MECHANICAL, MARINE, NAVAL ARCHITECTURE & CHEMICAL

The Young Inventor Competition 2008-2009 By Mr C O YAU Every year, the Young Inventor Competition provides an opportunity for youngsters to get a taste of being an engineer and encourages them to use their imagination and creativity in solving problems. The competition was jointly organised by the MC Division, IMechE - HK Branch and ASME - HK Section, with the support from the Mechanical Engineering Department of the University of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. There were 17 teams from 11 secondary schools and one primary school participated in the game and five awards were set up. The 1st round competition was held on 15 November 2008 at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Each team was required to design and build a trash collector (the machine) with efficient mechanism to collect the trash in the water tank with limited power source and limited size. The machine collected the greatest amount of trash within the allowed time would get the highest mark and get advantages in the final round. The final round competition was held on 28 February 2009 at Repulse Bay. All students were required to design, build and operate their rubbish collector to clean up, as many as they could, all rubbish samples placing on the beach at different locations. Unlike the first round of competition, the machine was required to operate on the sand foundation. Several critical factors such as how to ensure the tight attachment between wheels of the collector and sand, the maneuverability of the collector and the mechanism that could effectively collect the rubbish samples within a specified time. In this round of competition, there was no restriction on the design of the collector, it could be remote-controlled or fully automatically-controlled. The results of the competition were as follows: Champion: CMA Secondary School 1st runner-up: Fung Kai Liu Man Shek Tong Secondary School 2nd runner-up: Sing Yin Secondary School - team 3 Hi-tech prize: CMA Secondary School Creative prize: Sing Yin Secondary School - team 3 All the participants enjoyed the exciting competition and the event was a success. We look forward to the Young Inventor Competition next year.

The machines for the contest attracting the attention of the media, participants and audiences One of the machines collecting trash on the beach

Formation of special interests group in aircraft maintenance engineering Hong Kong has long been regarded as one of the most important international and regional aviation hubs. The substantial growth of civil aviation in last several decades has driven the rapid development of associated aviation systems and infrastructure. Hong Kong in fact owes one of the best facilities and workforce in aircraft maintenance. Many mechanical engineers are now practicing in the aircraft maintenance engineering industry. This gave the MC Division an initiative to set up a special interests group in aircraft maintenance engineering (SIG-AME) to encourage the sharing of knowledge and experience in the field of AME. The objectives of the SIG-AME are to: 1. organise activities for youngsters who are studying or working in aircraft maintenance engineering industries and those interested HKIE members; 2. attract new members to join and support the MC Division; and 3. promote the profession and career of aircraft maintenance engineering to general public. Mr Jack C K Lo of Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education (Tsing Yi) (IVE (TY)) who has been served in aircraft maintenance industry for several years was nominated as the convener of the SIG-AME. He is currently a Lecturer in IVE (TY) teaching in aircraft maintenance engineering. This year, SIG-AME will organise a number of site visits to local aircraft maintenance companies and plan to arrange seminars focusing on modern aircraft technologies and airworthiness standard in aircraft maintenance which will definitely provide a golden opportunity for our members to update their knowledge in these excited topics.

Core members of the SIG-AME

Technical meeting on building an effective occupational safety and health (OSH) system By Ir Dr Vincent HO The captioned seminar jointly organised by the MC Division, SSC and HKARMS was held at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University on 3 February 2009 with a full house attendance. Our guest speaker, Mr Nigel Heaton, is the CEO of Human Applications Ltd, a UK-based risk management organisation. Mr Heaton briefly introduced the various legal requirements in Hong Kong and summoned that the challenges of OSH could be met by addressing the risks involved. He explained that an effective OSH system should allow an organisation to do almost anything they need to do, but to do it safely. He discussed various concepts in address risk and how to control risk. Mr Heaton also introduced a top "X" principle to manage risk. He suggested that the aim of an effective OSH system is to allow organisations to meet their core objectives without incurring the costs associated with OSH failures. Mr Heaton's presentation file is available at the website http://www.hkarms.org. The seminar ended with a well-engaged question-and-answer session and a vote of thanks was given by Ir Dr Vincent Ho, the MC Division Activity Convenor and Past Chairman of the SSC). Mr Heaton received a certificate from the souvenir for the Chest programme by donating the cost of purchasing a souvenir. The organisers would also like to take this opportunity to thank Mr Heaton again for his presentation.

Mr Nigel Heaton introducing the concept of risk management to a full house Mr Heaton accepting a souvenir from Ir Barry Lee (L), Chairman of the MC Division, Ir Dr Vincent Ho (right 2nd) and Mr Paul Hayley of HKARMS (right 1st)

人生馬拉松 邱耀雄工程師 香港馬拉松已於2月8日舉行，有51,000名參賽者馳騁於跑道上。其中很多工程師朋友選擇跑十公里或半程馬拉松，只有少部份人選擇跑足全程。在大會規定的跑道以外，每人都認定一條屬於自己人生的跑道。今年是我第二年參加全馬賽事，但在比賽路途上，卻被一些參賽者的表現所吸引，領悟出人生跑道的真諦。 早上8時，我和8,000名全馬跑手齊集在尖沙咀的彌敦道上。鳴槍一響後，各跑手們舉步齊飛，你擠我擁的跑上西九龍公路向美孚的方向進發。在路上，我不斷的超越其他跑手，但亦被一些跑手所超越。就在這患得患失的情景下，一幅深刻的景像出現了。一個白髮蒼蒼的老人竟能在跑道上建步如飛，跑在很多年青跑手的前面，他必定經過刻苦的鍛鍊及擁有無比的毅力才能做得到，這啟發了我，若要走出困局，便要忘記過去，向前進。 很快，我已到達長青路段，就在這一刻，出現了一個「兩隻手，四條腿」的組合。原來是一位外籍領跑員帶領着一名失明人士，兩人的手上還綁著一條紅色繩子。作為領跑員，是引導這失明人士如何在黑暗中向前跑，他不是為自己達到甚麽目標，而是幫助別人達成目標，永遠在到達終點的一殺那，讓這身邊的朋友先衝線。在我們的人生跑道裏，豈不也曾遇過一些良師益友，引領我們向正確的道路前進嗎？所謂「天涯何處覓知音，馬拉松路見真心！」。 沿西九公路折返，目睹一名女跑手，突然摔倒在路上。回頭查看，只見這名跑手很快從地上爬起來，重回跑道上，她顯然已筋疲力盡，是什麽驅使她不放棄，仍然繼續向前跑呢？ 在馬拉松跑道上會遇到許多挑戰及挫折，有時甚至動搖我們向前進的意志。從這次比賽中，我領會出要向四個方向看︰ 身旁看 - 看給自己超越的跑手，享受努力得到的成果； 內心看 - 看自己生命的跑道，為目標而邁進； 前面看 - 看給自己追趕的跑手，把耐力灌注於生命中； 後面看 - 看正要趕上自己的跑手，感受人生跑道的經歷。 「馬拉松路再相逢，相逢何必曾相識！」各位工程師跑友，後會有期！

化工界別顧問小組主席邱耀雄博士及太太

Seminar on applications of electrical infrared thermography technology By Mr Clement LIU A seminar on applications of electrical infrared thermography technology jointly organised by the MC Division, HKIUS, IMechE and ASME was held on 18 February 2009 and attracted over 100 of participants. The speaker, Mr Nigel Ko of Infrared Engineering & Consultants Ltd, introduced the usage of infrared thermography technology in the engineering industry. He explained the physics of the infrared and working principle of infrared camera. With the help of the infrared cameras, infrared photographer could display the thermal energy emitted from an object by using image or color, so that people can "see", "measure" and "record" the thermo status. He then continued by demonstrating the applications of the thermal image. Infrared thermography survey and inspection is widely adopted in building, electrical and mechanical engineering industries. For instance, water leakage point inside the wall of the building can be found out easily because the area with water leakage shows lower temperature in the thermal image. For the electrical inspection, we can "see" any abnormal temperature inside the switchboard which can help identify the damaged components more easily. On behalf of the MC Division and other co-organisers, we would like to thank Mr Ko for the informative presentation on the infrared thermography technology.

Ir Barry Lee (left 2nd), Chairman of the MC Division, Ir Dr Vincent Ho (left 1st), Activity Convenor of the MC Division and Ir Dr King Wong, HKIUS, jointly presenting a souvenir to the speaker, Mr Nigel Ko (right 2nd) Mr Nigel Ko delivering his talk to a full house

Technical visit and friendly football match in Guangzhou Jointly organised with HKJB and HKIMT, a technical visit to the Longxue Shipyard at Nan Sha, Guangzhou was held on 28 February and 1 March 2009 and attracted 43 members from the three learned societies to participate. The shipyard is owned by CSSC Guangzhou Longxue Shipbuilding Co Ltd, affiliated to China State Shipbuilding Corporation, is the largest modern shipbuilding enterprise in South China. The company is located on Longxue Island, Nansha district of Guangzhou with a very favourable geographic location, which is about 70 km to Guangzhou city and adjacent to Hong Kong and Macao. It covers an area of 2.53 million sq m with four berths, two large drydocks equipped with four 600-ton gantry cranes and adopts advanced equipments and FCB production line. The first phase construction programme of shipbuilding capacity is 2.12 million dwt per year, about delivery of 20 vessels per year. When the capacity expansion projects is completed, the shipbuilding capacity will be up to 3.5 million dwt. Following the technical visit on 28 February 2009, a friendly soccer game between the union team of the MC Division/HKJB/HKIMT with the football team of GDSNAME was held on 1 March 2009 at the South China University of Technology. All players enjoyed playing on the new pitch under the nice weather with those footballers practicing in either mechanical or marine engineering field from Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Macau. Finally, on behalf of the MC Division and the participants, we would like to thank Ir Louis Szeto and the lead event organiser, HKJB, for their effort in arranging this trip.

The union football team of MC Division/HKJB/HKIMT, the football team of GDSNAME and the cheering team at the South China University of Technology Members in front of the 600-ton overhead crane at Longxue Shipyard