RESEARCH AND SCHOLARSHIP 1997 Research Projects Mechanical, Production and Industrial Engineering including Textiles and Clothing
Research Projects Arts and Languages Administrative, Business and Social Studies Biological Sciences Physical Sciences Education Medicine, Dentistry and Health: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Civil and Structural Engineering Electrical and Electronic Engineering Computing Sciences, Information Technology and Applied Mathematics Mechanical, Production and Industrial Engineering including Textiles and Clothing Architecture, Surveying, Urban Planning and Urban Studies Law	DECOMPRESSION OF DIESEL ENGINES IN SHIP PROPULSION To investigate theoretically the reduction in the stopping and reversing time of a diesel engine used in ship propulsion and the subsequent reduction in the stopping distance of a ship; to develop a special decompression valve and associated control equipment whereby cylinder contents can be emptied at the right instant during the cycle, thus affecting the braking effect on the engine; to correlate theoretical and experimental results. Investigator: Mr. L.N. Bakountouzis Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1987.12 PETROL ENGINE FUEL QUALITY REQUIREMENTS To investigate the effect of the quality of present-day fuels, available in Hong Kong, on the performance of typical petrol engines; to establish the requirements for a safe margin of protection against detonation and to quantify the loss of performance incurred, for the same protection, for a range of engines/fuels. Investigator: Mr. L.N. Bakountouzis Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1992.07 COMPENSATION AND STABILITY ANALYSIS OF ACTUATORS WITH AMPLITUDE AND RATE CONSTRAINTS To develop a procedure for designing actuator compensation schemes for an actuator with both rate and amplitude constraints; to study the stability of the compensated system with rate and amplitude constraints so that the scheme designed above yields a stable system; to extend as far as possible the analysis to other type of non-linearities, such as dead-band. Investigator: Dr. C.W. Chan Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1994.07 SELF-TUNING CONTROLLERS WITH ACTUATOR SATURATION COMPENSATION To study and to derive actuator saturation compensaton for self-tuning controllers; to study the optimal properties of these schemes; to establish the conditions for absolute stability of the compensated systems. Investigator: Dr. C.W. Chan Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1995.07 ACTUATOR SATURATION COMPENSATION FOR FUZZY CONTROLLERS To formulate actuator saturation compensation for fuzzy controllers; to establish the stability conditions for the compensated system; to devise guidelines to design the compensator. Investigator: Dr. C.W. Chan Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1996.07 STABILITY AND DESIGN OF ADAPTIVE CONTROLLERS BASED ON ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS (1) The ANNs with multi-hidden layers are too complex for stability analysis. The first step is to develop methods to analyze the stability of a simpler ANNs that consists of one hidden layer. (2) A general compensator that is suitable for stabilizing the closed-loop system using the ANNs adaptive controllers is formulated, and the conditions for their implementation derived. Design procedures for these compensators are devised using the stability results obtained in (1). (3) The proposed design procedures are applied to design ANNs adaptive controllers to control a double-inverted pendulum. (4) After completing (1) and (2), the stability result and the compensator design procedures are then generalized to multi-hidden layers ANNs. Application to control the double-inverted pendulum is also considered. Investigators: Dr. C.W. Chan (Principal) Dr. K.C. Cheung Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: RGC Fundable Projects (Block Grant Funded) Starting date: 1996.10 DEVELOPMENT OF A UNIFIED MODEL FOR OPTIMISING CIM APPLICATIONS IN MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY To develop a practical tool for the evaluation, selection and implementation of CIM in manufacturing industry. A new feature of this project is that it will adopt a holistic approach which will address the impact of new technologies on all aspects of company operations from objectives and strategies to manufacturing benefits and operational constraints. Investigator: Dr. F.T.S. Chan Department: Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Starting date: 1997.07 AUTOMATIC GENERATION OF SOLID MODEL BASED ON DIGITIZED SURFACE DATA To transform a given set of digitized surface data of a physical object into a solid model for rapid prototyping application. Investigator: Dr. K.W. Chan Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1996.07 A VIRTUAL REALITY BASED CAD ENVIRONMENT To incorporate high-level shape operators in a virtual reality based CAD system for 3D object modeling. Investigators: Dr. K.W. Chan (Principal) Dr. I. Gibson Professor S.T. Tan Department: Mechanical Engineering Starting date: 1997.07 DESIGN OF STATISTICAL CONTROL CHARTS FOR CONTINUOUS PRODUCTION PROCESSES To develop statistical quality control charts using n, the number of items inspected before r defects are found, for monitoring manufacturing processes with very low defect rate. Investigator: Dr. P.L.Y. Chan Department: Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1996.07 SEGMENTED MODELS ON THE SIMPLEX AND OPTIMAL DESIGNS To develop segmented models for experiments with mixtures; to construct optimal designs for segmented models and spline function models. Investigators: Dr. P.L.Y. Chan (Principal) Professor Y. Guan Departments: Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Mathematics, Northeastern University, People's Republic of China Starting date: 1997.07 CAD-BASED THREE DIMENSIONAL VISUAL INSPECTION FOR SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES To do some original research on practical algorithm for automatic semiconductor device inspection. Investigator: Dr. Y.H. Chen Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1994.07 INVESTIGATION OF PARAMETRIC DESIGN THROUGH NEURAL NETWORKS Computer aided design can significantly improve the productivity of modern industries. Most of the improvement is achieved through the use of parametric design. Current approaches to parametric design are either through programming or through interactive design of a master model. The proposed project is intended to introduce a new approach to parametric design through the application of neural network techniques. This approach is expected to improve the productivity of design and simplify the construction of a parametric model. Investigator: Dr. Y.H. Chen Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1995.07 RAPID PROTOTYPING OF LARGE COMPONENTS Rapid prototyping has become one of the most critical activities in new product development. Stereolithography and other incremental techniques are popular for rapid prototyping but are limited by available materials and part sizes that can be built. The major purpose of this proposal is to develop a complimentary new process for rapid prototyping. The proposed development will use a six axis articulated robot mounted on a 2 meter motion track. It is anticipated that the system would be able to make parts as large as 2M x 1M x 1M with good surface finish (through grinding) for a variety of materials. Investigator: Dr. Y.H. Chen Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1996.07 INTEGRATED ROBOT MACHINING To develop an integrated robot machining centre capable of milling, drilling, deburring and grinding for large and complicated component machining and finishing. Investigators: Dr. Y.H. Chen (Principal) Dr. I. Gibson Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Hong Kong Research Grants Council Starting date: 1997.01 OPTIMAL CUTTER PATH PLANNING USING NEURAL NETWORK To develop a collision detection neural network which can be integrated into the robot machining system. Investigator: Dr. Y.H. Chen Department: Mechanical Engineering Starting date: 1997.07 DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF INERTIAL SENSOR FOR PARTS INSPECTION To design and develop a sensor which, by indentifying the spatial location of the centre of mass and the moments of inertia about three orthogonal axes, can distinhuish good parts from defective ones. As the sensor makes use of the inertial properties the inspected part, its operation is unaffected by lighting conditions, dusts and fumes. Investigator: Dr. K.C. Cheung Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1994.07 Completion date: 1996.12 DEVELOPMENT OF INTELLIGENT SENSOR FOR PARTS INSPECTION BASED ON MEASUREMENT OF INERTIAL PROPERTIES To develop a sensor which, in addition to measuring the mass and location of centre of mass of a given part, also identifies the possible defects that cause the measured deviation in mass and location of centre of mass. Investigator: Dr. K.C. Cheung Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1996.07 DETERMINATION OF LOCATIONS AND SIZES OF AIR LEAKS IN WELDED OR BONDED JOINTS To develop algorithms that can determine the locations and sizes of air leaks in welded or bonded joints based on the sound power levels measured on one side of the joint with compressed air connected to the other side. Investigator: Dr. K.C. Cheung Department: Mechanical Engineering Starting date: 1997.07 MELT ELASTICITY, SHEAR VISCOSITY AND DIE SWELL BEHAVIOUR DURING CAPILLARY EXTRUSION OF POLYMER MELTS To quantify the relationship betwen polymer rheological properties and die-swell behaviour in extrusion. Investigator: Dr. W.L. Cheung Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1992.07 SELF-REINFORCED POLYMER ALLOYS To study the preparation, structure and properties of high performance self-reinforced polymer alloys. Investigators: Dr. W.L. Cheung (Principal) Professor D.M. Jia Departments: Mechanical Engineering Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, People's Republic of China Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1995.07 SOLID PHASE GRAFTING OF PP To study the formulation, reactive conditions and mechanisms of solid-phase grafting of PP with maleic anhydride and other monomers, and to improve the properties of PP-based polymer alloys and fibre reinforced composites using grafted PP. Investigators: Dr. W.L. Cheung (Principal) Professor D.M. Jia Departments: Mechanical Engineering Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, People's Republic of China Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1996.07 BIODEGRADABLE POLYOLEFINS PLASTIC FILMS To study the preparation, structure and properties of biodegradable polyolefins/starch blended films, and to investigate the degradation process of the plastic films and their applications in eliminating environmental pollution from plastic waste. Investigators: Dr. W.L. Cheung (Principal) Professor D.M. Jia Professor X.Q. Linag Departments: Mechanical Engineering Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, People's Republic of China Starting date: 1997.07 DEVELOPMENT OF AN INTELLIGENT SYSTEM FOR CONVERSION OF DIGITIZED SURFACE DATA TO CAD FILES To enhance the integration and utilization of 3-D digitizers (or laser scanners) and CADCAM systems. It may be used to strategically filter and reformat the digitized coordinates of a product surface for effective reconstruction of the product geometry by a CADCAM system. This shorterns the lead time of product design and analysis, prototype making, and the manufacture of moulds. Investigator: Dr. S.H. Choi Department: Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1995.07 DEVELOPMENT OF AN INTELLIGENT SLICING SYSTEM FOR RAPID PROTOTYPING To enhance the effectiveness and utilization of rapid prototyping systems. It facilitates rapid prototyping systems to process complex CAD models and subsequently construct the prototypes. Hence the benefits of rapid prototyping techniques can be fu exploited for product design and manufacture. Investigator: Dr. S.H. Choi Department: Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Starting date: 1997.07 RESONANCE IN NONLINEAR WAVES A theoretical study of the interactions of oblique solitary waves as one example of resonance phenomenon in nonlinear wave motion. Investigator: Dr. K.W. Chow Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1996.11 SINGULAR NONLINEAR WAVES IN HIGHER DIMENSIONS To perform a preliminary study on singular solutions of nonlinear evolution equations in (2+1) (2 spatial and 1 temporal) dimensions. Investigator: Dr. K.W. Chow Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Hung Hing Ying Physical Sciences Research Fund Starting date: 1997.01 SOLITONS AND VORTEX DYNAMICS To obtain new solutions in vortex dynamics using recent advances in nonlinear wave theory. Investigator: Dr. K.W. Chow Department: Mechanical Engineering Starting date: 1997.07 THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN INTELLIGENT SHOP-FLOOR INTERFACE FOR FMC OPERATION To develop a number of networking facilities to support the operation of flexible manufacturing cells (FMC). Such networking facilities are crucial to the development of an intelligent shop-floor interface, which performs the functions of real-time co-ordination of the shop-floor manufacturing entities; and supports planning by these entities. Investigator: Dr. L.K. Chu Department: Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1996.07 HYDRODYNAMIC INTERACTION OF TWO BODIES To investigate the hydrodynamic interactions, including central and oblique impact, between two floating bodies, or between a floating body and a fixed body. During the academic year 1996-97, we have studied the rotational effect on the oblique impact of two bodies. Investigator: Professor A.T.Y. Chwang Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1992.07 FREE-SURFACE FAR WAKE OF A SELF-PROPELLED BODY To investigate, analytically as well as numerically, the free-surface far wake of a self-propelled body which may move either on or below the ocean free surface. Fundamental solutions of the Oseen equations due to point singularities, which are presently available only for an unbounded fluid, would be derived for the case that a free surface is present. Computer programs would also be developed to determine the velocity distribution at the free surface and the width of the far wake of a self-propelled body submerged at an arbitrary depth beneath the free surface. Investigator: Professor A.T.Y. Chwang Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1993.07 INNOVATIVE HARBOUR DESIGN AND RESEARCH To obtain advanced knowledge and understanding of the basic mechanisms of wave absorption and reflection phenomena at porous boundaries; to develop the theoretical and numerical models necessary to explore potentially more effective wave absorbers and harbour designs. Investigator: Professor A.T.Y. Chwang Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Hong Kong Research Grants Council Starting date: 1993.09 NONLINEAR WAVE LOADING ON SHIPS To develop a nonlinear theory to study the wave loading on ships. In the proposed nonlinear theory, viscosity of the fluid and the surface tension would be included. In the first stage of the proposed investigation, the flow due to the impulsive acceleration of a two-dimensional vertical plate would be analyzed. The corresponding problem for a three-dimensional vertical cylinder would be solved in the second stage. Investigator: Professor A.T.Y. Chwang Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1994.07 NUMERICAL STUDY ON NONLINEAR WAVES To develop an accurate numerical method to study the generation and propagation of nonlinear waves caused by a submerged body moving near the critical speed in shallow waters. Investigator: Professor A.T.Y. Chwang Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1995.07 THEORETICAL STUDY OF FORCED NONLINEAR WAVES To initiate a research effort in the general field of forced nonlinear water waves in shallow water. The subject is of great and growing importance, and fundamental knowledge is very much needed. This program is intended to address the following aspects: (1) the production of forced nonlinear waves, (2) the evolution of these forced waves over constant and variable depth water, and (3) wave interactions with external disturbances (e.g. structures, winds, currents, etc.). Investigator: Professor A.T.Y. Chwang Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Hong Kong Research Grants Council Starting date: 1995.09 SHIP-GENERATED WAVES IN A BOUNDED FLUID DOMAIN To investigate ship waves in a bounded fluid domain and to develop a numerical model to assess the wave field behind a moving ship. Investigator: Professor A.T.Y. Chwang Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1996.07 STUDY ON SHIP-GENERATED WAVES IN VICTORIA HARBOUR To obtain rational understanding and quantitative simulation of ship-generated dispersive waves in the far field, to the extent of wave generation, propagation, and interaction with structural surfaces, due to multiple ship motion inside a bounded harbour of finite water depth. It is also concerned with evaluation of wave reflection at harbour boundaries and stage of wave agitation in high wave areas. Investigator: Professor A.T.Y. Chwang Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Hong Kong Research Grants Council Starting date: 1996.09 A STUDY OF VISUAL LOBE SIZE, SEARCH STRATEGY AND SEARCH PERFORMANCE To investigate visual lobe areas and the factors affecting lobe areas; to investigate search strategy using eye movement parameters; to investigate the role of lobe areas in determining eye movement parameters and search performance. Investigator: Mr. A.J. Courtney Department: Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants University Grants Committee Starting date: 1987.07 CHINESE STEREOTYPES FOR VARIOUS DISPLAY-CONTROL CONFIGURATIONS To establish some important stereotypes for the Chinese for display-control movement, spacial characteristics and concepts. The investigation will be in three phases: development of equipment and pilot tests; data collection; and, analysis of the results. Investigator: Mr. A.J. Courtney Department: Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1991.05 DEFORMATION AND RECRYSTALLISATION TEXTURE FORMATION IN FERRITE CONTAINING CONTROLLED PHOSPHORUS AND CARBON ADDITIONS To investigate the role of deformation banding in BCC rolling texture formation, and any effects this may have on recrystallisation texture formation in ferrite; to establish the conditions for the optimisation of {111} texture components, which give good forming properties, while minimising those texture components which degrade these properties; to investigate the roles of phosphorus and carbon in the nucleation of new grains in rolled ferrite; to consider the effects of dissolved C on shear band formation in ferrite. Investigators: Professor B.J. Duggan (Principal) Mr. G.L. Liu Ms. H. Ning Professor L.X. Zhang Departments: Mechanical Engineering Instrumental Analysis Centre of Shenyang Branch, Academia Sinica, People's Republic of China Source of funding: Croucher Foundation Starting date: 1992.04 MODELLING OF PLASTIC DEFORMATION IN FCC METALS AND ALLOYS Deformation banding is often observed to occur in plastic working but there has been no systematic attempts to include it in polycrystalline plasticity theory. This state of affairs has been rectified by work begun in Hong Kong in which deformation banding has been included in a Taylor framework, and several problems, previously thought to be intractable, have been addressed, notably the grain size effect on textures and the texture sharpness problem in simulations. The objective of the present work is to devise a model which predicts the presence of cube deformed material after heavy rolling reductions at the measured level of 2%. This material controls the final properties after annealing, and is of vast importance to the aluminium industry through the production of an extraordinary high-tech product, the aluminium drinks can. Investigators: Professor B.J. Duggan (Principal) Mr. Y.J. Chen Mr. C.H. Lim Department: Mechanical Engineering Starting date: 1992.06 TEXTURING OF INTERMETALLIC COMPOUNDS To experimentally investigate and theoretically model the texturing of intermetallic compounds Investigator: Professor B.J. Duggan Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1994.07 AN INVESTIGATION INTO TEXTURES AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES FORMED BY DYNAMIC RECRYSTALLISATION IN COPPER AND COPPER-BASED ALLOYS To determine the mechanisms by which textures are formed during dynamic recrystallisation in plane strain in single and two phase copper and copper-zinc alloys and then to construct a computer model which will allow mechanical properties to be predict Investigators: Professor B.J. Duggan (Principal) Mr. Y.J. Chen Mr. E.C.H. Lim Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Hong Kong Research Grants Council Starting date: 1995.01 A MICROSTRUCTURAL STUDY OF THE METAL MATRIX COMPOSITS SYSTEM SICP/ZN-AL To characterise the microstructure of a low cost metal matrix composits and to optimise its properties for use in land based transport systems. Investigators: Professor B.J. Duggan (Principal) Professor G.J. Shen Departments: Mechanical Engineering Analysis and Testing Centre, South East University, Nanjing, People's Republic of China Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1995.07 THE DAMPING BEHAVIOUR OF SICP/ZH-AL METAL MATRIX COMPOSITES To characterise the damping behaviour of SiCp/ZnAl MMCs; to determine the damping mechanism; to improve the damping capacity. Investigator: Professor B.J. Duggan Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1996.07 AN X-RAY DIFFRACTOMETER FOR GENERAL RESEARCH USE To allow chemical compound identification along with elementary crystal structure characterisation to be done for metallurgical and polymeric materials. Investigator: Professor B.J. Duggan Department: Mechanical Engineering Starting date: 1997.07 OPTIMAL DISCRETISATION FOR A LUMPED-PARAMETER MODEL OF THE THERMAL RESPONSE OF CHILLED WATER PIPELINE NETWORKS To measure the thermal frequency response of chilled water pipelines and to use this data to establish rational criteria for setting-up the system of discretisation for the dynamic simulation of large chilled water distribution networks. Investigator: Dr. A. Dunn Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1991.05 STUDY OF THE INTERACTION BETWEEN TERMINAL UNITS OF A VARIABLE AIR VOLUME AIR CONDITIONING SYSTEM Each variable air volume (VAV) terminal unit is operated by its own control loop, but each loop is coupled to all others by pressure changes in the air distribution network. The aim of this study is to investigate those factors that influence the strength of this coupling, and to develop prediction techniques to determine under what circumstances system performance will be adversely affected. Investigator: Dr. A. Dunn Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1991.05 DYNAMIC RESPONSE OF A COOLING AND DEHUMIDIFYING COIL FOR A DISTURBANCE IN AIR FLOW RATE To investigate the dynamic response of heat exchangers used in air conditioning systems to cool and dehumidify air, with chilled water as the primary medium. In particular, to examine the response of outlet air and water conditions to disturbances in air mass flow rate. To develop, and validate, a mathematical model of a dehumidifying coil that may be used to predict the dynamic performance of a variable volume air conditioning system. Investigator: Dr. A. Dunn Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1992.07 AN INVESTIGATION OF FORCE COEFFICIENTS DUE TO MARINE FOULINGS OF THE SOUTH CHINA SEA To estimate force coefficients (ie. drag and inertia) for marine fouled panels and cylinders in stationary and/or oscillatory flows with or without current. The South China Sea Institute of Oceanology in Guangzhou will supply samples collected at sea for experiments. Laboratory-made smaples will also be used to supplement the at-sea samples. Investigators: Mr. D.P.K. Fung (Principal) Mr. W.S. Yan Departments: Mechanical Engineering South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1991.07 MOONPOOL EXPERIMENTS Moonpools are vertical wells in floating offshore structures. Their function is to provide a protected environment for transporting equipment or personnel through the air-sea interface. To evaluate experimentally the hydrodynamic coefficients and eventually create the numerical models for different kinds of moonpools. The numerical models will help designers to select the appropriate configuration damping device so that the motion of the water-column inside the moonpool is controlled in a specific sea condition. A ¢°&endash;oonpool design manual” may be the end product when sufficient experimental data for moonpools and damping devices are collected. The setup can be easily modified for related studies: heaving motion of floating or submersed bodies e.g. ship and OWC (oscillating water column) for wave energy. Investigator: Mr. D.P.K. Fung Department: Mechanical Engineering Starting date: 1993.07 ROBOTIC FINISHING OF RAPID PROTOTYPE MODELS To determine the finishing requirements of a range of rapid prototype models in correlation with industrial robot characteristics. Investigator: Dr. I. Gibson Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1995.07 A RAPID TOOLING FACILITY FOR HONG KONG MANUFACTURERS To investigate automatic control of the SLS rapid prototyping process, software interfaces, and robotic based surface treatment of rapid prototyping components. Investigator: Dr. I. Gibson Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Industry Dept. of Hong Kong Government :- Industrial Support Fund Starting date: 1996.06 VISUAL MONITORING OF THE SLS RAPID PROTOTYPING PROCESS To use machine vision to monitor the operation of the Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) rapid prototyping machine for the purpose of operator assistance and/or closed-loop process control. Investigator: Dr. I. Gibson Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1996.07 INK-JET PRINTING OF ADDITIVES INTO SELECTIVE LASER SINTERING POWDERS To investigate methods of creating non-homogeneous components using the selective laser sintering process. Investigator: Dr. I. Gibson Department: Mechanical Engineering Starting date: 1997.07 DEVELOPMENT OF A GENERIC ¢°ßESIGN FOR X” SHELL FOR CONCURRENT DESIGN OF PRODUCTS AND PROCESSES To establish a generic framework which can be easily extended or tailored to develop a variety of ¢°ßesign for X” tools quickly and consistently. The purpose of the ¢°ßesign for X” (DFX) shell is not only to facilitate the development of new DFX tools also to allow a common framework for their implementation and integration. Investigators: Dr. G.Q. Huang (Principal) Professor K.L. Mak Department: Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Starting date: 1997.07 SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN HONG KONG MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY To determine how the purchaser/supplier relationship is evolving and to ascertain how purchasers select and evaluate suppliers. Investigator: Dr. P.K. Humphreys Department: Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Starting date: 1997.07 GIS SUPPORTED SYSTEM FOR CHEMICAL ACCIDENT ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT To integrate simulation models, chemical property and response databases, within a Geographic Information System (GIS-ARC/INFO). This system can serve as a powerful tool for government policy makers and planners in the assessment or management of accidental release of hazardous chemicals. Investigator: Dr. D. Jiang Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1995.11 URBAN AIR QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM To establish a database management system for urban air quality control, with the support of GIS (Geographic Information System) technology. Investigators: Dr. D. Jiang (Principal) Dr. H. Lin Departments: Mechanical Engineering Geography, The Chinese University of Hong Kong Source of funding: RGC Fundable Projects (Block Grant Funded) Starting date: 1996.10 INVESTIGATION ON THE CHARACTERISTICS OF ACIDIC DEPOSITION AND TRANSPORT INDICATION IN HONG KONG To study the characteristics of acidic deposition in Hong Kong, including both wet and dry deposition. The emphasis is on the extension from the conventional chemical analysis to the inclusion of the relationship with weather systems and meteorological conditions. Then to draw indications of pollutant transport respective to acid deposition. Investigator: Dr. D. Jiang Department: Mechanical Engineering Starting date: 1997.07 FLOW AND NOISE CHARACTERISTICS OF COAXIAL CYLINDERS To undertake research on flow over coaxial cylinders with a discontinuity between them. Investigator: Professor N.W.M. Ko Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Haking Wong Donation Starting date: 1980.05 EFFECT OF ACCELERATION AND DECELERATION OF COHERENT STRUCTURE ON FLOW INTERACTION To study the acceleration and deceleration of coherent structures in free shear flow and their relationship with the far field noise generation. It is hoped by its understanding of the basic mechanism of noise generation manipulation and control of the generation of noise by free shear flow can be attempted for the reduction of jet noise. This basic understanding might have very significant impact and profound effect on the industry, on the aeroengine and on the workers of industry and people around the airports. Investigator: Professor N.W.M. Ko Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1994.07 TRANSITION CHARACTERISTICS OF FLOW FROM CRITICAL TO SUPERCRITICAL REGIMES To study the complicated transition of the flow from the unstable (upper) subregime of critical regime to the upper transition subregime of supercritical regimes of smooth cylinder; to understand the mechanisms involved in the transition, which is of random phenomenon both in time and space for the control of the flow and the lift and drag. Investigator: Professor N.W.M. Ko Department: Mechanical Engineering Starting date: 1997.07 CLASSIFIER SYSTEM-BASED SELF-LEARNING CONTROL ALGORITHM FOR BUILDING AUTOMATION SYSTEMS To investigate the design and implementation of a self-learning control algorithm based on classifier system for application to building automation systems for advanced control of building services systems. Investigator: Mr. H.N. Lam Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1996.07 COMPUTATION OF REDUCED-ORDER MODELS FOR DELAY SYSTEMS To design an efficient and numerically stable algorithm for calculating reduced-order models for delay systems using the Hankel approach, and to investigate the properties of the Laguerre approximation for delay systems. Investigator: Dr. J. Lam Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1993.09 NEURAL NETWORK COMPUTATION FOR ROBUST POLE PLACEMENT To investigate the effectiveness of ANN optimisation in robust pole placement problem using different energy functions, activation functions and network architecture; to develop appropriate computing algroithms and associated neuron-like optimiser solvers for the pole placement problem. Investigator: Dr. J. Lam Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1994.08 CONTROL SYSTEM DESIGN OF LARGE-SCALE COMPOSITE SYSTEMS To study linear/nonlinear systems composed of several identical subsystems through symmetric or antisymmetric connections; to reveal the advantages, and give effective and less conservative control methods for the systems with these structural characteristics; to develop numerical routines for computer-aided control of the above systems. Investigator: Dr. J. Lam Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1995.07 DESIGN OF RELIABLE NONLINEAR CONTROL SYSTEMS To design nonlinear controllers such that they provide stability and performance not only when all control components are operational, but also in the case of some component outages; to develop a methodology to provide reliability by introducing redundant sensors and redundant actuators; to produce effective controller design algorithms. Investigator: Dr. J. Lam Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1996.07 ROBUST DECENTRALIZED CONTROL FOR LARGE-SCALE GENERALIZED SYSTEMS To develop interconnected stability theory for large-scale generalized systems via generalized Lyapunov and root-locus methods; to design robust decentralized impulse-eliminating controllers for large-scale generalized systems with local static feedba to stabilize large-scale generalized systems by utilizing generalized linear quadratic decentralized control. Investigator: Dr. J. Lam Department: Mechanical Engineering Starting date: 1997.07 DESIGN AND FABRICATION OF A 6-AXIS ROBOTIC MILLING SYSTEM To extend the capability of the assembly robot installed in the flexible manufacturing cell at the IMSE department, from purely assembly functions to 6-axis milling operations, and to transfer this technology to those manufacturing industry requiring flexible machining. Investigators: Dr. T.L. Lau (Principal) Professor K.L. Mak Dr. W.W.H. Yu Department: Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1994.07 GEOMETRICAL ASPECTS FOR THE OPTIMIZATION OF MILLING CONDITIONS To design an efficient method for the geometric modelling of 3-dimensional workpieces which can handle geometrical as well as technological information pertaining to milling optimization; to develop an interactive graphical computer-assisted cutting technology program which can incorporate the geometry definition, operations planning, cutting conditions optimization, and cutter selection functions in an integrated manner. Investigator: Dr. T.L. Lau Department: Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Source of funding: Croucher Foundation Starting date: 1994.11 STUDY FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF ACCURACY FOR ATMOSPHERIC POLLUTANT MONITORING To investigate the effects of varying ambient conditions on the measured pollutant concentrations and to quantify the error involved in the measurement. Investigator: Dr. D.Y.C. Leung Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1995.07 DEVELOPMENT OF AIR DISPERSION MODEL FOR COASTAL ZONES AND COMPLEX TERRAIN To develop a model for general air pollution prediction. Investigators: Dr. D.Y.C. Leung (Principal) Professor A.T.Y. Chwang Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Hong Kong Research Grants Council Starting date: 1995.10 AIR POLLUTION DUE TO ROAD TRAFFIC: A STUDY TO ACHIEVE SUSTAINABLE AIR QUALITY IN HONG KONG To carry out comprehensive measurements on the harmful air pollutants emitted from road vehicles in the urban areas; to select and calibrate the most suitable model for predicting the air quality in the complex urban environment; to predict and assess the air quality in urban areas in the next decade under different air pollution control strategies; to recommend the most suitable strategy to improve the air quality in urban areas of Hong Kong. Investigator: Dr. D.Y.C. Leung Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Croucher Foundation Starting date: 1995.11 KINETIC STUDY OF THE GASIFICATION OF WASTE TYRES To design and construct a test rig for studying the kinetic of the tyre gasification process; to obtain and analyze the performance data of fast and slow pyrolysis of rubber tyre. Investigator: Dr. D.Y.C. Leung Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1996.07 ROAD TRAFFIC RELATED AIR POLLUTION: A STUDY TO ACHIEVE SUSTAINABLE AIR QUALITY IN HONG KONG To develop a long-term strategy for combating the traffic-related air pollution problem in Hong Kong. Investigator: Dr. D.Y.C. Leung Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: RGC Fundable Projects (Block Grant Funded) Starting date: 1996.10 MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES FOR TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT (TQM) AND THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ON QUALITY ASSURANCE SYSTEM MGT (ISO 9000) ADAPTATION IN SMALL AND MEDIUM SIZED LOCAL MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES To assess the current state and characteristics of quality management systems of the targeted industries in light of the modern concepts of TQM and ISO 9000, and then to identify the major areas requiring improvement. Investigator: Mr. V.H.Y. Lo Department: Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1992.05 DEVELOPMENT OF A COMPUTER-AIDED SYSTEM FOR THE ECONOMICS OF QUALITY IN THE METALS AND LIGHT ENGINEERING INDUSTRIES (MLEI) IN HONG KONG To promote the concept of economics of quality as introduced in BS 6143; to provide a computer-aided system to enable companies in MLEI to apply BS 6143 for control of costs of quality. Investigator: Mr. V.H.Y. Lo Department: Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Source of funding: Industry Dept. of Hong Kong Government :- Industrial Support Fund Starting date: 1995.01 IMPLEMENTATION OF ISO9000: A HONG KONG-CHINA CROSS-CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE To investigate the cross-cultural difficulties in implementing ISO9000 system. Investigator: Mr. V.H.Y. Lo Department: Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1995.07 ADOPTING CONFUCIANISM IN MODERN QUALITY MANAGEMENT FOR A CHINESE BASED SOCIETY To investigate the feasibility of adopting traditional Chinese Confucian principles in enhancing the implementation of Total Quality Management (TQM) in a Chinese based society - Hong Kong. Investigator: Mr. V.H.Y. Lo Department: Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1996.07 A STUDY OF THE FACTORS AFFECTING THE PERFORMANCE OF MULTI-STAGE MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS IN AN JUST-IN-TIME ENVIRONMENT The success of Japanese firms is attributed not only to the JIT techniques, but also to the manufacturing environment in which the technique is employed. This research attempts to investigate the operating characteristics of typical multi-stage manufacturing systems in order to examine how the technique can be adapted to the local manufacturing environment. Investigator: Professor K.L. Mak Department: Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1992.07 DEVELOPMENT OF AN EXPERT SYSTEM FOR INVENTORY MANAGEMENT To develop an expert system for the synthesis of replenishment policies for stock items having independent demands. Investigator: Professor K.L. Mak Department: Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1993.07 OPTIMAL DESIGN OF MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS USING MATHEMATICAL PROGRAMMING To develop mathematical models and solution algorithms for optimal machine requirements planning and workload assignment. Investigators: Professor K.L. Mak (Principal) Dr. T.N. Wong Department: Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1995.07 GENETIC APPROACH TO FACILITY LAYOUT PLANNING PROBLEM FOR MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY To develop an efficient algorithm basing on concepts of genetic algorithms for solving facility layout and material flow problems for job shop and flow shop manufacturing environments. Investigator: Professor K.L. Mak Department: Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1996.07 AN INVESTIGATION OF THE PHASE MORPHOLOGY OF POLY (VINYL CHLORIDE)/CHLORINATED POLYETHYLENE BLENDS To characterize the phase morphology of CPE/PVC blends using the electron microscope (STEM); to investigate the effect of processing conditions on the morphology and impact properties of CPE/PVC blends. Investigator: Dr. J.N. Ness Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1991.05 CUBIC TO HEXAGONAL PHASE TRANSFORMATION IN THE INTERMETALLIC COMPOUND FE3GE In Fe3Ge, transformation from the cubic L12 phase which is stable at low temperatures to the hexagonal DO19 phase takes place at about 700 degree centigrade. This transformation is thought to be accomplished by a shear mechanism, whichmeans that there is a strong likelihood that the transformation is accelerated or decelerated when there is an externally applied stress present. This project investigates the coupling between this transformation and the mechanically applied stress state. Investigator: Dr. A.H.W. Ngan Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1995.07 MECHANICAL ALLOYING OF INTERMETALLICS To investigate the synthesis of intermetallic-based materials via mechnaical alloying methods. Investigators: Dr. A.H.W. Ngan (Principal) Professor B.J. Duggan Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1996.07 MODELLING NON-PLANAR DISLOCATION CORES USING A PEIERLS-NABARRO APPROACH To re-derive the basic equation of the P-N model by adopting a more general perspective so that the non-planar character can be incorporated. Investigator: Dr. A.H.W. Ngan Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Hong Kong Research Grants Council Starting date: 1996.09 YIELD BEHAVIOUR OF g’-Ni3Al TOUGHENED BY g PRECIPITATION To investigate the yield behaviour of g-toughened g-Ni3Al as a function of temperature and also to establish any correlation of the yield behaviour with dislocation structure during deformation. Investigators: Dr. A.H.W. Ngan (Principal) Professor B.J. Duggan Department: Mechanical Engineering Starting date: 1997.07 GENETIC DESIGN OF FUZZY LOGIC CONTROLLERS FOR ROBOTIC MANIPULATORS In agile manufacturing systems, it is important that robotic manipulators are effective for a wide range of industrial tasks. This Project accordingly aims to develop a powerful methodology for the genetic design of highly robust computed-torque/fuzzy-logic controllers for such manipulators. Investigators: Professor B. Porter (Principal) Professor K.L. Mak Department: Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1995.11 GENETIC COMPUTATION IN THREE-DIMENSIONAL PATH PLANNING FOR CAD/CAM The application of genetic algorithms to the computation of geodesic lines on three-dimensional curved surfaces defined in digitised form; the application of genetic algorithms to the computation of time-optimal control policies for multi-degree-of-freedom robotic manipulators; the combination of the above to provide a powerful computational tool for practical three-dimensional path planning in CAD/CAM; the demonstration of the practical utility of this tool in practical tests. Investigator: Professor B. Porter Department: Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Source of funding: RGC Fundable Projects (Block Grant Funded) Starting date: 1996.10 USE OF THE TIME-DOMAIN FOURIER FILTER OUTPUT METHOD IN NON-LINEAR MODAL IDENTIFICATION To identify the modal parameters of any existing non-linear structure from both free and forced vibration tests. Investigator: Dr. M.G. Sainsbury Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1996.07 OFFICE AUTOMATION To develop multi-perspective system-based frameworks to help resolve issues in office automation. Investigators: Mr. D. Sculli (Principal) Mr. J.K.K. Ho Department: Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Starting date: 1993.06 BUSINESS SIMULATION AND MANAGEMENT TRAINING To develop decision support systems that will improve the value of business games as management training tools. Investigators: Mr. D. Sculli (Principal) Mr. T.H. Ho Department: Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Starting date: 1994.01 A COMPUTER-BASED RESEARCH INFORMATION SYSTEM FOR R AND D DISSEMINATION Research dissemination and collaboration in the area of aerospace management. Educational training programs in advanced studies in engieneering and management of technology via: short courses, symposia/workshop and remote education program through vi education and teleconferencing. Investigator: Dr. A.A.E. Shabayek Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1997.01 NUMERICAL FATIGUE FRACTURE ANALYSIS OF TUBULAR JOINTS SUBJECTED TO BOTH BASIC AND COMBINED LOADINGS The existing methods, which include the S-N and fracture mechanics approaches, for evaluating the fatigue life of offshore tubular joints subjected to combined loadings are not always reliable and accurate due to the adoption of the principle of superposition in dealing with such loadings which consist of any combinations of basic load types. Therefore, there is a need to investigate the weaknesses of the said methods and, hence, propose an improved method to solve the problem. Various configurations of tubular joints, e.g., T/Y and X joints, will be studied using the numerical techniques and the results obtained will be compared with those obtained by the superposition method. Investigator: Dr. A.K. Soh Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1996.11 COLLAPSE ANALYSIS OF PIPES WITH CUTOUTS SUBJECTED TO VARIOUS BASIC LOAD TYPES In the fabrication of offshore structures, cutouts are often made on pipes to allow access to the interior of the pipes for maintenance and servicing. Although some researchers have studied buckling of pipes with cutouts, their studies were normally limited to short or intermediate pipes for which the buckling mode was predominantly local and not Euler which was commonly encountered in the case of offshore construction. Thus, there is a necessity to thoroughly investigate the effects of cutouts on the collapse load of pipes. Investigator: Dr. A.K. Soh Department: Mechanical Engineering Starting date: 1997.07 SOLAR FLAT-PLATE COLLECTOR TESTING To establish a flat-plate collector test rig for studying the performance characteristics under various operating conditions. Investigator: Dr. K. Sumathy Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1996.11 MODELLING OF A SOLAR WATER PUMP To develop an algorithm to evaluate the performance of the water-cooled pump for any location, given the lift and collector area. Investigator: Dr. K. Sumathy Department: Mechanical Engineering Starting date: 1997.07 DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH PERFORMANCE TRIANGULAR AND TETRAHEDRAL FINITE ELEMENT MODELS To formulate high performance (1) triangular elements for plate/shell analyses and (2) tetrahedral elements for three-dimensional solid analyses. Investigator: Dr. K.Y. Sze Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Hong Kong Research Grants Council Starting date: 1996.07 HYBRID/MIXED FINITE ELEMENT MODELS FOR GEOMETRICALLY NONLINEAR ANALYSIS OF SHELLS To formulate efficient and accurate hybrid/mixed finite element models for geometrically nonlinear analysis of shell structures. Investigator: Dr. K.Y. Sze Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1996.11 COMPUTATIONAL MODELS FOR LAMINATED COMPOSITE PLATES To formulate ad hoc finite element models for stress analysis of laminated composite plates. Investigators: Dr. K.Y. Sze (Principal) Professor Y.K. Cheung Departments: Mechanical Engineering Civil and Structural Engineering Starting date: 1997.07 COLLISION DETECTION AND OPTIMAL PATH PLANNING FOR AN INTEGRATED ROBOT MACHINING CENTER Study the feasibility of using neural networks and simple parallel circuits to replace traditional computational methods for collision-free path planning. The new algorithms will be implemented on an integrated robot machining centre. Investigators: Mr. W.S. Sze (Principal) Dr. Y.H. Chen Dr. J. Yuan Departments: Mechanical Engineering Mechanical Engineering, University of Windsor, Canada Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1996.07 PARTING LINE AND PARTING SURFACE GENERATION FOR XCAD IN A TRIMMED SURFACE MODEL To provide the manufacturing industry with a software tool for automating the manufacture of a moulding system. Investigators: Professor S.T. Tan (Principal) Mr. W.S. Sze Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Hong Kong Research Grants Council Starting date: 1995.07 COMPUTER AIDED MODELLING OF FLEXIBLE SURFACES To develop a mathematical model for the representation of flexible surfaces in computers. Investigators: Professor S.T. Tan (Principal) Dr. T.N. Wong Departments: Mechanical Engineering Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1996.07 TOLERANCE MODELLING OF ENGINEERING SURFACES To develop a mathematical model for the representation of engineering surface topography. The mathematical relationships of this model with respect to some theories and practices used in international standards would also be investigated. Investigators: Professor S.T. Tan (Principal) Mr. W.S. Sze Department: Mechanical Engineering Starting date: 1997.07 DYNAMICS OF MOVING INTERFACES To develop several general integration theorems by using generalized functions and to apply them in developing model of moving interfaces. The general integration theorems form the rule regarding interchange of the order of integration and differentiation. The results are believed to be important for interfacial transport phenomena appearing in diverse fields and for many other problems involving changing spatial scales during the analysis such as modeling of transport processes in multiphase or turbulent flows and in porous media. Investigator: Dr. L.Q. Wang Department: Mechanical Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1996.11 NON-ISOTHERMAL FLOW AND HEAT TRANSFER IN ROTATING CHANNELS To examine flow and heat transfer in rotating rectangular channels numerically by a finite volume method. Investigator: Dr. L.Q. Wang Department: Mechanical Engineering Starting date: 1997.07 STUDY OF COLOURING OF CRYSTALLINE THERMOPLASTICS BY INJECTION MOULDING MANUFACTURING METHOD USING ULTRASONIC MEASURING TECHNIQUE To dervise an experimental technique which involves applications of ultrasonic measurment; to investigate, with the ultrasonic measurment technique developed, the effect of crystallinity , colour concentration and mould cooling rate on the quality of colourisation of plastic parts manufactured by injection moulding method. Investigators: Dr. A.C.Y. Wong (Principal) Dr. P.I.F. Niem Department: Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1994.07 FLOWABILITY OF POLYMER MELT IN INJECTION MOULDING To correlate the flowability of polymer melt during injection moulding with the melt flow rate determined by melt flow indexer. Investigator: Dr. A.C.Y. Wong Department: Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1995.07 INVESTIGATION ON THE MODIFICATION OF THE PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF PET FILMS TO BE USED IN ¢°¨MD" To investigate whether or not a processing window exists on the modified PET films which are to be used in ¢°¨n-Mould Decoration” in plastics injection moulding processes. Investigator: Dr. A.C.Y. Wong Department: Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Source of funding: Tak Mei Toys Eyeball Factory Ltd. Starting date: 1995.07 FUZZY-LOGIC CONTROL OF PLASTICS EXTRUSION To develop and implement a practical fuzzy-logic controller on a plastics extruder for process improvement. Investigators: Dr. A.C.Y. Wong (Principal) Professor B. Porter Department: Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1996.07 CONFIGURATIONS OF EXTRUSION DIES THAT CONTRIBUTING TO POLYMER SWELL To develop the absolute as well as the relative effects of the contributive design factors of extrusion dies on polymer swell using a unique visible "transparent" industrial size extruder. Investigator: Dr. A.C.Y. Wong Department: Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Starting date: 1997.07 MODELLING OF FMS To investigate the methodology and solution strategies for the modelling and simulation of a Flexible Manufacturing System (FMS) environment. A computational model will be established to represent FMS, and the model will be studied with respect to its usefulness in performing the process planning and scheduling tasks. Investigators: Dr. T.N. Wong (Principal) Professor K.L. Mak Department: Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1995.07 FUZZY EXPERT SYSTEMS IN MANUFACTURING PROCESS PLANNING To investigate the applications of fuzzy expert systems in computer aided process planning. A fuzzy expert system will be established for the selection and sequencing of manufacturing processes for prismatic machined parts. Investigator: Dr. T.N. Wong Department: Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1996.07 AUTOMATIC RECOGNITION OF MACHINING FEATURES FROM CAD MODELS To establish a system for the automatic recognition of manufacturing features from CAD models. The system is a new graph-based feature recognition algorithm which is capable of recognizing multiple interpretations of interacting machining features from mechanical engineering parts. Investigator: Dr. T.N. Wong Department: Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Starting date: 1997.07 A ROBOT VISION SYSTEM FOR FLEXIBLE ASSEMBLY To develop and build a useful and practical robot vision system for flexible assembly. The special features of such a system include: user friendliness, intelligence, and adaptivity. A less technically trained operator would therefore be able to learn to use such a system easily for a wide range of work. Investigators: Dr. W.W.H. Yu (Principal) Professor K.L. Mak Department: Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1993.07 AUTOMATIC COLOUR QUALITY ANALYZER AND INSPECTION SYSTEM To design and fabricate a system for analyzing colour quality of materials automatically. Investigators: Dr. W.W.H. Yu (Principal) Dr. P.L.Y. Chan Dr. A.C.Y. Wong Department: Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Source of funding: Committee on Research and Conference Grants Starting date: 1994.07