Visit of Prof. William M. Banks President of IMechE to UNITEN

The president of IMechE, Prof. William M. Banks will be visiting Uniten on the 6th of April and wants to meet a few members of the student chapter. Those of you who will still be in campus make yourselves free as you do not want to miss out on this chance to meet Prof. William M. Banks. Remember that our student chapter is one of the most active student chapters, if not the most active. More details will be posted soon.

Asia-Ocenia Regional SOFE competition 2009

Dear Young Members,

The Asia-Ocenia Regional SOFE competition 2009 will take place in Monash University and is organised by IMechE Malaysia Branch and Young Members Panel of IMechE Malaysia Branch. The details of the event are as below.

Venue : Plenary Theatre , Monash University Sunway Campus, Malaysia
Date : 4th April 2009 (Saturday)
Time : 2.00 p.m. to 6.00 p.m.

“ADDMISION FREE FOR ALL”

Contestants List

(1) Australia - David Ackland.

(2) China - Hao Rui.

(3) Hong Kong - Eunice Chan.

(4) Malaysia - Dominic Hua. (UNITEN)

(5) Singapore - Alastair Ritchie.

(6) Sri Lanka -Asanka Peter.


IMechE Malaysia has requested for 40 members from each student chapter to cheer on the Malaysian participant, who coincidentally is a student of Uniten.

They have also requested for 10 volunteers to help out on that day. Members are welcome to come and take part. Food, drinks and possibly a certificate will be provided.

Those of you who are interested please e-mail your NAME, SID, CONTACT NUMBER and E-MAIL ADDRESS to uniten.imeche@gmail.com before the 1st of April 2009.
Places are limited, so do reply fast.

Industrial Visit to SIRIM Advanced Manufacturing Technology Centre

Report on Industrial Visit to SIRIM Advanced Manufacturing Technology Centre

Venue : SIRIM Advanced Manufacturing Technology Centre
Date : 13th March 2009 (Friday)
Time : 9.00 a.m. to 12.30 p.m.

By: Mun Yi

IMechE-Uniten Student Chapter organized a visit to SIRIM Advanced Manufacturing Technology Centre, Bukit Jalil, Selangor. The person in charge on that day was Dr. Ramesh, the advisor of IMechE-Uniten Sudent Chapter. The visit was strictly for members only and only 40 seats were available.

We arrived at the designated venue at approximately 9.40am. Upon arrival, we were greeted by a warmth welcome by Dr Wan Abdul Rahman, the Program Head of National CAD/CAM Program of SIRIM. We were then ushered to the meeting room where we were given an introduction speech about SIRIM Advanced Manufacturing Technology. We were served with breakfast and given a short break. After the break, we were given few presentation and speeches about SIRIM Advanced Manufacturing Technology.

Basically, SIRIM Advanced Manufacturing Technology Centre provides a wide range of services to the industries through Electronics and Intelligent System Development Programme, Industrial Automation and Robotics Programme and National CAD/CAM Programme. The centre is focusing on the fields of electronics and ICT, industrial automation and robotics together with CAD/CAM/CAE technologies and manufacturing systems. The centre includes Research & Development, Product Development, Design & Prototyping Services, Consultancy & Advisory Services, Technology Support Services and Technology Transfer & Dissemination through technical trainings.

Approximately, an hour later, we were taken on a short tour to the laboratory of SIRIM Advanced Manufacturing Technology Centre. Dr Wan Abdul Rahman was the person in charge. While touring on foot, he explained in detail all the process involved in the laboratory. The tour took about 30 minutes. The session was ended with the souvenir presentation. We departed from SIRIM Advanced Manufacturing Technology Centre at about 12.30pm. The visit was deemed very beneficial as we were able to see various machineries and understand the Advanced Manufacturing Technology of SIRIM.

Photos of the visit:

Dr Wan Abdul Rahman giving his speech on advanced manufacturing technology

Participants having breakfast

A senior engineer explaining the past projects of SIRIM

Dr Wan Sazaley Wan Ismail giving his speech regarding electronics

Tour of the centre

Tour of the centre

Tour of the centre

Group photo taken after the visit

IMechE-UNITEN Student Chapter Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) 2009

Report on IMechE-UNITEN Student Chapter Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM)

Venue: BM-0-010, College of Engineering
Date: 12th March 2009 (Thursday)
Time: 8.00 p.m. to 9.30 p.m.

By: Madhav Shyam

The IMechE-UNITEN Student Chapter held its Extraordinary General Meting (EGM) on the 12th of March 2009. It was held in room BM – 0 – 10 of College of Engineering. The purpose of the EGM was mainly to introduce the new line-up of the committee to the members of this chapter.

There were 20 people who attended the EGM although all the members were notified about the meeting. The amount of attendees was exceptional due to time constraints. The VIPs were Mr. Mohd Erwan bin Mohd Yusoff, from Student Affairs Centre, Aliff Irsyad Bin Ngah, Clubs and Society Exco of MPP, Dominic Hua Shi Hao, the outgoing president and advisor Assoc. Prof. Ir. Dr. Ramesh Singh who arrived later during the EGM.

The EGM began at 8.30pm with the arrival of the VIPs escorted by Nicholas Ong Soon Keat, the incoming president of the chapter. As soon as they were seated, the MC for the night, Madhav Shyam gave a brief introduction about the IMechE and the UNITEN student chapter.

Then, the outgoing president of IMechE-UNITEN Student Chapter, Dominic Hua Shi Hao gave a speech. In his speech, he related on his experience of traveling to London, UK and One Birdcage Walk, the headquarters of IMechE. Furthermore, he has also suggested ways for the new committee to set a higher benchmark for the chapter. He mentioned that our website has been viewed and highly regarded by those in IMechE UK and stressed the importance of keeping it active. Besides that, he urged the members to participate in talks, visits, and competitions, especially those held by the chapter.

After the speech, Nicholas was on stage to call forward the past committee of ImechE-UNITEN Student Chapter to show appreciation to them. Then, Dominic introduced the new line-up of the IMechE-UNITEN Student Chapter.

After the introduction of the new committee, the incoming President, Nicholas gave a few words, requesting full commitment and cooperation from the committee and members alike.

After that, the MC continued the EGM by briefing the attendees on the past activities held by the chapter. Among those activities were the launch of IMechE-UNITEN Student Chapter, lecture series, industrial visits, for example to the Proton manufacturing plant and the ME Department-Student Dialogue Session. The upcoming activities were also mentioned; among others would be the trip to SIRIM and the second edition of the dialogue session.

The EGM ended at 9.15pm with photo sessions with the new committee and the VIPs. The EGM went well despite below-than-expected number of members attending the meeting, this most probably due to the short-notice of the event.

The Outgoing Committee:

PRESIDENT
Dominic Hua Shi Hao

VICE-PRESIDENT 1
Suresh Nagappan

VICE-PRESIDENT 11
Nicholas Ong Soon Keat

SECRETARY
Ghokulesh Satkunanasan

ASSISTANT SECETARY
Md Ayman Munip

TREASURER
Lim See Beng

ASSISTANT TREASURER
Adeline Yin Cheng

BUREAUS:

PROGRAM
Head : Roger Yang Yong Seng
Vice : Andrew Lew Fei Meng
AJK : Chong Mun Yi
Samuel Lai Kuan Lee

MULTIMEDIA
Head : Tan Pong Seng
Vice : Joshua Ooi
AJK : Lau Jian Xiong
Lim Doou Han
Cheah Gaik Phing

PUBLICITY
Head : Tiliban Vasu
Vice : Liow Eu Beng
AJK : Yap Wee Han

STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES
1st Year : K.Poornima
2nd Year: Madhav Shyam
3rd Year: H’ng Huey Sun
4th Year: Devankumar Gopal

The Incoming Committee:

PRESIDENT
Nicholas Ong

VICE-PRESIDENT 1
Roger Yang

VICE-PRESIDENT 11
Tilibban Vasu

SECRETARY
Chong Mun Yi

ASSISTANT SECETARY
Cheah Gaik Phing

TREASURER
Liow Eu Beng

ASSISTANT TREASURER
Krishnath Tangaragee

BUREAUS:

PROGRAM
Head : Samuel Lai
Vice : Madhav Shyam
AJK : Wong Menn Yee
Lee Hao Yong

MULTIMEDIA
Head : Sukhania
AJK : Indhira
Lee Weng Fei
Balveen Singh

SPECIAL TASKS
Head : Suraj Singh
AJK : Wan Muhammad Djawad
Ang Wei Hao
Kamarularifin

MEMBERSHIP
Head : Suguna
AJK : Chin Meow Chong
Hazziq Shukri
Aref

Photos of the EGM:

The arrival of the VIPs

Dominic giving his speech

"Educated Engineers: The only basis for a Sustainable Society" by Professor Bill Banks

We are pleased to announce our talk on "Educated Engineers: The only basis for a Sustainable Society" to be presented by our President,Professor Bill Banks, on 6th April 2009.

Kindly note that this event shall be jointly hosted with Institution of Engineers, Malaysia (Mechanical Engineering Technical Division).

SYNOPSIS OF TALK

Today, the world is facing a number of global issues surrounding climate change; from scarcity ofwater to finding new supplies of fossil to meet the ever increasing energy demands by nationssuch as India and China. To help resolve all these issues, the world requires engineers. To do this,we have to be prepared to inspire the next generation of students to see engineering as a worthyand exciting career path.Educated Engineers is the keynote speech from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers’President, Professor Bill Banks, which aims to highlight the growing number of issues facing manynations around the world that seem to be experiencing a slowing of students willing to undertakeengineering. By using the UK as example, Professor Banks will outline the common issuesaffecting uptake of engineering and compare this with his own personal experience as a studentdeciding on a university course and his inspiration to undertake Mechanical Engineering at theUniversity of Strathclyde, Scotland. Professor Banks will also examine the relationships betweenacademia and industry, using his own consultancy experiences in the area of composite materialsto demonstrate how both sectors can effectively work together to achieve common goals.

THE SPEAKER

Professor William M Banks is the 123rd President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers aswell as Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the Royal Society ofEdinburgh. Bill brings a wealth of knowledge from over thirty years experience in education andacademia and is a past Chairman of the UK’s Engineering Professor Council. His work andresearch into composite materials has been widely recognised. Bill has also been the latestrecipient of the James Alfred Ewing Medal, assessed jointly by The Royal Society and theInstitution of Civil Engineers, for “Special Meritorious contributions to the science of engineering inthe field of research.”

The details can be found in the flyers below Please take note that the two flyers are advertising the same event. Just that one states that there will also be a session to meet the IMechE President, Professor William M Banks before the talk.

Note: Click on the images to view the larger image

Cooling The Planet Finals 2009 in IMechE, HQ, London

Report on Cooling the Planet Competition

Venue: IMechE Headquarters, Birdcage Walk, London

Date: 5^th March 2009

By: Ghokulesh Satkuna Nasan

On the 5^th of March 2009, Team UNITEN ELITE of University Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN) participated in the world finals of the Cooling the Planet Competition which was held in the IMechE Headquarters in London. The competition progressed in two stages, the preliminaries which was a 2 pages summary of the proposal and the finals which comprise of a technical report, non-technical handout and the presentation. Our team proposed the idea of Carbon, Capture & Storage (CCS) which was inspired by the team leader of UNITEN ELITE, Dominic Hua Shi Hao and the other team mates namely Ghokulesh Satkuna Nasan, Tan Pong Seng and Lim See Beng.

CCS can be divided into three major stages, namely the capture stage, the transport stage and the storage stage. CO₂ capture process in power production falls into three categories namely flue gas separation, oxyfuel combustion in power plant, and pre-combustion separation. Flue gas separation is basically a chemical absorption process whereby gas is absorbed in a liquid solvent by formation of chemically bonded compound. Oxyfuel combustion is the process whereby the fuel is burned in an oxygen rich atmosphere to reduce other harmful GHG such as NO_x, SO_x, and CO gases resulting in the main component of the flue gas, CO₂ and H₂O. Finally, pre-combustion capture is a process where the hydrocarbon fuel namely coal is gasified to produce H₂₂ is then used as a fuel source and the CO is reacted with H₂O to produce CO₂ which is captured before combustion. The captured CO2 is then transported either via pipelines, tankers or ships to the sequestrations site. The storage can be divided into two main areas which is the geological storage and the oceanic storage. In geological storages, there are four methods namely; depleted oil and gas reservoirs, enhanced oil recovery (EOR) operations, unminable coal seams, and deep saline formations. and CO. The HDepleted oil and gas reservoirs involve injecting CO₂ into depleted oil and gas fields as having been practiced for many years. CO₂₂ storage potential. The density of CO₂ depends on the depth of injection. injection into geological formations for Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) is a mature technology and is able to buffer the high cost of the CCS application. Unminable coal seams are either too deep or too thin to be mined economically and are another potential storage site and are also capable of producing methane as a useful hydrocarbon. Deep saline formations have the greatest CO In ocean storages, CO₂ would be discharged in its liquid phase, if discharged above 500m depth the liquid CO₂ would immediately flash into vapor and into the atmosphere. Between 500 and about 3000 m, liquid CO₂ is less dense than seawater; therefore it would rise by buoyancy and would completely dissolve before raising 100m

There were approximately 60 teams from around the globe that took part in the preliminary round and only six teams were shortlisted by the panel of judges to present their engineering feasible idea in the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Headquarters, 1 Birdcage Walk, Westminster, London, United Kingdom. Five other teams who participated in this prestigious event was STFC, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire, UK , BH Young Engineers based at Buro Happold in London, UK , Jaguar Land Rover in Coventry/Warwick, UK, Team Glow based at Buro Happold in Bath, UK, and Planet AECOM based at Faber Maunsell in London, UK. The UNITEN ELITE were the only team comprising of undergraduate students and the only team which represented the Asia continent. This is the first time that a team from Malaysia had qualified for the finals in London. The six teams in which 5 other teams consists of top-notch engineering consultant companies from across the globe will battle out in this final presentation. The competition was divided into two categories the mitigation and geo-engineering. The chairperson for the evening was Dr. Colin Brown, IMechE Director of Engineering. Before the proposals were presented by the respective teams, Professor Tim Lenton, Professor of Earth System Science, University of East Anglia gave a short introductory presentation on the current climatic situation along with a brief overview about global warming. The presentation of our engineering feasible idea entitled ‘Carbon Capture Storage was lead by our very own dynamic team leader, Dominic Hua Shi Hao.

The winners for the geo-engineering category was STFC, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire, UK who presented their idea of artificial trees whereas the winners for the other category was Planet AECOM, Faber Maunsell, London, UK with their proposal of Waste to Biochar Hydro-Pyrolosis. The overall champion for was Planet AECOM with their proposal of stabilizing atmospheric CO2 levels by closing the carbon cycle through reducing geological oil extraction and returning carbon back to the earth. Recognizing the benefit of waste, this process is achieved by diverting organic waste streams from land-fill to a network of pyrolysis plants, creating oil and gas for fuel, while the biochar residue can be used in agriculture to enrich soils, increase yields and secure carbon stably in the ground. The evening ended with a short prize giving ceremony by IMechE CEO Stephen Tetlow and some tea. Later in the evening team UNITEN ELITE was treated for dinner by Dr. Colin Brown and Chris Fox.

Although team UNITEN ELITE was unable to bring back victory, we were able to appreciate the steps taken by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers United Kingdom to get young engineers who are the leaders of tomorrow to think innovatively in order to combat the ever growing concern of global warming by proposing mitigation (short-term) and geo-engineering (long-term) solution. This was also an important avenue whereby young and experienced engineers were able to share and discuss their ideas. Throughout the whole experience of COOLING THE PLANET competition we, team UNITEN ELITE have gain an important perspective and a valuable experience in preserving the environment for a sustainable future.

“Regional Speak Out for Engineering Asia Oceania Competition 2009”

Dear Young Members,

It is now time for our event of the year. Our “Regional Speak Out for Engineering Asia Oceania Competition 2009” organised by the Young Members Section (YMS) of IMechE Malaysia and supported by Monash University Malaysia Sunway Campus.

We, the YMS would like to cordially invite all of you to attend this competition which will be held at the Plenary Theatre at Monash University Malaysia Sunway Campus on the 4th of April 2009 from 1.30 p.m.

This year we have a total number of 6 participants coming from Australia, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Sri Lanka for this year’s event. (so come and give us all your support & learn some finer points of presentation skills to present to non-technical personal & prepare yourself to take part in future year competition!!!) . The winner will walk away with a prize money of £500 and the runner-up with £250.

If you do intend to attend please indicate you intention by replying to the email shown in the attached flyer to reserve a seat. Seats are limited to the 1st 130 participants who register. Late comes or walk in audience will only be allowed in if there are seats available. To avoid disappointment please register early.

I sincerely hope all of you would be able to join us on the 4th April 2009.

Further details are highlighted in the attached flyer and direction to Monash University Campus.

See you all there!!


Rajkumar
Chairman
Young Members Section
Malaysia Branch
raj.durairaj@gmail.com

Photos of Nuclear Energy Talk

The Title of the Talk

Dr. Zam Zam Giving the Talk

Dr. Ramesh Presenting the Souvenir to Dr. Zam Zam

Inter-Club Bowling Tournament 2009

There will be an Inter-Club Bowling Tournament held this week. Do make yourself free to come forward and join this event. Details of tournament are as follows:

Date : 15 Mac 2009
Venue : Mines,Bowling Mines
Fees : RM75 per team (1 team 5 players)

Those of you who are interested in representing IMechE Uniten Student Chapter please e-mail your NAME, STUDENT ID, CONTACT NUMBER and E-MAIL ADDRESS to uniten.imeche@gmail.com.

Come join this event and support our club.

Announcement on SIRIM Visit

As you all know, we will be having an industrial visit to SIRIM's Advanced Manufacturing Technology Centre this Friday the 13th of March 2009.

Please take note that the venue to gather has been changed to COE bus stop (opposite BV).

Sorry for any inconvenice caused.

Nuclear Energy Talk

IMechE Uniten Student Chapter has successfully organized its first lecture talk series of the semester which was entitled “TNB Nuclear Energy Initiatives, Nuclear Reactor Technology and Fuel Cycle”. We were fortunate to have Prof. Dr. Mohd Zamzam Bin Jaafar (Head, Nuclear Energy Taskforce, TNB) to grace us with his experience regarding the nuclear energy field.
Date: 27 February 2009 (Friday)
Time: 3 pm to 5 pm
Venue: COIT Lecture Theater (BW-G-R28)
College of IT, Putrajaya Campus
UNITEN
Speaker: Prof. Dr. Mohd Zamzam Bin Jaafar
(Head, Nuclear Energy Taskforce, TNB)
Title of Talk: TNB Nuclear Energy Initiatives, Nuclear Reactor Technology and Fuel Cycle

Outline of the Talk:
1. Update on TNB’s Nuclear Unit activities to build national consensus and make nuclear energy a VALID option for electricity generation in Peninsular Malaysia
2. Nuclear Reactor Technology with respect to nuclear reactors in operation and being constructed
3. Some pertinent issues relating to nuclear fuel cycle

The primary objective of this talk was to build a national consensus to make nuclear energy as a valid option for electricity generation in Peninsular Malaysia in next few years. It is also the most promising option. In the prospects of students, Nuclear Engineering and Knowledge are essential for Malaysia to progress forward. Current students are not merely future opinion leaders, but more importantly they are implementers of the pioneer NPP.
It was the second time around that Prof. Dr. Mohd Zamzam was sharing with us regarding the nuclear energy field. He started the lecture talk series by giving the audience an update on the activities done by TNB’s Nuclear Unit since his last lecture talk series. He went on by explaining in depth regarding the operations involved in nuclear reactors and also their construction. Nuclear energy proved to be more viable as compared to other energy producing resources such as coal, fuel and biomass as these resources will deplete in near future, not to mention the vast amount of waste and pollution produced and thus incurring more money into handling them.

Information was presented through PowerPoint slides. Statistical data was shown as evident that the nuclear energy is a viable option for electricity generation. Some interesting issues were shared with us relating to the nuclear fuel cycle. It became obvious to us that we cannot rely on fuel and coal as eternal energy resources. Studies have begun on making nuclear energy the primary energy producing resource, and it is therefore at utmost importance that we start educating the younger generations regarding nuclear energy as they will be the backbone of not only the country but the entire world. The talk ended at sharp 5pm and guests were invited for some light refreshments.