Vibro-acoustic analyst is top researcher
Wed, 10 Oct 2012 15:51:00 BST
Chinese research engineer becomes Research Student of the Year
BREAKTHROUGHS in the use of acoustics for monitoring the condition of engines and the evaluation of the implications of using biodiesel have earned Dong Zhen the title Research Student of the Year at the University of Huddersfield.
The award comes just as Dong, has completed his PhD thesis, supervised by Professor Andrew Ball and Dr Fengshou Gu. But he continues to work as a research fellow within the University’s Centre for Efficiency and Performance Engineering, which undertakes projects in tandem with major industrial partners. For the next two years Dong will be working on a collaborative R&D project with world-leading gearbox manufacturer David Brown Gears.
Dong, now aged 30, has previously studied and carried out research in his native China, at Shandong University of Science and Technology and at the Chinese Academy of Science’s flagship Institute of Acoustics in Beijing.
Having developed a profound interest in the use of acoustics and non-stationary signal processing as techniques for monitoring the condition of machinery – leading to important gains in efficiency for industrial users – he decided to take his research to a new level and came to the University of Huddersfield in 2009 for his PhD.
Three years later he has made a sequence of significant contributions to his field, such as developing a new algorithm thatapplies acoustic analysis approaches to electrical current signals and enables the condition assessment of entire machines, which are powered by electric motor drives. He has also investigated a method for detecting tiny changes in the condition of diesel engines, using a microphone array as part of a combined process of vibro-acoustic analysis. Dong has extended this approach to assess the engine condition and performance implications of using different biodiesel formulations.
Professor Ball – who heads the multi-disciplinary Centre for Efficiency and Performance Engineering – praised Dong’s research: “Dong is an extremely able and hugely-dedicated young research engineer. The developments that he’s made during his PhD are quite remarkable and there is no doubt that they will have significant impact in the fields of non-stationary signal processing and the condition and performance monitoring of diesel engines.
“I’m delighted that Dong has opted to remain in the UK as a research fellow and I am sure that he will continue to push forwards the bounds of capability in the vitally-important field of machinery performance and efficiency engineering.”
In the video above, speaking in his native Mandarin, the University of Huddersfield's Researcher of the Year for 2012, Dong Zhen, tells of his pride in being chosen for the award, why he chose to study at the University of Huddersfield and of his career aspirations now he has completed his PhD.
