Mechanical Technology January 2016

Mechanical Technology — January 2016

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Computer-aided engineering

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ing-Yen Shih, a PhD student

from the University of Wiscon-

sin-Madison, was announced

the 2015 winner of the FEKO

Student Competition. The contest, now

in its 11

year, supports engineering

education and academic excellence and

is aimed at students interested in anten-

nas, microwave devices, bio-electromag-

netics, electromagnetic compatibility,

and other electromagnetic related fields.

FEKO is a software tool for optimising

antenna design and placement using

characteristic mode analysis (CMA).

Shih’s winning entry, entitled

‘Design

of Platform-Mounted HF Antennas

with Enhanced Bandwidth Using the

Characteristic Mode Configuration

in FEKO’

, successfully developed a

method using the characteristic mode

configuration in FEKO to systematically

and efficiently approach the bandwidth

limitation of a platform mode. This re-

sulted in Shih achieving the bandwidths

that stand-alone antennas were not able

to achieve.

“Many antennas working at the high

frequency (HF) band tend to have sig-

nificantly smaller dimensions than the

Winners of the 2015 antenna

design competition

Big data analytics for improved energy efficiency

By Syed Mansoor Ahmad, EcoEnergy, Wipro

ophisticated sensor technology has

given rise to the Internet of Things

(IoT) and Machine-to-Machine

(M2M) communication, embed-

ding intelligence, integrating more data

sources than ever and providing the poten-

tial for informed decision-making based on

comprehensive insight.

However, as a greater proportion of

our world is driven by electricity, and

populations continue to increase, we are

seeing a year-on-year increase in the de-

mand for energy. Harnessing the power

of big data analytics, organisations can

become empowered not only to reduce

energy consumption, but to leverage wider

supply-side optimisation, including demand

management, energy procurement, and

tariff-based savings. This not only helps to

improve energy efficiency, it also reduces

energy costs, and helps organisations to

meet carbon emission reduction targets.

Another challenge facing organisations

around the world is to achieve sustainability

targets. Many enterprises are tasked with

achieving this in a massively distributed

infrastructure environment, which may

include large office buildings, warehouses,

and even water treatment plants. Achieving

energy efficiency in such scenarios is excep-

tionally challenging.

The IoT, M2M communication and the

availability of big data and analytics can

help to generate greater awareness of op-

erations, and the analysis of this data can

assist in delivering actionable insight for

improvement and optimisation.

Energy management also ensures

that assets are run as and when they

are needed, reducing the running time of

equipment, which results in reduced wear

and tear, ultimately extending the lifespan

of assets. In addition, by running assets at

the optimum set points, organisations can

optimise the performance of various assets.

Energy management requirements are

often unique to a customer. Practices, there-

fore, must be tailored to each individual

organisation. In order to achieve this, it is

essential to have sufficient data available to

aid in the decision-making process around

how operations, services, locations and

energy consumption can be optimised.

Not only will the availability and analy-

sis of big data around energy usage assist

organisations to optimise their consump-

tion, it can also provide significant insight

to utility providers. Utilities can use the

data to drive programmes and incentives

that encourage users to adopt more energy

efficient devices, which in turn will reduce

overall demand. By reducing the overall

demand, the utilities will be better able

to provide adequate supply. This will help

bridge the growing demand-supply gap.

The effectiveness of this approach is well

proven. There are credible industry case

studies in which Wipro clients have saved

up to 20% on energy costs, maintenance

and operational expenses across their

portfolios, simply by leveraging big data

and analytics.

Ting-Yen Shih (top), a PhD

student from the University

of Wisconsin-Madison, was

announced the 2015 win-

ner of the FEKO Student

Competition. South Africans,

Stanley Kuju, photographed

above right with his University

of Pretoria advisor Gideon

Wiid (Centre), and Marno van

Rooyen (right) from Stellenbosch University were awarded

honourable mentions.

wavelength at which they operate, and,

therefore, suffer from narrow bandwidths.

Since HF antennas are often mounted

on metallic platforms that are physically

larger than the antennas themselves, if

the platform can be used as part of the

antenna, the maximum linear dimension

of the antenna can be increased, resulting

in an enhanced bandwidth. Our goal was

to design platform-mounted HF antennas

with enhanced bandwidth using the char-

acteristic mode configuration in FEKO,”

explained Shih.

“We were so impressed with the qual-

ity of entries that we decided to give out

three honourable mentions in addition

to the winning project,” said Matthias

Goelke, senior director – business de-

velopment academic markets. These

were: Mahrukh Khan, PhD student from

the University of Missouri, USA, Marno

van Rooyen, a Masters student from the

University of Pretoria, South Africa and

Stanley Kuja, a Master student from

Stellenbosch University, also in South

Africa.

Details on the 2016 FEKO Student

Competition will be announced in

March 2016.