Knowledge Transfer Stories

PolyU’s School of Optometry (SO) is committed to nurturing professional optometrists and conducting cutting-edge research to safeguard our eye health. One major focus of SO is myopia, a prevalent vision condition affecting an alarming proportion of people globally, especially in Asia. Apart from blurry vision, moderate to high myopia is associated with an increased risk of serious eye diseases. Aiming to mitigate the epidemic, our experts have developed “myopia defocus”, a revolutionary method for controlling the condition in children based on a natural mechanism of the eye where the eyeball size is regulated by optical inputs.

 

The DIMS spectacle lens

PolyU then engaged in collaborative research with a major player in the field of branded optical products, and successfully developed a spectacle lens known as Defocus Incorporated Multiple Segments (DIMS) for myopia control in children. Clinically proven to be effective in slowing down myopic progression by around 60% in schoolchildren in Hong Kong, the lens is widely accepted in Mainland China and Hong Kong markets.

 

The DISC lens

The Defocus Incorporated Soft Contact (DISC) lens, which was developed by the team based on the myopic defocus technology, was commercialised via a start-up co-founded by one of the research leaders and an SO alumnus. After the DISC lens was brought to the market, a daily disposable version, DISC-1 Day, has been launched to provide users with a more convenient alternative. Following the great success of DISC-1 Day in Mainland China, VST plans to extend in overseas markets and develop more products based on the myopic defocus technology. Read MoreHide

As in situations across the globe, buildings account for the largest electricity consumption in Hong Kong. While commercial and industrial buildings consume over 90% of all electric energy here, heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems take up over 50% of it on average. However, much of the consumed energy is wasted due to improper design, commissioning, operation and control of these systems, especially in the case of outdated models. PolyU’s experts in building services engineering have long been devising related optimisation strategies and energy efficient approaches, covering all sub-systems as well as control systems for conventional and special indoor environment, such as cleanrooms, industrial processes and underground stations. The comprehensive solutions include robust optimal design of HVAC systems, building energy diagnostic and commissioning methods and tools, optimal control of air side and water side systems, automation and energy-efficient control.

 

Through dedicated consultancy services, PolyU’s HVAC optimisation solutions have been applied in various architectural establishments, such as a transport station, pharmaceutical manufacturing buildings, hotels and commercial centres. In a commercial centre at Kowloon Station, the optimisation system has been fully incorporated into the design and control of the air conditioning system, and has achieved a significant annual saving of over 18% of electricity for the entire building. Read MoreHide

PolyU had developed “Advanced Fibre Bragg Grating (FBG) Railway Monitoring System” that had been successfully installed in Hong Kong MTR rails. Thousands of optical sensors installed provide information on vibration, acceleration and temperature change for engineering staff, helping them to monitor the health condition of tracks and railcars as well as structural health of the rail foundation. Not just in Hong Kong, PolyU had installed the system in several sections of the High Speed Rail (HSR) across the country. By providing information crucial to the safety of HSR, the system not only benefits the overall HSR development in China, but also contributes to further research in this area. It is expected that the developed monitoring system will become a core reference for the new national standard for railway safety monitoring in the Chinese mainland. With the success of the FBG sensing system, along with other novel technologies in railway monitoring being developed by PolyU’s inter-disciplinary research teams, PolyU will continue to develop cost-effectiveness and reliable monitoring system, helping to uphold the safety of railway systems. Read MoreHide

PolyU has long been contributing to space explorations with innovative engineering solutions. In Chang'e-3 and 4 lunar missions, the Camera Pointing System (CPS) captured stunning panoramic images and enabled the monitoring of the rovers’ motion on the Moon’s near and far sides respectively. The Surface Sampling and Packing System brought back the first Chinese acquired lunar regolith in Chang’e-5 mission, and will be used in Chang’e-6 as well. In Tianwen-1 mission, PolyU’s Mars Landing Surveillance Camera has also landed on the red planet. Back on Earth, such high-precision engineering knowledge was applied in robotics, creating advanced robots such as the in-line pipe robot for water pipe inspection and repair.

On the other hand, PolyU’s innovative planetary remote sensing and mapping technologies are indispensable to landing site selection and surface operation for space missions. They generate high-precision, high-resolution topographic models of celestial bodies by combining images and laser measurement data from various sources across various platforms, and reconstructing fine topographic details. To automate the analysis of surface hazards such as rock and crater distributions on planetary surface, solutions powered by artificial intelligence (AI) are developed. The resulting 3D topographic model could achieve resolution as high as 1 cm/pixel, and the AI solution could achieve 85% correctness. Read MoreHide