turnover. The company is not planning to add further capacity to manufacture the new transformers. Currently, the company has an installed capacity of 1.7 crore kva per annum as against the licensed capacity of 0.9 crore kva. Its present capacity utilisation stands at about 1.12 crore kva.