WRIC designed, developed, and fabricated a low-cost teaching aid titled Integrated apparatus for education of solar cells in collaboration with IIT Bombay under the MNRE-NCPRE programme of the Government of India. Forty instruments were delivered to IIT Bombay and distributed to thirty-five engineering colleges across the country.

As part of the Teach a 1000 Teachers programme, IIT Bombay hosted a 10-day ISET-IITB live two-way workshop from 12–22 December 2011 on Solar Photovoltaics: Fundamentals, Technologies and Applications. Each participating college engaged 30–40 teachers, offering direct experience with the WRIC-built simulator.

Feedback from IIT Bombay confirmed that more than one thousand college teachers valued the simulator as an effective teaching aid for solar cell studies and appreciated WRIC’s contribution to the initiative.

WRIC designed, developed, and fabricated a Solar Cell Spectral Response Meter in collaboration with IIT Bombay. The instrument replaces the conventional broadband source and monochromator combination with a synthetic light source comprising twenty LEDs mounted on custom holders.

These LEDs span 360–1060 nm, each providing a 20 nm band of illumination to the solar cell under test. Users can select the required wavelength via push buttons for manual operation or through electronic switching for automated measurements.

Both the solar simulator and the spectral response meter were demonstrated at IIT Bombay on 21 October 2011 to the MNRE Monitoring Committee for NCPRE, which recommended deploying the instruments across engineering colleges in India.

A microcontroller-based LED sourced colorimeter was engineered using off-the-shelf electronic components and intuitive software for undergraduate and postgraduate science laboratories.

The instrument delivers stable, drift-free measurements and serves as a cost-effective training platform for colorimetric analysis. WRIC filed and subsequently secured an Indian patent for the system.

WRIC designed and fabricated an experimental arrangement to support solar corona investigations during the total solar eclipse of 22 July 2009 for M.Sc. Astronomy and Space Physics students of the University of Mumbai and the Helios Astronomy Group.

• Fabry–Perot interferometer with a 7 Å bandwidth interference filter centred at 5303 Å.
• Recollimating lens (D 66.66 mm, F 80 mm, f/1.2).
• Imaging lens (D 45.833 mm, F 55 mm, f/1.2).
• Mercury lamp for calibration and instrumental profile measurements.

The instrument enabled measurements of large-scale mass flows via Doppler shifts and supported temperature and velocity profiling of the solar corona. Field experiments were performed in Hangzhou and Wuhan, China, and the work was highlighted through invited talks at the Cultural Centre of Russia on 10 July 2009.

Snapshots from the inaugural function documenting the deployment of WRIC-developed instrumentation and collaborative outreach activities.

Field observations undertaken with WRIC instrumentation produced valuable photographic records of the total solar eclipse, underscoring the effectiveness of the custom-built setups.

Students from the University of Mumbai acknowledged WRIC’s guidance for the eclipse campaign.

WRIC engineered electro-opto-mechanical systems for BARC and the Tarapur Atomic Power Plant PREFRE facility to modernise Littrow quartz and 3.5 metre Ebert spectrographs for CCD-based data capture.

The solutions incorporated precision opto-mechanical stages and custom control electronics to streamline spectral acquisition workflows.

WRIC developed a system for M/s. Vishvesvara Enterprises to evaluate inward leakage of safety masks. The solution combines controlled aerosol generation, measurement instrumentation, and data logging to verify regulatory compliance.

• Constant current source for semiconductor resistivity measurements (Department of Physics, University of Mumbai).
• Alertness monitoring system and neonatal baby incubator prototypes.
• Teachers training module demonstrating physiological signals such as ECG, EMG, and EEG.
• Solar tracking device for astronomical observations (used during the total solar eclipse on 15 Jan 2010 at Dhanushkodi, Rameshwaram).
• Meteor shower video recording system for M.Sc. students of the Department of Physics, University of Mumbai, deployed during campaigns at Mahuli Fort in 2010.

Maharashtra Times (4 June 2011) reported on WRIC’s instrumentation initiatives, highlighting the centre’s role in advancing hands-on scientific education.

WRIC has executed several UGC-sponsored initiatives that extend laboratory capabilities and industrial collaborations:

• Design and development of a PC-based system for evaluating safety masks and air filter media using paraffin oil aerosol (G. D. Patil, S. H. Thopte).
• Design and development of a microcontroller-based Continuous Passive Motion (CPM) machine for performance evaluation of physically challenged individuals (K. K. Mahajan).
• Optimised drying of fruits and vegetables using an infrared source (N. N. Rao, Sunita Batra, P. C. Badekar, Devendra Gunde).