ENGINEERING NEWS IN BRIEF

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                  ENGINEERING NEWS IN BRIEF
                        E-Mail Newsletter

                               No.42
             Issued by the Asian TOP Panel, May 2005

           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)

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    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 2005.

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[Contents]

(1) Design and Implementation of the Network Control System of Welding Machines (Source: CMES)
(2) Intelligent Control on Continuously Variable Transmission in Drive-Vehicle-Road Environment (Source: CMES)
(3) Research on Motor Magnetic Steel Material of Nd ? Fe ? B (Source: CMES)
(4) Certification Program of Computational Mechanics Engineer (Source: JSME)
(5) ISO Machinery Condition Analyst (Vibration) (Source: JSME)
(6) Particle Size Distribution and Average Particle Charge in Operating a Hard Disk Drive (Source : KSME)

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(1) Design and Implementation of the Network Control System of Welding Machines
(Source: CMES)

Prof. Shi Yu Prof. Fan Ding Lanzhou University of Technology

A network control system for welding machine based on Ethernet was described in one paper of Prof. Prof. Shi Yu and Prof. Fan Ding etc. The authors utilized the embedded gateway combining with MCU control system to fulfill the welding machine connection with Ethernet, which could integrate the welding machine with company information based on Ethernet and TCP/IP completely.And the authors, utilizing SQL Server software, designed the Net-welding machine management system, constructed the welding standard database and welding process supervision database based on Web. The whole system can fulfill the maintenance of welding criterion database, the remote supervision of welding machine parameters and the remote setup of welding criterion and management based on network.

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(2) Intelligent Control on Continuously Variable Transmission in Drive-Vehicle-Road Environment (Source: CMES)

Prof. Sun Dongye Prof. Qin Datong Chongqing University

Prof. Sun Dongye and Prof. Qin Datong of Chongqing University investigated the inner rules on state parameters of driver intention, road conditions and vehicle transmission system based on analyzing relations among driver- vehicle-road closed loop system. Because optimal fuel economy or performance control strategies only reflect the driving state, their applications were limited in current vehicles. An intelligent control strategy was proposed, which is obtained by judging driver intention and operating environment. It provides a design method for developing an intelligent vehicle with continuously variable transmission.

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(3) Research on Motor Magnetic Steel Material of Nd ? Fe ? B (Source: CMES)

Prof. Zhou Junqi Prof. Zhang Mingang Taiyuan Heavy Machinery Institute

The thermal stability of NdFeB magnet was improved by addition of proper amount Co, Cu, Ga, Tb and sintered technology. NdFeB magnet was applied to be as motor magnetic steel. Microstructure analysis by SEM indicates that Co, Cu, Ga, Tb additions lead to the homogenization and regularization of grain of the main phase Nd2Fe14B and decrease the thickness of the Nd ? rich phase, which depress the nucleation formation and expansion of reverse magnetization domain, the iHc and thermal stability of NdFeB magnet are enhanced.

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(4) Certification Program of Computational Mechanics Engineer (Source: JSME)

The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers (JSME) has initiated the certification program of Computational Mechanics Engineers in 2003 in conjunction with a number of computational mechanics-related other societies in Japan. The purpose of this program is to qualify the levels of knowledge as well as skill of a computational mechanics engineer needed to perform reliable and accurate computational mechanics analyses by himself / herself. The scope of this program will cover a wide range of levels from beginners to high level engineers, and include the finite element method, the boundary element method, the finite different method and other numerical analysis methods used in computational mechanics. It is planned to design the highest level of the program to be equivalent to NAFEMS Registered Analyst of the International Association for the Engineering Analysis Community.
Since 2003, JSME has carried out examination for the certification of Grade 2 engineers in a field of solid mechanics twice and that of Grade 1 engineers in a field of solid mechanics once. Grade 2 engineers are expected to conduct reliable linear elastic analyses, while Grade 1 engineers are expected to conduct reliable nonlinear analyses.
A total of 106 engineers for Grade 1 and the total of 370 persons for Grade 2 have passed the examination for the certification by 2004. In 2005, three kinds of examinations for Grade 1 and 2 in a field of solid mechanics and for Grade 2 in a field of thermo-fluid mechanics will be conducted.
It is expected that this qualification will be mandatory requirement for computational
mechanics engineers in the near future. JSME strongly hopes engineers working in the field of computational mechanics to challenge acquisition of this certificate.

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(5) ISO Machinery Condition Analyst (Vibration) (Source : JSME)

The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers (JSME) set out the certification program in
accordance with ISO 18436-2 "Condition monitoring and diagnostics of machines Requirements for training and certification of personnel Part 2 : Vibration condition monitoring and diagnostics" in 2004. Because, this qualification meets the requirement for global standardization of specialists and/or engineers engaged in vibration monitoring and diagnostics of machines and JSME recognizes that the certification is one of important role of JSME as the representative organization of Japanese mechanical engineers.
In 2004, JSME carried out examination for the certification of Categories I and II in twice. As a result, 81 persons for Category I and 498 persons for Category II passed the examination for the certification. In 2005, two examinations for Categories I and II and 1st examination for Category III will be planed.
ISO 18436 Certification Program by JSME is mutually approved with that by Vibration Institute (VI) USA. On July 19th in 2004, JSME signed the agreement of the bilateral certification on ISO 18436-2 with VI..
It is expected that this qualification will become mandatory requirement for mechanical engineers and vibration specialists in the near future, JSME strongly hopes for challenging acquisition of this qualification.

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(6) Particle Size Distribution and Average Particle Charge in Operating a Hard Disk Drive (Source : KSME)

Professor Jungho Hwang of Yonsei University recently reported important information on contaminating particle behavior in hard disk drive (KSME Transactions B, Vol. 29).
As the flying height of a slider in a hard drive decreases, the slider and disk are more likely to come in contact and generate contamination particles. Since particle contamination can cause serious problems including thermal asperity, it must be prevented to increase storage capacity. When particles are generated in a HDD, particles can be charged and have a few number of elementary charges. The size distribution of particles and electrical charges depending on the disk rotational speed were reported. The range of particle size is from a few nm to 4 ? and particle concentration is a few thousands per cc.

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