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.

ME scholar’s Innovative Bio-inspired System won TechConnect Global Innovation Awards 2017

The research team led by Dr Xingjian Jing, Associate Professor of The Department of Mechanical Engineering has developed a novel bio-inspired nonlinear anti-vibration system that can significantly reduce vibration in various mechanic systems. The innovation far excels existing devices in cost-efficiency and performance reliability and can have extensive applications. Dr Jing’s innovative bio-inspired system is one of the three PolyU innovations having won the TechConnect Global Innovation Awards 2017. It is the first time for a Hong Kong higher education institution to receive the awards, along with other global-renowned research institutes (including US NASA, National Labs, Georgia Tech, Princeton Lab, UCLA, Australia National U etc), at the TechConnect World Innovation Conference and Expo, the largest multi-sector summit for supporting the development and commercialization of innovations. The annual event held in the US gathers more than 4,000 technology innovators, ventures, industrial partners and investors from over 70 countries. Only the top 20% of innovations submitted to TechConnect World will receive awards, with an assessment based on the potential positive impact the submitted technology will have on a specific industry sector. PolyU is the only awardee from Hong Kong and snatches 3 out of the 26 global awards presented to non-US-federal-funded innovations across the world. Another 60 national awards are granted to innovations with US federal funding. The PolyU delegation will present their innovations and receive the awards in mid-May at TechConnect World conference and expo held in Washington DC. Inspired by the limb structures of birds and insects in motion vibration control, the novel X-shaped system is of the capability to demonstrate nearly “zero response” to any vibration (quasi-zero low dynamic stiffness), but simultaneously of high loading capacity. It also features automatic high damping for strong vibration, and low damping for small vibration (thus preventing high damping’s adverse effect on a system’s normal functioning during small vibration). These advantages stem from the novel system’s nonlinearity – a unique feature lacking in most vibration control systems nowadays, which are usually following linear system design. The novel system can therefore be applied very widely in various engineering practices and vibration control devices. With superb anti-vibration performance, the new device can markedly help prevent hand-arm occupation diseases among construction workers. By using the new device, the vibration at hand/arm in drilling concrete ground can be significantly suppressed to the ideal safety level, compared with many commonly-used jackhammers in the market. The very low cost in manufacturing and maintenance, with great design flexibility for adapting to devices of different sizes and materials, can also enhance its potential popular use.

The 2016 Andrew P. Sage Best Transactions Paper Award

The research work on fuzzy active control of vehicle suspension systems from Dr XJ Jing’s research group received The 2016 Andrew P. Sage Best Transactions Paper Award, which was just announced during the 2016 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC 2016) held at Hotel Intercontinental Budapest during 9-12 Oct 2016. The award is to recognize the authors of the best paper published annually in the IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics (SMC) (established in 1998), which was funded by the IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society through an endowment administered by the IEEE Foundation. The basis for Judging the award is according to the originality, technical merit, potential impact to the SMCS field of interest, and presentation quality. The award of this year is granted to the paper published in IEEE Transactions on Cybernetics (IF 4.943, Rank 1/22 in Cybernetics, 6/130 in Artificial Intelligence): H Li, XJ Jing, HK Lam, P Shi, Fuzzy sampled-data control for uncertain vehicle suspension systems, IEEE Transactions on Cybernetics 44(7), 1111-1126, 2014. It is a joint research work collaborated within Bohai University (Mainland of China), PolyU (HK), King’s College London (UK), and University of Adelaide (Australia) receiving 138 citations by far (in google scholar). The paper investigates the problem of sampled-data H∞ control of uncertain active suspension systems via fuzzy control approach. The work focuses on designing state-feedback and output-feedback sampled-data controllers to guarantee the resulting closed-loop dynamical systems to be asymptotically stable and satisfy H∞ disturbance attenuation level and suspension performance constraints. Using Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy model control method, T-S fuzzy models are established for uncertain vehicle active suspension systems considering the desired suspension performances. Based on Lyapunov stability theory, the existence conditions of state-feedback and output-feedback sampled-data controllers are obtained by solving an optimization problem. The IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics is the flagship conference of the IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society. It provides an international forum for researchers and practitioners to report up-to-the-minute innovation and development, summarize state-of-the-art, and exchange ideas and advances in all aspects of systems science and engineering, human-machine systems, and cybernetics. The SMC2016 is dedicated to the Hungarian born John von Neumann “a Pioneer of Modern Computer Science”.