PolyU ME Robot triumphed in IMechE 2018

Bravo! The PolyU student team won the Champion and the Most Innovative Awards in the 7th IMechE Greater China Design Competition held at Guangzhou on 24-25 March 2018. Organized by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) – Hong Kong Branch, this year challenge was to design an unmanned robot for relief. Eight top universities, including The University of Hong Kong, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, University of Macau, South China University of Technology and PolyU, participated in this annual competition. The PolyU team, comprised of third year undergraduate students, Ji-ho SHIN, Hung Ming Roy CHOW and Rudra SOMESHWAR, under the supervision of Dr Henry CHU and Ir Dr Curtis NG of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, designed and created a robot, which can successfully move across different terrains for material transport. “Our students were wholly dedicated to this challenge. They were highly self-motivated to work on the prototypes and well-prepared for the competition.” Dr Curtis NG said. The judging panel marked the competitors based on design innovation, design methodology, potential for commercialization, presentation skills, as well as the technical performance of the prototype design during the demonstration session. The PolyU team robot stood out from the rest. The robot topped off the challenge in the competition with the full smoothness and highest efficiency. “Students feel fabulous with their achievement and we are highly proud of them.” Dr Henry CHU exclaimed. Watch the video to see how the mission was beautifully done!   Selected to be the POLYU OUTSTANDING WORK BY STUDENTS. Click to learn more …

3 ME Staff received Faculty Awards for Outstanding Performance/ Achievement in 2016/17

The PolyU Faculty of Engineering Spring Reception cum Faculty Awards Presentation Ceremony was held on 9 March 2018. Three staff members from the Department of Mechanical Engineering were awarded for their outstanding performance and achievement. Prof. SHI San-Qiang, Head of Department of Mechanical Engineering and Prof. CHENG Li, Chair Professor of Department of Mechanical Engineering received the “Faculty of Engineering Research Grant Achievement Award 2016/17”. Since 2003, the award has been set up by the Faculty Research Committee torecognize the outstanding performance of FENG academic staff members in securing external competitive research grants. Prof. CHENG Li was also awarded the “Faculty Award in Research and Scholarly Activities – Merit Award (Individual) 2016/17”. Prof. LEUNG Chun Wah, Adjunct Professor of Department of Mechanical Engineering was awarded the “Faculty Award in Services – Outstanding Award (Individual) 2016/17”. The awards are established to encourage and recognize excellent practices in teaching, research and scholarly activities, and services. Winners of the awards has demonstrated high level of professionalism and dedication in their respective areas and contributed to the achievements of the Faculty.

105th Departmental Advisory Committee Meeting

The 105th Departmental Advisory Committee (DAC) meeting took place on 8 March 2018, under the chairmanship of Ir Conrad Wong, Vice Chairman of Yau Lee Group. It was a very useful meeting as members, with their wide range of expertise, had a fruitful discussion, sharing their expectations on our students and graduates, and provided very constructive views and suggestions to the Department of its efforts in the future development in teaching and learning, research and consultancy and strategic development.

ME Team Building Social Gathering cum Spring Lunch

A fun time for team building, re-energizing and communicating. On 6 March 2018, ME Department organized a Spring Lunch cum bowling ball game for all academic, administrative and technical support staff as well as research personnel. We had over 100 participants joining the event. People were in their causal dressed, light-hearted mood and smiles on their faces. The buffet lunch came with the bowling games definitely gave all ME members a wonderful and joyful break!

ME scholar’s research work accepted by Physical Review Letters

Sound wave has been thoroughly studied for centuries as one of the most well-known type of classical waves and close partner of our everyday life. Is there any undiscovered phenomenon associated with sound, especially whether we can find new ways to manipulate sound wave based on ideas inspired from quantum-classical mechanics analogue, has been a well sought-after topic for the last decade. A new study conducted by Dr Jie Zhu, the Assistant Professor of Department of Mechanical Engineering, and his team has made significant progress towards expanding such investigation. With passive acoustic system, Dr Zhu’s team and his collaborator from Huazhong University of Science and Technology present the first experimental study of PT symmetry physics beyond one dimension. A two-dimensional intrinsic PT symmetric potential is demonstrated with an all passive acoustic metamaterials crystal. As an example, the two-dimensional unidirectional sound focusing effect is experimentally realized. This progress breaks through the most essential roadblock to observing the evolution of non-Hermitian Hamiltonians respecting PT symmetry with acoustic system: the absence of natural gain medium. This all passive acoustic PT-symmetric material requires no electricity supply nor feedback control mechanism. It provides a much more compact and robust solution, when pushing the PT-symmetry acoustic research into practice in the future to build new devices for sound imaging and sensing. This work was recently accepted for publication in Physical Review Letters. ME PhD student Tuo Liu is the first author. Dr Jie Zhu is the corresponding author. Learn more at Physical Review Letters

Alumni Mentorship Dinner 2017/18

The PolyU Department of Mechanical Engineering Alumni Mentorship Dinner 2017/2018 was successfully held on 7 Feb 2018. Over 100 alumni, honorable guests and academics, together with about 150 students from the graduating classes of BEng(Hons) in Mechanical Engineering, BEng(Hons) in Product Analysis and Engineering Design, and Double Degree Programme in Business Administration and Engineering showed up in that evening making the dinner a memorable and meaningful one. The Alumni Mentorship dinner is a tradition of ME to enhance the bonding between alumni with members of the Department and more importantly, to provide a platform for our final year students to learn practical experiences and professional advice from alumni mentors. In the welcoming remark, Prof. SQ Shi, Head of Department, expressed deep gratitude to all the alumni and industrial friends for their support over the years. Especially in the mentorship programme, their willingness to share, to listen and to provide guidance to our students was definitely invaluable. Followed by our guest speech, Dr Yau Wing Kwong, President of the Mechanical and Marine Engineering Alumni Association, showed full support to the Department and students. The dinner was not just a dinner, through which we connected among academics, students, alumni and industrialists, through which our bonding was fortified. Time flew, the MC concluded the dinner by thanking all for their attendance. Nonetheless, guests showed no sign of leaving but couldn’t stop sharing. All people were very satisfied with the feast and found it a fruitful one. Check out more photos of the event HERE.

Miss Winky Lui received the Trainee of the Year Award 2017

Miss Winky Lui Ka Wing, graduated with Double Degree in Mechanical Engineering and Business Administration in 2015, a current ME MSc student, has received the Trainee of the Year Award 2017 organized by the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HKIE). Trainee of the Year Award is a competition designed to promote Engineering Graduate Training Scheme “A”. All Scheme “A” trainees are eligible to participate. This award aims to recognize trainees who have outstanding achievements during the period of Scheme “A” Training and who have made great contributions to the HKIE and the Hong Kong society. The winners went through a screening process with written submission and an interview with judging panel. Winky joined The Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited (Towngas) as a Graduate Trainee upon her graduation. During the two-year Scheme “A” training, she has enhanced her knowledge and practical skills of gas engineering. Not only has she participated in various innovation projects, she also gained valuable work experience in Mainland China to work on a design project about decentralized energy system. Furthermore, Winky was selected as one of the eight HKIE President’s Protégés last year to shadow the HKIE President 2016/2017 Ir Joseph Choi, gaining insight into the inner workings of the HKIE and broadening her exposure to the engineering environment. She also took the initiative to hold workshops on STEM education and to promote the image of women engineers. Caption of the photo: A certificate to Miss Winky Lui (left) and a trophy to Mr. James To, Principal of Towngas Engineering Academy (right), presented by the HKIE President 2017/2018 Ir Thomas Chan (middle).

Departmental Learning Outcomes Assessment Committee Meeting

The 2017/18 Departmental Learning Outcomes Assessment Committee (DLOAC) Meeting was held on 12 January 2018. The Committee members consisting of scheme and programme leaders, industrialists, alumni and student representatives had a fruitful discussion. Pertaining to the Departmental Learning Outcomes assessment, employers and graduates surveys were conducted during late 2017. In the meeting, the Chairman Prof. CW Leung reported that the results of the surveys generally showed satisfactory or above views on the effectiveness of different programmes. For some items in the marginally satisfactory level, the Department had already noticed before, and programme leaders had implemented additional teaching with relevant learning components for enhancement. Further to the survey review, DLOAC members expressed valuable opinions from the viewpoints of employers and experienced workers. English proficiency, hands-on skills, real problem solving, new knowledge and technology were areas where ME students should improve. The Chairman considered these feedbacks from different stakeholders’ perspective were worthy. By the end of the meeting, a committee member from the industry shared his experience of employing engineering graduates. He praised the outstanding performance of PolyU ME graduates who could definitely compare to other graduates from the world-class universities, e.g. the University of Cambridge and the University of Hong Kong. The PolyU ME graduates could show comprehensive fundamental engineering knowledge and great enthusiasm in the field where they could be pragmatic and elite designers and engineers. The Chairman thanked the industrialists, alumni and student representatives for their continued support. The comments, opinions and suggestions expressed in the meeting were constructive. The Department would take serious consideration and actions to make further improvements on programmes.

PolyU ME Staff Obtained the First Prize in HK CIC Construction Innovation Award 2017

The bio-inspired anti-vibration exoskeleton (BIAVE) developed by Dr Xingjian Jing’s research team recently received the 1st Prize in the category of Construction Safety in the Hong Kong CIC (Construction Industry Council) Construction Innovation Award 2017. Among 17 Finalists assessed by an international selection panel, the BIAVE is a technical breakthrough effectively helping construction workers to avoid occupational diseases in operation of demolition tools. Hand-held electric/hydraulic breakers are most commonly used portable tools in construction industry. Despite the advantages of diversified usage, hand-arm vibration hazard cannot be ignored. Prolonged exposure to the vibration may cause blood-circulation failures in the fingers, a serious condition known as white vibration finger. The damage can also include a predisposition for development of carpal tunnel syndrome. To alleviate this strain, Dr Xingjian JING of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) and his team developed the Bio-Inspired Anti-Vibration Exoskeleton (BIAVE) to prevent hand-arm occupational diseases among construction workers, in a close collaboration with industrial companies inlcuding Gammon Construction and Hilti limited in the past years. The novel BIAVE is a passive, nonlinear stiffness and damping system which can significantly suppress the vibration transmissibility from vibrating tools to operators without sacrificing demolition efficiency and increasing handling complexity. The innovative anti-vibration structure can be installed with different jackhammers or road breakers of different size and weight, and very easy to manipulate, on-site install and carry. The operation is the same as before without the anti-vibration structure, but the worker can obviously get easiness and comfort after using the BIAVE. On site validation of the performance of the exoskeleton was conducted in one of the Gammon Construction Limited’s project sites. A remarkable reduction of hand-arm vibration by 90% was demonstrated. The enabling technology can be well applied to solve many critical engineering issues for vibration control with high performance but low cost, including vibration problems in various civil structures, railway systems, vehicle suspension, aerospace engineering, and robotic design etc. In the past one year, Dr Jing already received the US TechConnect Global Innovation Award for the innovative bio-inspired anti-vibration structure and was also awarded with the Senior Research Prize in the development of methodologies of structural dynamics for this important contribution in analysis and design of nonlinear systems, given by European Association of Structural Dynamics. The technical innovation of the BIAVE is exactly obtained by applying the nonlinear theory and methods developed by Dr XJ Jing and his team in the past 10 years. A special interview was conducted and broadcasted by Hong Kong TVB in Aug of this year. The Construction Industry Council (CIC) encourages innovation in construction to cultivate new ideas. The CIC Innovation Award (the Award) aims to spearhead development of new concepts to enable continuous enhancements in the construction industry of Hong Kong. It also aims to recognize new technologies and scientific breakthroughs by academia and industry practitioners, as well as to arouse international awareness on achievements in research and innovation in the construction industry of Hong Kong SAR, the Mainland China and overseas. The award ceremony was held on 15 Dec 2017, at JW Marriot Hong Kong, where Mr Matthew CHEUNG Kin-Chung, GBM, GBS, JP, Acting Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) delivered an inspiring speech.

PolyU ME staff received European Senior Research Award and innovative technology was broadcasted in TVB J5

PolyU ME staff Dr Xingjian Jing received prestigious EASD senior research award announced in the X international conference on structural dynamics held in Rome Italy during 10-13 Sep 2017. The award ceremony was held in the conference dinner on 12 Sep 2017. The European Association for Structural Dynamics (EASD) is a professional body founded in 1990. EASD oversees the organization of the European Conferences on Structural Dynamics (EURODYN) that will be held at three (or four) year intervals. The EURODYN Conference has developed into one of the key conferences in structural dynamics. These conferences are devoted to theoretical developments and applications of structural dynamics to all types of structures and structural materials. The EASD Research Prizes are given in recognition of outstanding and sustained contributions to the following areas: Development of Methodologies for Structural Dynamics Computational Structural Dynamics Applications of Structural Dynamics In each of those three areas Senior and Junior Prizes, respectively, will be awarded. Dr Jing received the Senior Research Award in the area of development of methodologies for structural dynamics due to “his important contributions for the analysis and design of nonlinear systems”. In the past 10 years, Dr Jing’s research focuses on nonlinear dynamics/vibration/control and their applications, targeting at employing and exploring nonlinear benefits through development of nonlinear frequency domain theory/methods, nonlinear system identification methods, and bio-inspired systems and approaches, with applications to vibration isolation/control, robust control, sensor technology, energy harvesting technology, fault diagnosis or information mining, and robotics etc. In nonlinear analysis, design and control, Dr Jing developed a systematic frequency-domain parametric characteristic approach for the analysis and design of nonlinear systems, which has been successfully applied to vibration control, system identification, signal processing and structural health monitoring etc. The parametric characteristic approach presents a clear insight into the analytical structure and expression of the output spectrum of nonlinear systems with respect to model parameters of interest (both linear and/or nonlinear components), frequency variable, and excitation amplitude, subject to any input signals. The method results in a novel nonlinear characteristic output spectrum (nCOS) function or preliminarily referred to as output frequency response function (OFRF), which provides a direct tool for dynamic optimization of nonlinear systems in terms of structural parameters. The first result providing the benchmark technical methods was published in 2006, strengthened in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2014, and summarized into a monograph in 2015. Most publications are available at https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Xingjian_Jing. In the past 5 years, for passive design, realization and application of beneficial nonlinear stiffness and damping characteristics in practical systems, Dr Jing’s research group developed a bio-inspired X-shaped structure approach. It has been shown that the X-shaped structures can provide very flexible, adjustable and advantageous nonlinear stiffness and damping characteristics exactly needed in various critical engineering vibration problems in a pure passive manner. The technical innovation received the 2017 TechConnect Innovation Award and extensive attentions from industry. A TVB program focusing on technology innovation (創科導航) presented a specific interview on the related projects and broadcasted on 9 Aug 2017.