Preface

The 11th National Conference on Machines and Mechanisms (NaCoMM) is being organized by the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi in association with the Association of Machines and Mechanisms (AMM), India. This conference is held once in every two years and this is the first time that NaCoMM is held at IIT Delhi.

Ninety four peer reviewed technical papers from the originally 154 submitted, along with two keynote lectures and three memorial lectures in the name of late Prof. B.M. Belgaumkar, late Prof. K. Lakshminarayana, and late Prof. S. Biswas appear in this proceedings. The technical papers boast their high standard as they have gone through two stages of review. The papers are classified under eight broad areas, Robotics, Mechanisms and Manipulators, Mechatronics, Noise and Vibration, Dynamics, Machines, Analysis, and Rural and Textile.

I am grateful to the contributors of the papers for choosing NaCoMM 2003 for presenting and publishing their work. The review coordinators from different IITs, IISc, and BARC have done excellent jobs by appointing reviewers and getting their comments on time. I am thankful to them. I acknowledge the suggestions, comments, and guidance from all the members of the National Advisory Committee and Organizing Committee without which the task of bringing out this proceedings would have remain incomplete. I also thank the staff and the students of the Department of Mechanical Engineering for their tremendous support to bring this proceedings on time. The contribution of the exhibitors and the advertisers in the form of displaying engineering products and the advertising in the conference souvenir, respectively, is acknowledged. I also thank Allied Publishers for agreeing to publish the NaCoMM 2003 proceedings.

Finally, such a conference could not have been held without the financial assistance from all the sponsors, and I acknowledge their support.

S.K. Saha