American Firm Ansys Ties with Indian Startup Skill Lync for Free Online Courses on Electric Vehicles to Indian Students

Ansys is known to develop, market and support engineering simulation software used to predict how product designs will behave in real-world environments. Their sole focus is Engineering Simulation. With consistently advancing technology, Ansys has been leading the engineering simulation world for over 45 years.

Skill-Lync provides job leading courses for Mechanical, Electrical and Civil Engineering students in India and across the world. Whilst being just four years old, Skill-Lync has pioneered advanced engineering education for mechanical engineers and has placed over 300 students overall.

06 January, 2021, India: In a bid to provide in-depth learning on Electric Vehicles to undergraduate engineering students in India, Chennai headquartered global startup Skill-Lync partners with global leader in design & simulation software provider Ansys to launch ‘basic courses in Electric Vehicle (EV) technology’ for free. The course covers different mechanical and electrical aspects of simulations with respect to an Electric Vehicle including design & simulation and setting up of the charging infrastructure.

With the world leaning towards greener ways to re-engineer things, the future is looking bright for electric vehicles. Which is why it is extremely prudent for engineering students - both mechanical and electrical engineers in their undergrad to understand the different aspects of electric vehicles. As part of this partnership, Ansys has provided access to several softwares to create an introductory course to understand the basics of electric vehicles. The course enables students with essentials in the fundamentals of Ansys Fluent®, PExprt, SI Wave, Maxwell® and Icepak. The duration of this course is 8-12 weeks. Students can complete the courses using the Ansys student version of the software available free of cost.

Skill-Lync founders Suryanarayanan Paneerselvam and Sarangarajan Iyengar (L-R)

The Basics of Electric Vehicle Simulations course is designed to give students a walk-through on how different EV components are engineered using simulation. The course covers everything from the design of key components, basics of battery thermal management and computational fluid dynamics. It is split into 4 components wherein each component deals with one particular aspect of an Electric Vehicle. The 4 components which are covered include Battery Thermal Management System, Electric Motor Design, DC-DC Converter Design and External Aerodynamics.

To quote the words of, Surya P, Co-founder & CEO, Skill-Lync, “There is no other platform in the world that focuses on teaching in-depth technical skills to non-software engineering students the way we do. We strongly believe that EV will play a significant role in the future of the world and these students will be building tools that will help Electric vehicle OEM's and their suppliers predict and simulate real world scenarios through Ansys products. Our courses are designed based on the assessment of the current and the future needs of the job market. Our partnership with Ansys allows students to learn through one of the best simulation platforms in the world.”

Speaking about the partnership, Mr Rafiq Somani, Area Vice President - India and South Asia Pacific, Ansys, said, “Ansys has always been committed in the skilling of future engineers and Electric Vehicles are the future. Multiphysics simulation simultaneously considers key physical aspects involved in the design of an EV. Ansys is happy to play our part alongside Skill-Lync in ensuring that engineers of tomorrow are well equipped with knowledge pertaining to EVs. Our simulation technology and software will aid in the same.”

Industry leaders and companies in computer aided engineering simulation software are joining Skill-Lync in this endeavour. With this partnership, both Ansys & Skill-Lync are aiming to make sure that students have access to high quality training material & software that will be able to make them understand the crucial concepts of Electric Vehicles, and eventually lead them to play a crucial role in the future of the automotive industry too.

About Skill-Lync:

Skill-Lync is an e-learning platform that aims to revolutionize engineering education by bridging the skill gap between students and the Industry. We offer industry-relevant, projects-based advanced engineering courses for Mechanical, Automotive, Aerospace, Electrical & Electronics, Instrumentation, Civil and Structural Engineers.

Skill-Lync is the brainchild of two Mechanical Engineers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison who wanted to make a positive impact on Education in India. What started as a fledgling youtube channel in 2015, is today a thriving start-up with over 200 employees, offices in 3 cities (Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad) and over 5000 students spanning 23 countries. Skill-Lync is the first startup from Chennai, India to be backed by Y-Combinator (W19 Batch).

US Tech Firm to Assist IIT Kanpur incubated NOCCA Robotics for Making Low-Cost Ventilators

Ansys, a global engineering simulation company, entered into an agreement with an IIT-Kanpur led consortium to assist in the development of low-cost ventilators to fight the COVID-19 outbreak in India.

Under the supervision of the consortium, NOCCA Robotics Private Limited, an IIT-K incubated startup, is developing indigenized and low-cost invasive ventilators called Nocca V110, said an IIT-K communique.

When someone has severe difficulty in breathing, they may need assistance from a ventilator which is able to move air in and out of the lungs. Invasive and non-invasive ventilators differ in how the air is delivered to the person.

An invasive ventilator is the most recommended type of ventilator for patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) making it more suitable for COVID-19 affected patients for respiratory support. It is suitable for India as it ensures the safety of frontline doctors dealing with the patients.

The machines that can be tested on patients will be out in a few days. Once the prototype is out, the team targets to produce 30,000 units by May 2020, the press release stated.

Engineers at NOCCA Robotics have prototypes of a portable machine ready. They are being tested on artificial lungs, a prosthetic device that provides oxygen and removes carbon dioxide from the blood.

The entire project is being coordinated by Professor Amitabha Bandyopadhyay, professor-in-charge, Startup Innovation & Incubation Center (SIIC), IIT Kanpur.

Ansys, headquartered in the US, is the first company which has joined hands with the consortium and FIRST (Foundation for Innovation and Research in Science Technology), the premier institute's company that oversees incubation activities of IIT Kanpur, to speed up the development of these ventilators.

As part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative, Ansys has come forward by offering a dedicated grant to the project that will be utilised for procuring materials, testing, trials and other expenses.

"We are very happy to have Ansys on board with us for the development of this indigenous, low-cost ventilator. With their significant funding and technical support to NOCCA Robotics, we are one step closer to bringing this critical device to our healthcare providers. Our gratitude to Ansys for their generous gesture.” said Abhay Karandikar, director, IIT Kanpur.

Nocca V110 is a modular, power efficient invasive ventilator that operates in a pressure-controlled mode and the IoT (the Internet of Things) enabled design allows multiple ventilators to be controlled via remote control.

It has been designed in a way that it can be manufactured on a large scale at multiple sites using materials easily available with Indian suppliers and manufacturers.

Speaking about the CSR agreement, Rafiq Somani, Area Vice President - India and South Asia Pacific, Ansys, said, “Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic that we are all facing today, one thing that is constantly worrying the government and the hospitals is ventilator shortage."

Nocca Robotics and IIT-K have created a consortium of biomedical engineers, doctors, R&D leaders, supply chain and medical technology businesses to harness their expertise and take the design from the idea to the actual product.