ENGINEERING NEWS IN BRIEF

======================================================================

                  ENGINEERING NEWS IN BRIEF
                        E-Mail Newsletter

                               No.36
             Issued by the Asian TOP Panel, December 2004

           The Chinese Mechanical Engineering Society (CMES)
           The Institution of Engineers, Indonesia (PII)
           The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers (JSME)
           The Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers (KSME)

======================================================================

According to the agreement made in the 2nd Asian TOP Panel Meeting,
the ENGINEERING NEWS IN BRIEF (E-mail newsletter) has now been edited
by the KSME for the year 2004.

======================================================================
[Contents]

(1) Airbus to set up engineering center in China (Source: CMES)
(2) Major air conditioner maker expands production (Source: CMES)
(3) An Experimental Study on Flexible Forming of Sheet Metal Using Plasma Arc (Source: CMES)
(4) Research Group for Advanced Technology in Medical Treatment at Ehime University (Source: JSME)
(5) International Symposia in 2005 -2006 (Co-) Sponsored by JSME (Source: JSME)
(6)Nanomechanical Protein Detectors Using Electrothermal Nano-gap Actutors (Source : KSME)

============================================================

(1) Airbus to set up engineering center in China (Source: CMES)

Aircraft maker Airbus will set up an engineering centre in China next year to further strengthen its Research & Development (R&D) strategy in addition to its significantly increasing procurement in China.
The centre will employ 50 Chinese engineers next year and will employ around 200 people by the end of 2008.
The move is a preparatory step to facilitate China to become a full risk-sharing partner in a future new Airbus programme, with at least a 10 per cent share,$B!1(B said Laurence Barron, Airbus China President in a press conference at the ongoing Zhuhai Airshow.
Although its location has not yet been decided, Beijing is considered as a possible choice.
This is the second major industry co-operation between the aircraft maker and the Chinese aviation industry since October.
On October 9, Airbus signed an agreement which targets an annual volume of US$120 million by 2010, double the target for 2007 and up US$105 million of today's level.
Also during the press conference, Airbus announced the signature of an agreement between Airbus and Xi'an Aircraft Corporation.
According to the agreement, Xi'an Aircraft Corporation (XAC) will become the sole supplier of electronics bay doors for the Airbus A320 Family aircraft by 2006.

============================================================

(2) Major air conditioner maker expands production (Source: CMES)

The Chunlan Group, one of China's major air conditioner producers, has begun construction of eight production lines with a total capacity of three million units, which will enable the company to produce 5 million units a year.
The new production lines, located in Chunlan Industrial Zone, Taizhou City in east China's Jiangsu Province, are scheduled to be completed by the end of this year. The total cost is expected to be 70 million yuan (8.43 million US dollars).
Apart from the "clear advantages" in energy efficiency, environmental protection, noise abatement and overall performance, the products will boast an energy efficiency index of 2.6, higher than the prevailing 2.0 to 2.4 currently on the Chinese market.
Analysts here say as competition on the Chinese air conditioner market becomes fierce, it's important to develop new products of higher quality to stay ahead. Higher energy efficiency, for example, is expected to become a good selling point as China is experiencing a serious energy shortage.

============================================================

(3) An Experimental Study on Flexible Forming of Sheet Metal Using Plasma Arc (Source: CMES)

Xu Wenji, Dalian University of Technology
Fang Jiancheng, Huaqiao University

The differences of forming results between circular scanning and linear scanning and the influences of sheet metal geometry on forming effectness had been researched. During the experiments, sector, ring sector and rectangle mild steel sheets with thickness of 0.8 mm served as workpieces. The results of the investigation show that nonlinear prolonged surface can be obtained by curved scanning and obvious differences exist in forming results of circular scanning and linear scanning respectively.

============================================================

(4) Research Group for Advanced Technology in Medical Treatment at Ehime University (Source: JSME)

Manabu TAKAHASHI, EHIME UNIVERSITY

Bringing Together the Disciplines of Medicine, Science and Engineering to Challenge the Field-Specific Style of Learning
In December 2000 young researchers at Ehime University looking for a distinct way to conduct research founded a Research Group for Advanced Technology in Medical Treatment, which brings together the academic disciplines of medicine, science and engineering. Their main focus of research was development of a device that uses radio frequency inductive heating to treat liver cancer. Other areas of focus included development of new equipment for treating liver and heart diseases. This research group uses conventional fields of study to create new fields of study from a different viewpoint. Moreover, they have also been involved in industry-government-academia alliances and have been highly successful in attaining grants for various fields of study.
Since 2003 this research group has become a university-launched venture company where they will continue to work in this field.

============================================================

(5) International Symposia in 2005 -2006 (Co-) Sponsored by JSME (Source: JSME)

2005.03.20-23
The 6th KSME-JSME Thermal and Fluids Engineering Conference
Jeju, KOREA
http://www.tfec6.org/

2005.04.05-07
International Conference on Power Engineering-2005 (ICOPE-2005)
Chicago, U.S.A.
http://www.jsme.or.jp/pes/Event/Conference/ICOPE-call2.pdf

2005.05.16-20
The 13th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE13)
Beijin, CHINA
http://www.ns.org.cn/ICONE2005/

2005.06.01-03
The First International Symposium on New technology of Vibration and Sound
(VS Tech 2005)
Hiroshima, JAPAN
http://dezima.ike.tottori-u.ac.jp/vstech2005/

2005.06.19-22
JSME/ASME International Conference on Materials and Processing 2005
(The 13th JSME Material and Processing Conference)
Seattle, USA
http://www.jsme.or.jp/mpd/IM&P2005.htm

2005.06.23-24
KSME-JSME Joint International Conference on Manufacturing, Machine Design and
Tribology
Seoul, KOREA
http://www.icmdt.com/

2005.10.05-07
International Conference on Jets, Wakes and Separated Flows (ICJWSF)
Toba, JAPAN
http://www.ees.mach.mie-u.ac.jp/ICJWSF/

2005.10.19-22
The Third International Conference on Leading Edge Manufacturing in 21st Century LEM21
Nagoya, JAPAN
http://jenny.mes.titech.ac.jp/LEM21/index.html

2006.05.31-06.02
Driving Simulation Conference (DSC-Asia/Pacific 2006)
Tsukuba, JAPAN

============================================================

(6) Nanomechanical Protein Detectors Using Electrothermal Nano-gap Actutors (Source : KSME)

Professor Young-Ho Cho of KAIST reported recently a new method and an associated device, capable of detecting protein presence and size from the shift of the mechanical stiffness of Transactions of KSME (No. 12, Vol. 28) in a recent issue. Compared to the conventional resonant detection method, the present nanomechanical stiffness detection method shows higher precision for protein detection. The present method also offers simple and inexpensive protein detection devices by removing labeling process and optical components. They designed and fabricated the nanomechanical protein detector using an electrothermal actuator with a nano-gap. In their experimental study, they measured the stiffness changing points and their coordinate shift from the devices with and without target proteins. The fabricated device detects the protein presence and the protein size of 14.0-7.4nm based on the coordinate shift of stiffness changing points.

============================================================

Editor : Professor Mansoo Choi of Seoul National University,
           Director of General Affairs, KSME
           ksme@ksme.or.kr