Engineering today 50

March 2015 ISSUE 50

Development of an Eye-Gaze Tracking Platform for a Computer with Integrated Webcam

Compressed Air Optimization – Reducing your Compressed Air Cost page 24

The Current Economic Feasibility of Photovoltaic Systems in the Maltese Islands page 28

page 16

Challenges In Design And Fabrication Of Two Component Micro Injection Mould

page 10

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Contents 03 05 From the Editor

10

From the President

24

28

Compressed Air Optimization Reducing your Compressed Air Cost

41

35

The Current Economic Feasibility of Photovoltaic Systems in the Maltese Islands

44

Robot Wars

Challenges In Design And Fabrication Of Two Component Micro Injection Mould

The Chamber of Engineers’ Engineering Excellence Awards

16

Cover Image

Development of an EyeGaze Tracking Platform for a Computer with Integrated Webcam

39 Newly Warranted Engineers Get Together

Distal End of a biomedical endoscope. Endoscopes are optical imaging devices that allows the surgeon to observe inaccessible areas in the human body, using a tube-based equipment.

Council Members

Editor

Editorial Board

Dr. Inġġ. Brian Azzopardi Eur. Ing.

Inġ. Norman Zammit Eur. Ing. Inġġ. Pierre Ciantar Prof. Dr. Inġ. Robert Ghirlando

Chamber of Engineers, Professional Centre, Sliema Road,Gzira, GZR 1633, Malta

Email: info@coe.org.mt Web: www.coe.org.mt

© Chamber of Engineers 2014. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the Chamber of Engineers - Malta.

Opinions expressed in Engineering Today are not necessarily those of the Chamber of Engineers - Malta. All care has been taken to ensure truth and accuracy, but the Editorial Board cannot be held responsible for errors or omissions in the articles, pictographs or illustrations.

Design by:

A Member of:

Printing: Best Print Ltd. Distribution: Maltapost Plc.

March 2015 ISSUE 50

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From the Editor Dear Readers, With the start of another year, in this “Golden” 50th issue, we are launching a new design of our Magazine.

We hope you find it attractive, appealing and more accessible. However, we are open to your comments on this new design and greatly appreciate your feedback.

We have a number of other initiative in the pipeline this year. We are constantly looking forward to receiving articles, book reviews and social articles.

As the Government of Malta is evaluating a number of scenarios as put forward in the EU’s decarbonisation objective for the energy sector, the 2015 Chamber of Engineers Annual Conference is dedicated on Energy and Transport. This will present a perfect platform for debate, latest evaluations and projects towards among others security of energy supply, environmental protection and competitiveness as established in the National Energy Policy for the Maltese Islands. The interesting conference line-up as shown in page 4 will provide a holistic picture to achieving of the interim renewable, energy efficiency and GHG targets based on the EU targets. We will hope you join us at the 2015 Chamber of Engineers Annual Conference.

In this issue, the first two articles are related to visual imaging from two different perspectives, highlighting two Malta Council of Science and Technology (MCST) research funded projects. “Challenges in design and fabrication of two component micro injection mould” by Mr Christian Camilleri, Dr Arif Rochman and Inġ. Pierre Vella write on the development of a manufacturing process capable of simultaneously replicating two polymeric parts and assembling them, hence removing the requirement for costly micro assembly. The technology may be used in endoscopes such as in medical and industrial applications. The second article looks into a new approach to address eye-gaze tracking by videooculography open problem by exploiting the photometric rather than the geometric properties of the iris, in order to detect this region in low-quality images captured by an integrated camera on a notebook computer.

In the third article by Inġ. Brian Tabone explores the compressed air optimization to reduce the operational costs of such system. Optimal design is crucial for industrial profitability. The fourth article “The current economic feasibility of photovoltaic systems in the Maltese islands”, presented this month in the Institute for Sustainable Energy Annual Conference, highlight the model developed to assess the economics of photovoltaic (PV) systems in Malta. The good news is that PVs, today, have a positive net present value even without financial support schemes.

The 2014 Malta Engineering Excellence Awards (MEEA) is covered in this issue’s “Social News” column. We offer a summary and photo collage of the event to refresh the memories of those who experienced it. We congratulate all the awards recipients. Under the same column we also cover the recent get together organised for the newly warranted engineers.

In this issue the IEEE Malta Section column covers the participation in Robot Wars. The IEEE Malta Section is in collaboration with the Chamber of Engineers.

As this is the year’s first issue, I want to express best wishes to the newly appointed Council, who are listed both in the President’s column as well as accompanied with photos at the back of this issue. And in fact, I invite you to read the President’s address in this issue for the latest CoE council and Annual General Meeting (AGM) review.

Warm wishes for Easter.

Dr Inġ. Brian Azzopardi Eur. Ing. The Editor, Engineering Today, Chamber of Engineers

March 2015 ISSUE 50

3

From the President Dear Colleagues, This edition of our publication is being issued after the Annual General Meeting (AGM) that was held on the 27th of February as required by the statute. This year the number of nominations for Council was less than the required members to be elected and hence the candidates were uncontested and automatically confirmed on the Council.

General Secretary Treasurer PRO Activities Secretary Membership Secretary

This was also the first year where the student representative had to be elected from amongst the students and not nominated by UESA (University Engineering Students Association) following the approval of the amendments to the Statue in August of 2014 during an EGM called for the purpose to review and approve or otherwise amendments proposed by the Statue review subcommittee.

Secretary for Int. Affairs Prof. Dr Inġ. Paul Micallef Member Inġ. Anthony Cachia Student Member Mr Jurgen Seychell

In the AGM, a motion was presented and approved that has opened the student class of membership to any students who are following an Engineering degree course at Malta Qualifications Framework (MQF) level 6 or recognised otherwise.

In my presidential speech to the AGM I have addressed the following topics:

• Executive Council Composition for 2014-2015 • Council Support • Strategic objectives for 2014 • Financial situation • Membership • Communication & PR • Activities • International Sphere • Proposed Chamber Strategies for 2015

Executive Council Composition for 2014-2015: The Council composition during the past legislative year was as follows: President Vice President General Secretary Treasurer PRO

Inġ. Norman Zammit Inġ. Saviour Baldacchino Dr Inġ. Daniel Micallef Inġ. Johan Psaila Inġ. Jason Vella (till July 2015 - resigned

Activities Secretary Membership Secretary Secretary for Int. Affairs Member Student Member

Dr Inġ. Patrick Attard (co-opted) Inġ. Alex Galea Prof. Dr Inġ. Paul Micallef Inġ. Anthony Cachia Mr Jake Tranter who was eventually replaced by Jurgen Seychell since he had to resign to continue his studies abroad.

due to work commitments)

Dr Inġ. Daniel Micallef Inġ. Johan Psaila (to be co-opted)

Dr Inġ. Patrick Attard Inġ. Alex Galea (Alex was also confirmed Chairman of the Ethics and Disciplinary Committee of the Chamber)

Council Support: The Council cannot work in isolation and therefore it was deemed appropriate to recognise the important work that is carried out by those fellow engineers who devote their time towards the Chamber and support the Council.

• Inġ. Helga Pizzuto - Vice-President of the Federation of Professional Associations representing the Chamber together with Inġ. Saviour Baldacchino.

• Inġ. Johan Psaila our Treasurer on the BRO. • Prof. Dr Inġ. Robert Ghirlando, Prof. Dr Inġ. Victor Buttigieg, Inġ. Pierre Ciantar members within the Ethics and Disciplinary committee under the chairmanship of Inġ. Alex Galea.

• Prof. Dr Inġ. Brian Azzopardi our Editor who together with Prof. Dr Inġ Robert Ghirlando, Inġ Pierre Ciantar and myself form the Editorial Board of our flagship publication.

• Inġ Anthony Muscat, Inġ. Ray Vassallo and Inġ. Carmen Abela with their contributions towards the introduction of national standards related to the installation and certification of PV panels.

• Ms Marcelle Abela - Administrative Secretary • Ms Marthese Attard - Training Executive • Ms Lorrieann Vella - Communications Officer • Internal Auditors - Inġ. Michael D’Amato and Inġ. Mario Falzon.

• Panel of Judges for the MEEA. Strategic objectives for 2014 and proposed objectives for 2015: Strategic Objectives for 2014: On Saturday the 5th April 2014 the Council had met to discuss exclusively what should be the short term and medium term strategies for the Chamber following the election of the new Council.

At the time the following strategic objectives where agreed:

The same Council composition was confirmed for 2015-2016 during the first Council meeting after the AGM that was held on the 5th March 2015.

Setting up of a sub-committee to review the Statue and propose changes in line with the approved motion during the AGM of February 2014. The sub-committee completed its work and proposed amendments in an EGM that was held at SmartCity Malta in July 2014.

Hereunder is the list of members and respective roles: Council Composition for 2015-2016:

Setting up of an Ethics and Disciplinary committee with the terms of reference for the committee being:

President Vice President

The Council has met twice a month during the whole year.

Inġ. Norman Zammit Inġ. Saviour Baldacchino

• To monitor the ethical behaviour within the profession; • To uphold the Code of Ethics; • To assist and give advice to members of the Chamber on

March 2015 ISSUE 50

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problems encountered in the Industry or Society that could potentially lead to a breach of Ethics by the member in the execution of a particular task.

• To recommend to Council to take disciplinary action as necessary against any member of the Chamber; • To recommend to Council to report to the Engineering Board those cases which do not fall within its competence.

Membership - promote more the added value that this would give to our members through the introduction of various initiatives that are tangible to our members.

Professional Development of Engineers - This was considered as a medium term strategy. The Federation of Professional Associations had come up with a framework recommended for CPD of professionals. This framework is to be adopted by the individual organisations such that each professional organisation would have the CPD framework in place by the beginning of 2016.

Engineering Degrees issued by MCAST and other Institutions - The Council was to address the issue of the recognition of the degrees issued by MCAST with the Engineering Board to determine eligibility for the engineering warrant. This review process is to be extended to all institutions including University to ensure a level playing field for all engineering degrees issued by any institution. The review process is ongoing and the Hon. Minister Joe Mizzi, as indicated in his speech during the MEEA of 2014, is committed to deploy the necessary resources to ensure the process is completed in the shortest possible term.

Approach towards relevant Authorities and hence the contribution of Engineers in society (medium term objective) - the Council shall work to increase the presence of Engineers in relevant Authorities and the requirement to have Engineers in key roles within Society as the guarantor of quality and integrity. The Chamber shall approach Government on all levels to promote this concept further and present proposals for how to better Governance in our areas of competence or where the role of the Engineer could enhance the provision of services or products.

Strategic Objectives for 2015: The following strategic objectives being put forward by the outgoing Council and which need to be addressed by the new Council: Ethics and Disciplinary committee - Continuation of the review process of the Code of Ethics also through feedback received from warrant holders via the questionnaire launched by the CoE. The Engineering Board and granting of new degrees in the Engineering fields from MCAST and other Institutions - Keep follow-up on the issue and push for a resolution during 2015.

Professional development of Engineers - CoE to issue a white paper in relation to the implementation and promotion of Continual Professional Development in our profession in line with the initial guidance document issued by the Federation of Professional Associations following the introduction of the Services Directive by the EU. This white paper will set up the framework to be implemented by the Chamber as regards CPD for its members.

Approach towards relevant Authorities and hence the contribution of Engineers in Society - the Council shall continue to work to increase the presence of Engineers in relevant Authorities and the requirements to have Engineers in key roles within Society as the guarantor of quality and integrity. The Chamber shall approach Government on all levels to promote this concept further and present proposals for how to better Governance in our areas of competence or where the role of the Engineer could enhance the provision of services and products.

International Sphere: In the international sphere we have kept our presence through the hard work of our International Affairs Secretary Prof. Dr. Inġ.

Paul Micallef.

The ratification of the initiative focused on creating the Euro-Mediterranean Cooperation between Engineering Organisations including the Arab and North Africa Engineering Organisations around the Mediterranean basin (EAMC). The aims of this Co-operation between the Engineering Associations of Mediterranean Countries (EAMC) are: • Establishment of a network to facilitate the free movement of engineers in the Mediterranean area; Exchange of information on national engineering education and professional systems; Contributions to international surveys and reports including the UNESCO Global Engineering Assessment project.

• Establishment of Technical Committees on thematic topics of interest to the Mediterranean Area in collaboration with the WFEO Standing Committees of relevance: promotion of sustainable and renewable energies, energy efficient lighting, and eco-friendly designs.

• Sharing and transferring innovative technologies in particular those related to safe water and sanitation, water-recycling systems and waste treatment.

• Safeguarding of the cultural and social heritage; promotion, restoration and renovation of the built environment.

• Climate change adaptation of infrastructure Furthermore, the Annual Business Meeting of FEANI (European Federation of Engineering Associations) was organised in Gdansk Poland between the 8th-10th October 2014. Since the Chamber of Engineers is the National Monitoring Committee for FEANI in Malta, the event was attended by myself and Prof Dr Inġ Paul Micallef.

The main topics for discussion included: • Engineering education and accreditation of degrees.

• EU Projects • Business Development • Status of the Professional Engineer • EPC/EngineerING Card

Needless to say that the new Council has a tough task ahead of us during this administrative year and as a Council we are ready for the challenge and would like to thank all those members who have offered to contribute towards the Chamber’s operations for the benefit of our profession. We cannot do this as a Council alone and we will continue to seek the collaboration of all our members.

Inġ. Norman Zammit Eur. Ing. President, Chamber of Engineers

March 2015 ISSUE 50

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Challenges In Design And Fabrication Of Two Component Micro Injection Mould

by Arif Rochman, Pierre Vella, Christian Camilleri

ABSTRACT: Micro two shot injection moulding (Âľtwo shot IM) is a manufacturing process capable of simultaneously replicating two polymeric parts and assembling them, hence removing the requirement for costly micro assembly.

Endoscopes are used to observe areas that are otherwise unobservable due to inaccessibility. Applications include medical uses such gastro endoscopy as well as industrial applications such as inspection in aerospace engineering. Micro two shot injection moulding has the potential to simultaneously replicate polymer lenses for endoscope imaging and assembling them to their required housing.

Regardless of this potential it was never used for such a purpose.

Keywords: micro two shot injection moulding, endoscope, distal end.

10

1 INTRODUCTION The demand for micro products has been consistently increasing and market surveys predict a larger increase in the near-future [1]. The fabrication of new micro products is highly dependent on the development of micro manufacturing systems. In this context, micro injection moulding is a fast developing field which has evolved from the traditional injection moulding of large plastic products to the fabrication of three dimensional micro parts. This technology has become a crucial means to mass produce micro parts at a relatively low component cost. Micro two shot injection moulding has further increased the popularity of this process particularly in producing multi-material parts in large quantities.

Endoscopes are optical imaging devices that allows the surgeon to observe inaccessible areas in the human body, using a tube-based equipment. The distal end component in the endoscope is the closest part to the human body and is responsible for image acquisition and transfer to the proximal end [2]. Figure 1 highlights the distal end component in the endoscope. Adopting multi-material micro injection moulding to produce the distal end of an endoscope gives the opportunity to design for assembly. Thus, what were previously different parts in one component, with this

technique the distal end can be produced in a single process.

This article highlights the main challenges encountered when using two shot injection moulding to produce micro parts.

The distal end of an endoscope was identified as a case study.

2 MOULD DESIGN 2.1 Distal End As indicated in Figure 2, the part designed as a case study, consists of the optical lenses required for capturing the images and transmitting illumination and a cover housing.

The opaque housing possesses an external thread for interchangeability.

2.2 Micro two shot injection moulding process The micro two shot injection moulding process is as follows [3], [4]: • The first component is injected from the vertical injection unit of the machine. The internal geometry of the first shot is determined by the core. The external geometry is determined by the cavity geometry and a set of sliders.

Figure 3 shows the schematic diagram of the mould layout for the 1st shot.

Figure 3:

Schematic diagram of mould layout for 1st shot.

Figure 1:

Distal End of a biomedical endoscope

Figure 2:

Design concept of the case study report

Figure 4:

Schematic diagram for the 2nd shot

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Challenges In Design And Fabrication Of Two Component Micro Injection Mould Continued

• Once the part produced from the first material has solidified, the core with the first part rotate to a larger cavity. • In the second injection moulding process, the second material is moulded over the first part. • In the final stage the mould is opened and the finished multi-material part is ejected. Figure 4 illustrates a schematic diagram of the injection moulding process for the second shot.

2.3 Challenges in Mould Design In the mould design process, one of the initial challenges was to identify which part should be produced in the first shot and second shot.

The decision to establish which part should be produced first mainly relied on the material properties used for the optical and housing components. The material with the higher heat resistance should always be injected first as heat transfer from the melt of the second material may cause the softening of the first material resulting in the residual stress.

Thus a material selection analysis was carried out from which COC polymer was identified as the most suitable material for the optical component whilst POM was identified as the most suitable material for the housing component. The COC polymer for the optical component has a higher heat resistance than the POM polymer for the housing. This ensures that there is no softening on the optical component when injecting the second shot.

One major restriction that influenced the mould design was the limited daylight of the injection moulding machine i.e. the restricted distance between the fixed and moving platens.

Failure to allow sufficient daylight can cause problems for the ejection of deep parts namely the runner system. Thus, a number of functions had to be designed in the mould to ensure that the runner would be ejected properly after each cycle. These mainly included the design of a torsion spring behind the runner system. The function of the spring is to ease the ejection of the runner when the mould opens.

Another adjustment carried out was by adjusting the angle of the dowel pins. As indicate in Figure 5, the dowel pins are

Figure 5: Schematic diagram indicting the position of the angle dowels [5].

Figure 6:

Fabricated mould. The red arrows shows the first and second cavity.

located on the nozzle side of the mould to create a sideways sliding motion of the sliders during the opening and closing of the mould. The use of such pins also ensure proper alignment of the mould plates. By varying the angle of the dowel pins, the sliders could still move in sideways motion in a restricted daylight.

The transfer of the part from the first to the second cavity also presented a challenge to the mould design process.

An index plate system was used to enable rotation of the optical component from the first to the second cavity.

However, when designing the rack and pinion system that causes the index plate mechanism to rotate, it resulted that the piston which operates the rack and pinion mechanism did not fit due to the small guard of the injection moulding machine. Thus, the machine guard had to be replaced and a new guard was designed and fabricated so that the whole the rack and pinion system could fit.

3 MOULD FABRICATION AND TESTING After the mould design was completed, the fabrication process was initiated with the milling of the mould plates.

However other machining processes such as EDM and wire cut machining were used to machine hard material components namely the sliders, the core of the optical and housing parts, ejector system and the core pins. Hardness is a crucial factor which was taken into consideration to withstand wear and tear which could be caused by incorrect adjustments of process parameters such as high injection pressure or even by accidental scratching when setting up the mould.

Once the mould components were assembled, a number of moulding trials were carried out to ensure that the mould is operating correctly. One of the major obstacles encountered was that the runner system was not being demoulded after each cycle. To minimize this problem, a second torsion spring was added to the cavity plate behind the runner system.

Further machining of the runner channels was also carried out to further facilitate the ejection of the sprue and runner system.

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Challenges In Design And Fabrication Of Two Component Micro Injection Mould Continued

7 REFERENCES [1] B. Sha, S. Dimov, C. Griffiths, and M. Packianather, “Investigation

of micro-injection moulding: factors affecting the replication

quality,” Journal of Materials Processing Technology, vol. 183, no.

2, pp. 284-296, 2007.

[2] G. Zouridakis, Biomedical Technology and Devices Handbook,

USA: CRC Press, 2003.

[3] A. G. Banerjee, “Incorporating manufacturability considerations

during design of injection molded multi-material objects ”

Research in Engineering Design vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 207-231, 2007.

[4] R. M. Gouker, “Manufacturing of multi-material compiant

Figure 7:

Distal end of a biomedical endoscope produced through multi-shot injection moulding.

4 INJECTION MOULDING OF MICRO PARTS Following the moulding trials, the mould was installed on an injection moulding machine and the first micro parts were produced. Figure 7 shows the distal part produced through two shot micro injection moulding. By varying influential process parameters such as the injection pressure, mould temperature, melting temperature and holding pressure defects such as shrinkage and internal voids could be controlled.

5 CONCLUSION This article provides an overview of the main challenges encountered in designing and fabricating a mould to produce micro lenses using two shot injection moulding. However despite that this multi-disciplinary field provides a lot of challenges, this technology can be considered as a key advanced manufacturing means for developing a sustainable manufacturing industry. As part of the next phase of the project a series of experiments will be carried out to assess for defects commonly associated with injection moulding of micro parts and establish the optimum process parameters for the injection moulding machine to produce micro parts.

Additional information on the micro two shot injection moulding and also other information on forthcoming events (including a seminar) can be found; http://exmmim.com/.

6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work has been funded through the project R&I2012-0012 financed by the Malta Council of Science and Technology through the national Research and Innovation program 2102. This project is being coordinated by the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering within the University of Malta in collaboration with Techniplast Ltd, Tek-Moulds Precision Engineering Ltd and Playmobil Malta Ltd.

mechanisms using multi-material molding,” International Journal

of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, vol. 30, no. 11-12, pp.

1049-1075, 2006.

[5] B.-K. Lee, Mold Design - Undercut Molds. School of Mechanical

Engineering -Chonnam National University 2014.

Dr Arif

Rochman

Obtained his undergraduate degree in Aircraft Engineering from Hochschule München, his MSc degree in Polymer Technology from Aalen University in Germany and his PhD degree in Polymer Technology from Queen’s University Belfast (UK).

Since 2009 he works at the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering (DIME) at University of Malta.

Inġ.

Pierre Vella

Inġ. Pierre Vella graduated as a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering from the University of Malta in 1988.

He subsequently obtained a MSc in Engineering and Manufacturing Management (Distinction) from Coventry University in 2001. Since 2007 he occupies the post of Assistant Lecturer with the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering at the University of Malta, and is currently reading for a PhD in micro-manufacturing.

Mr Christian

Camilleri

Mr Christian Camilleri obtained his undergraduate degree in 2014 from the University of Malta. He is currently reading for a Masters of Science in Engineering and works at the Department of Industrial Manufacturing Engineering (DIME) at the University of Malta.

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Development of an Eye-Gaze Tracking Platform for a Computer With Integrated Webcam

by Stefania Cristina, Kenneth P. Camilleri

ABSTRACT: Eye-gaze tracking by videooculography has been traditionally considered a desktop technology that operates best in controlled conditions.

Nonetheless, with the emergence and widespread use of mobile devices comprising integrated imaging hardware, there is a growing interest in developing eye-gaze tracking methods that integrate well into consumer-grade devices. We propose to address this open problem by exploiting the photometric rather than the geometric properties of the iris, in order to detect this region in low-quality images captured by an integrated camera on a notebook computer. The iris movements are subsequently mapped to a point-of-regard on the monitor screen and linked to the mouse cursor position, such that the latter may be controlled by the eye movements alone. Quantitative results reveal a mean estimation error that is within the footprint of the average on-screen icon size.

Keywords: Point-of-regard estimation; Eye-gaze tracking; Iris centre localisation.

16

1 INTRODUCTION The concept of videooculography (VOG) permits the human eye-gaze to be tracked in a sequence of image frames captured by digital cameras, such that the important information held by the eye movements that relates to visual attention may be extracted. Given the capability of estimating the eye-gaze remotely and unobtrusively, the notion of eyegaze tracking by VOG has been receiving increasing interest throughout the years, quickly finding its way into a host of domains such as to assist physically impaired individuals in operating a computer using the eye movements alone.

In light of this challenge, we propose a passive eye-gaze tracking method to estimate the point-of-regard (POR) on a monitor screen from low-quality images captured by an integrated webcam on a notebook computer. We propose to exploit the photometric rather than the geometric properties of the eye region, ensuring that the eye movement may be tracked at different angles of eyeball rotation and partial occlusion by the eyelids. The POR estimates are subsequently linked to the movement of the mouse cursor on the monitor screen, such that its trajectory may be controlled by the eye movements alone.

Video-based eye-gaze tracking may be achieved by active or passive techniques. Active VOG is typically the technique of choice by commercial devices, which are equipped with highgrade cameras and track the eye movements by projecting infra-red illumination over the face and the eyes. In utilising specialised hardware to operate, active tracking devices are constrained to controlled indoor conditions away from interfering infra-red sources and are usually marked with an expensive price tag. Passive VOG, on the other hand, does not rely on specialised illumination sources to estimate the eye-gaze, allowing the use of standard imaging hardware and hence a potential reduction in the expenses incurred to set up a tracking platform.

2 DEVELOPMENT OF A PASSIVE EYE-GAZE TRACKING PLATFORM The flow of the proposed method follows the stages in Figure 1 to estimate a POR on the monitor screen. The following sections describe the proposed method in detail.

Following the emergence and widespread use of mobile devices comprising integrated imaging hardware, there is a growing interest in developing eye-gaze tracking methods which integrate well into consumer-grade devices. In this regard, passive VOG is potentially better suited owing to increased portability and the capability to track the eye-gaze from camera images alone without necessitating further hardware modification. Nonetheless, despite considerable advances in the field, existing passive VOG methods may not necessarily offer a suitable solution to the problem of eye-gaze tracking from low-quality images acquired by an inexpensive webcam. Indeed, methods that localise the eye region by exploiting its shape and features often require images of good quality in which the boundaries separating different eye region components are clearly distinguishable, while the accuracy that may be achieved by appearancebased methods comes at the cost of data collection for userdependent calibration which reduces the portability of the platform.

Figure 1:

Flow of the proposed method to estimate a point-of-regard on the monitor screen.

Eye Region Detection: Given the real-time nature of our application, we detect the face region first such that its bounding box constrains the search range for the eye region, in turn reducing the computational cost as well as the possibility of false positives. Rapid detection of the face and eye regions is carried out via the Viola-Jones algorithm, which employs several trained classifiers ordered according to increasing complexity to search for specific features inside an image frame.

Eye Tracking: To eliminate the uncomfortable use of a chinrest and allow for small and natural head movement during tracking, the eye region position detected earlier is updated at every image frame by tracking its displacement in the x- and y-directions. Eye region tracking is carried out by template matching, following acquisition of a template image after the eye region has been initially detection by the Viola-Jones algorithm. The normalised sum of squared differences (NSSD) is used as a measure of similarity between the template and search image, while the search range for the eye region inside the next image frame is constrained according to its position inside the previous image for computational efficiency.

Iris Centre Localisation: Following detection and tracking of the eye region, the next task is to extract the trajectory of the eye movement which is typically represented by the location of the iris or pupil centre as it moves across a sequence of image frames. We chose to locate the position of the iris centre rather than the pupil to facilitate localisation, since the former occupies a larger area inside the small footprint of the eye region.

Given the absence of fine image detail in the low-resolution eye region images, we propose to localise the iris region by its photometric properties alone rather than relying on its geometric properties. To this end, we train a Bayes’ classifier during an offline training stage by supplying it with a library of iris and non-iris pixels, such that during tracking eye region pixels are classified as belonging to the iris region if their likelihood exceeds a pre-defined threshold value. This results

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Development of an Eye-Gaze Tracking Platform for a Computer With Integrated Webcam Continued

Figure 2:

Strategically placed calibration points divide the screen into four quadrants with each quadrant being assigned a unique mapping function..

in a binary image containing a blob of pixels that belongs to the iris region, whereby the centre of mass of this blob is taken to represent the iris centre coordinates.

POR Estimation: The final stage in determining the POR on a monitor screen maps the localised iris centre coordinates to screen coordinates. For simplicity, the iris centre is assumed to displace along a flat plane, hence simplifying the mapping relationship between the image and screen coordinates to a linear function. The estimation of POR follows a usercalibration session, requiring the user to fixate at several calibration markers appearing in succession on the monitor screen during which image-screen coordinate pairs are collected.

This permits the computation of a linear mapping function, which in turn allows the estimation of the screen coordinates that correspond to newly localised iris centre coordinates during tracking.

Strategically placed calibration points, as illustrated in Figure 2, divide the screen into four quadrants with each quadrant being assigned a unique linear mapping function to compensate for the assumption of planar iris movement.

Separate Kalman filters are also assigned to every quadrant in order to produce better estimates of the noisy POR coordinates, hence smoothening the mouse cursor trajectory on the monitor screen. The Kalman filter algorithm follows the Predict-Update model in Figure 3 to recursively produce better estimates of desired variables based on noisy measurements observed over time. We define the transition matrix A k+1, which determines the evolution of the state from one time step to the next, by a linear model of the eye movement during fixations and gaze shifts of constant velocity. The state, xk+1, is defined by a vector comprising the horizontal and vertical gaze displacements, while the noise is modelled according to the characteristics inherent to the visual system itself and is, therefore, set to represent the small microsaccadic movements of the eye during fixations and smooth pursuit.

Figure 3:

The Kalman filter algorithm recursively produces better estimates of desired variables based on noisy measurements observed over time.

3 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS Five participants were recruited for an experimental session to evaluate the proposed eye-gaze tracking method. The participants were seated at a distance of 60 cm from the monitor screen in a well-lit indoor environment, while the experiment was carried out on a 15.6� notebook display. An integrated webcam on-board the notebook computer was used to capture the image data.

Following eye region detection and tracking, and iris centre localisation, the participants were instructed to fixate at five calibration markers appearing in succession on the monitor screen as shown in Figure 2, such that pairs of image-screen coordinates were collected. The collected data served to estimate the linear functions which map the iris centre coordinates inside the image space to a POR on the monitor screen.

In order to evaluate the accuracy of the POR estimates with respect to ground truth, the participants were subsequently requested to sit through a validation procedure during which they were shown nine visual stimuli and instructed to move the mouse cursor with their eyes as close to each stimulus as possible. Qualitative results for one of the participants are presented in Figure 4, indicating a low error between the POR estimates, plotted in blue, and the visual stimuli, plotted in green. The mean error across all participants was found to be equal to (55.30, 22.57) pixels in the horizontal and vertical directions respectively. Given a screen resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels, this error therefore corresponds to (1.46o, 0.71o) in visual angle at a distance of 60 cm away from the monitor screen. In order to put this error value into context, if the average on-screen icon is taken to have an average size of 45 x 45 pixels, the error achieved by our method falls within the footprint of the average icon.

It is also worth noting that the proposed method for iris centre localisation was capable of detecting the iris under partial occlusion by the eyelids, as shown in Figure 5, by exploiting the photometric rather than the geometric properties of the iris region.

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Development of an Eye-Gaze Tracking Platform for a Computer With Integrated Webcam Continued

6 REFERENCES [1] D. W. Hansen and Q. Ji, “In the eye of the beholder: A survey of

models for eyes and gaze,” IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis

and Machine Intelligence, vol. 32, no. 3, pp. 478–500, 2010.

[2] F. Song, X. Tan, S. Chen, and Z. H. Zhou, “A literature survey on

robust and efficient eye localization in real-life scenarios,” Pattern

Recognition, vol. 46, no. 12, pp. 3157–3173, 2013.

[3] S. Cristina and K. P. Camilleri, “Cursor control by point-of-regard

estimation for a computer with integrated webcam,” 8th

International Conference on Advanced Engineering Computing

and Applications in Sciences (ADVCOMP), 2014, pp. 126–131.

Figure 4:

Validation result for one of the participants showing the POR estimates (blue) and the ground truth visual stimuli (green).

Inġ. Stefania

Figure 5:

The proposed method was capable of localising the iris centre, marked in green, under partial occlusion by the eyelids.

4 CONCLUSION In light of technological advancements and the widespread use of mobile devices comprising integrated imaging hardware, future directions in the field of eye-gaze tracking call for methods that can estimate the eye-gaze robustly without requiring hardware modification. It has been discussed that passive VOG is better suited for this open problem, owing to the capability of tracking the eye-gaze without relying on specialised illumination sources. This work has, therefore, proposed a passive eye-gaze tracking method which exploits the photometric properties of the iris region to track the eye movements from low-quality image data captured by an integrated webcam on a notebook computer.

The achieved results reveal a mean estimation error that is within the footprint of the average icon.

A paper featuring this work has been presented at the 8th International Conference on Advanced Engineering Computing and Applications in Sciences (ADVCOMP 2014) in Rome in August 2014, where it earned a Best Paper award, and was published in the conference proceedings [3].

5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work is being supported by the project Eye-Communicate funded by the Malta Council for Science and Technology through the National Research & Innovation Programme (2012) under Research Grant No. R&I-2012-057.

Cristina

Inġ. Stefania Cristina graduated with a B.Eng.(Hons.) degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Malta in 2008, and received her M.Sc. (Melit.) by Research degree from the same University in 2010. She is presently reading for a Ph.D. at the University of Malta, which research work concerns the development of robust algorithms for eye-gaze tracking.

She is currently employed as a Research Officer with the Department of Systems and Control Engineering and her research interests include computer vision, humancomputer interaction and assistive technology.

Prof. Dr Inġ.

Kenneth P. Camilleri Inġ. Kenneth P. Camilleri graduated with a B.Elec.Eng.(Hons.) degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Malta and received the M.Sc. in Signal Processing and Machine Intelligence degree and Ph.D. in Image Processing and Pattern Recognition in 1994 and 1999 respectively, from the University of Surrey, Guildford, UK. He is currently the Head of the Department of Systems and Control Engineering and Director of the Centre for Biomedical Cybernetics at the University of Malta. Professor Camilleri’s research interests include machine vision, thermal image analysis, and biomedical engineering, in particular brain signal analysis applied to the diagnosis of brain diseases and to brain-computer interfacing.

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Compressed Air Optimization – Reducing your Compressed Air Cost

by Brian Tabone

ABSTRACT: Compressed Air is an essential utility within any industrial plant. The reliable and efficient production and supply of compressed air to plant equipment is important to maintain the operation, but this highly flexible resource does not come free. Studies show that the biggest portion of compressed air life cycle cost is energy. It is thus very profitable to invest in proper system design for new systems, and a comprehensive maintenance program once in operation. For existing installations, a competent system audit can identify opportunities for improving system reliability and efficiency. This reduces operating cost through improved production performance of the equipment using compressed air, and higher generating efficiency. There is no one solution that fits all and each system needs to be understood in-depth to tailor the necessary improvements.

Keywords: Compressed air, Efficiency, Life cycle cost, Sustainability.

24

1 INTRODUCTION Compressed Air is NOT Free!

It should be obvious that compressed air is not free, but too many people treat compressed air as if it did not cost anything. Users in a plant simply plug equipment into readily available pipe work and expect to have air at the pressure they demand, with any flow rate they require.

Air compression is a valuable resource that provides flexibility and adaptability to be used in many different applications.

But at its core the process to generate compressed air is inherently inefficient. As much as 80% of the energy input into the compression process ends up as heat, while the rest of the 20% results in compressed air. Approximately 10 to 15% ends up at point of use, for many reasons such as losses in the distribution system as well as necessary non-value adding processes such as air treatment.

2 LIFE CYCLE COST Various studies over many years have quantified the Life Cycle Cost of an Air Compressor. While the results vary, the difference is not significant. Figure 1 shows that typically Equipment and Maintenance account for 12% of life cycle cost each, while Energy on the other hand accounts for 76%.

This is a significant realisation, and one that is important for engineers and industrialists to seek better design, installation and use of compressed air systems.

3 OPTIMIZATION OF SYSTEM Optimization of compressed air systems represents one of the highest opportunities for efficiency improvement and cost saving in industry. Savings in compressed air of 30% are possible, and in some cases up to 50% can be achieved. Most companies do not know the costs to generate compressed air and also do not know how much of what is generated is actually wasted.

3.1 Understanding System Systems can be split into two distinct sections, Supply Side and Demand Side. The supply side is composed of the compressors, air receivers and air treatment, while the

Figure 1:

Cost of Compressed Air Over 10 Years

demand side is composed of the distribution, storage and equipment using compressed air. Achieving savings requires addressing both the supply and demand side of the system, while maintaining or improving the system performance and reliability.

3.2 Information is Key The primary barrier to realizing substantial improvements in reliability, efficiency and productivity of compressed air systems has been lack of information. Many times systems are not well understood by plant personnel, who sometimes have the misconception of viewing modifications to the plant as a risk. Often industrial plants rely on vendors who compete in a market which is price driven and this leads to short term focus on initial capital spend rather than life cycle cost which is a result of system efficiency.

If you do measure it, you can manage it! Defining a baseline of system performance is a must, before implementing any changes. This also enables measuring the effect of any system changes to the baseline in order to ensure effectiveness of any measure taken. Baseline measurements include recording:

1. Power (kW)

2. Energy (kWh)

3. Pressure (bar)

4. Flow (m3/h)

5. Total Leaks (m3/h)

6. System Assessment to identify:

a. System characteristics such as

compressors, air treatment, storage,

distribution system, compressor control

(supply and demand management),

compressed air use and maintenance, and

b. System requirements.

3.3 Consumption Compressed air consumption can be split into its various components. Although this varies from one plant to the other we typically find as shown in Chart 2 that Production accounts for only 50%, with Leaks consuming around 20%, Artificial Demand and Inappropriate Use consuming approximately 15 % each. This represents significant opportunity for improvement which is many times overlooked.

Figure 2

Typical Compressed Air Consumption

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Compressed Air Optimization - Reducing your Compressed Air Cost Continued

3.4 Artificial Demand Artificial demand is created by running a system at a pressure in excess of equipment requirement. A well designed system, or one that has been optimised, can allow the lowering of pressure thus reducing significantly artificial demand. Too often higher pressure is used as the solution to poor system design, system maintenance and compressed air use, and while this may allow continued operation it silently leads to higher operating costs. Artificial demand may also lead to the purchasing of additional air compressors; capital expenditure which would be more wisely spent on improving the system.

3.5 Inappropriate Use Inappropriate use is when intentionally compressed air is used instead of other more efficient systems. In many cases compressed air supply being installed on the production equipment becomes the first choice for the task needed, when a more efficient option exists. Keeping in mind that only 15% of the input energy ends up at the point-of-use then it is evident that compressed air energy should be treated as a valuable resource, and used only when it provides the best overall alternative.

4 CONCLUSION When one comes to assessing the system one needs to take a deep dive into identifying point-of-use issues, pressure requirements, air quality requirements and the different volume requirements across the plant, to identify appropriateness or in-appropriateness as the case may be.

Compressor control is also a very important component of the plant and has to be matched to the particular situation. There is no one solution that fits all and compressed air systems need to be studied before any improvements can be made.

When compressed system audits are performed by knowledgeable and experienced compressed air auditors, then the opportunities for achieving improvements in energy efficiency and reduction in costs are significant. A side benefit that comes with optimized compressed air systems is a reduction in capital and maintenance cost thus reducing further the Life Cycle Cost. An opportunity not to be missed by any Industrial Plant that wants to remain Competitive and achieve its Sustainability Objectives!

5 REFERENCES [1] A. Thumann. “Plant Engineers & Managers Guide to Energy

3.6 Leaks Inappropriate use is when intentionally Leaks are also very common in many industrial plants. The most common root causes being poor maintenance practices and intentional leaks through inappropriate use. When there is a lack of information on the cost of compressed air, plant management is not informed enough to weigh the benefits of reduced leaks against the maintenance cost to reduce them. When maintenance is reduced to save cost, inadvertently one may be incurring more cost through higher energy consumption.

Identifying leaks is a complex procedure that needs trained personnel using appropriate measuring tools. A well performed leak audit can provide the plant with a whole list of corrective actions leading to less waste, while also providing a learning opportunity for plant personnel operating and maintaining equipment which uses compressed air. A word of caution is necessary when leaks are targeted, that savings may not be achieved even when leaks are reduced. This is the case when the supply side is not well designed to convert lower consumption into actual reduction in kilowatts. Hence when undertaking system improvements this should be done holistically by assessing all aspects and not using a piece meal approach.

Conservation.”The Fairmont Press, 2002.

[2] S.R. Patrick, D.R. Patrick & S.W. Fardo. “Energy Conservation

Guidebook.” The Fairmont Press, 1993.

Inġ. Brian Tabone B.Eng (Hons), MBA, MSc (Sus. Energy) Director Proenergy Solutions Ltd

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The Current Economic Feasibility of Photovoltaic Systems in the Maltese Islands

by Kris Scicluna, Mark Zammit and Brian Azzopardi

ABSTRACT: This research was aimed at the development of a mathematical model in MATLAB which can be used to analyze the performance of different photovoltaic systems available on the Maltese market. The model uses data regarding the solar radiation patterns of the Maltese islands and technical specifications of the photovoltaic systems to estimate the power output and economic feasibility of a particular system. The model integrates a number of practical non-idealities such as inverter inefficiencies and yearly panel degradation and estimates their economic effects.

Keywords: Photovoltaic, Feasibility Study, MATLAB model.

28

1 PROJECT AIM The aim behind this research was to conduct a study that takes into consideration the current prices of Photovoltaic (PV) systems for household applications, current feed in tariffs and typical system performances currently available on the market.

A mathematical model was developed in MATLAB to receive multiple inputs and which estimates the time required for the recovery of hardware and installation costs.

2 PROJECT APPROACH For this project, data was collected from a number of suppliers across the Maltese islands so as to generate inputs for the MATLAB model developed. The data collected includes, among other factors, the cost and performance characteristics for a typical 2.5 kWp PV system. This data is fed to the model in the form of a structure, such that the comparison between the various systems being offered by different suppliers could be facilitated.

The operation of the MATLAB model is shown in the flow chart of Figure 1. The inputs applied were the solar radiation patterns for the Maltese islands, obtained from literature [1-3], and technical data about the PV system that was being modelled. This data included the following: • percentage panel efficiency • panel surface area • number of individual panels required • total system cost (incl. PV cells, inverters, mechanical structure and labour) • approximate feed-in tariff as of date (2014-2015)

Once all necessary calculations were performed, the number of daily energy units, monthly cost savings, and yearly net present value for a particular PV system were plotted. Hence a typical investment recovery period; that is the time required to break even with respect to Year 0 could be calculated. Such mathematical calculations are essential in order to support the decision making framework regarding photovoltaic technology on both a micro and macro level [5-7].

3 CALCULATION AND RESULTS The results of the scientific investigation presented at The University of Malta, Institute for Sustainable Energy Annual Conference – Sustainable Energy 2015 [8] The average monthly solar radiation patterns [1-3] driving the calculations in the model are presented in Figure 2, while the relevant PV system data obtained from a number of suppliers is shown in Table 1.

The following assumptions were included in the model: • Typical inverter efficiency of 96% (based on typical solar inverter efficiencies available on the market) [9].

• Typical linear panel degradation 0.7% per year [10].

• €0.155 feed-in tariff for 20 years (without any rebate) [11].

The daily units (in kWh) generated by each of the systems

The model calculates the total system output depending on the average solar radiation for each month of the year and the efficiency of the system. The model also factors in system inefficiencies, such as inverter losses and yearly PV panel degradation which also have an economic impact [4].

Table 1: Solar Radiation Patterns for Maltese Islands

PV System Data including efficiency, output and costs.

PV Data Structure

MATLAB Model -Calculate System Output -- Factor in system inefficiencies -- Calculate Investment Recovery Period

Plots for System Output per Month

Figure 1:

Net Value Generated per Month

Flow Chart for MATLAB model

Investment Recovery Period

Figure 2:

Plot of Solar Radiation Input to MATLAB model [kW/m2/day] vs.

Month Number

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The Current Economic Feasibility of Photovoltaic Systems in the Maltese Islands Continued

being reviewed were generated through the MATLAB model.

The results for the daily units generated by the system of Supplier 1 at Year 1 corresponding to each month of the year are shown in Figure 3. The monthly return in Euros from the feed-in tariff was also calculated for each system. The return for the system proposed by Supplier 1 at Year 1 is shown in Figure 4. The MATLAB model generates data over a 20 year period. The results obtained for the following years are similar to those presented in Figures 3-4 however the output will be reduced due to the yearly panel degradation which was estimated at 0.7% per year for the purposes of this research.

In order to estimate the investment recovery period and actual return of investment over a 20 year period with respect to Year 0 the following assumptions were taken: • 6% Discount Rate [12] • Yearly Operational and Maintenance Cost of 1.47% of Initial System Cost [12] The net present value (NPV) over a 20 year period is calculated by (1) as a function of the discount rate i :

(1)

Where: i is the discount rate (6%) N is the total number of periods (set for a 20 year period calculation).

Rt is the net cash flow (cash inflow – cash outflow) t is the time of cash flow (year number) The net present value was calculated for the three PV systems being reviewed using the MATLAB model over a 20 year period. The calculations performed in the model for the

Table 2:

Yearly net present value (NPV) calculation

30

Figure 3:

Daily units [kWh] vs. Month Number for Supplier 1 (Year 1)

system proposed by supplier 1 for Years 0-2 are shown below to better demonstrate the calculation. The yearly net present value for the 20 year period for the three systems is shown in Table 2. The accumulative net present value for the three systems is plotted in Figure 5 against the Year number.

At Year 0:

At Year 1:

At Year 2:

The data presented for the net present value in Table 2 and Figure 5 indicates that the most economically viable solution is System 2 which has an investment recovery period with respect to Year 0 of 17.6 years. The three systems reviewed in this research have comparable performances. System 1 has an investment recovery period of 18 years while System 3 stands at 18.6 years. Over the 20 year period modelled the most viable system resulted in a profit of €434 while the least efficient system resulted in a profit of €216 with respect to Year 0.

Figure 4:

Monthly Euros from Feed-in Tariff [Euros] vs. Month Number for Supplier 1 (Year 1)

4 CONCLUSIONS The purpose of the MATLAB model developed for this research was to generate estimates with which different PV systems available on the market could be compared.

The outputs of the model itself are heavily dependent on a number of factors which are difficult to predict and therefore have not been specifically quantified and considered such as:

Figure 5:

Net Present Value (€) vs. Year Number (i = 6%)

Although the 6% Discount Rate used in the above calculations is a common value quoted in literature, it may not fully reflect the investment scenario for the average Maltese household. Hence the net present value calculation above was repeated for System 2 with an adjusted Discount Rate of 2%. All remaining assumptions have been left unchanged.

This Discount Rate is based on the typical interest rate for a fixed term deposit greater than 5 years. The net present value against the year number is plotted in Figure 6.

When using a Discount Rate of 2% the investment recovery time is reduced to 12 years. Over a 20 year period a total profit of €3,197 with respect to Year 0 is projected. This is a significant improvement compared to when a Discount Rate of 6% was used when only a profit of €434 was projected.

Hence this shows that the calculation is highly susceptible to the value used for the Discount Rate. When the only available options of alternate investment are bank current and fixed term deposit accounts it is more feasible to use a lower discount rate.

The model used takes into consideration a yearly maintenance cost of 1.47% of the initial system. While this value caters for cleaning and general system maintenance it does not take into consideration a change in the inverter which is typically suggested after 10-15 years from the initial installation. Given such a consideration the aforementioned investment recovery periods may be slightly offset.

• Changes in solar radiation patterns • Technological advancement in PV systems • Variation of feed-in tariffs

If one considers the NPV which is the main tool used to analyze the economic viability of the photovoltaic investment; one must note that it is heavily dependent on the percentage Discount Rate used. Such a parameter is difficult to quantify, hence a typical value from photovoltaic related literature of 6% was used at first. This Discount Rate was reduced from 6% to 2% in order to better approximate the Maltese investment scenario for the average household. A percentage variation in this value has been shown to significantly affect the net present value results. Given the assumptions and data used for this research it was found that when high return investments are available (6% Discount Rate) the investment is typically recovered in a period of between 17.6 – 18.6 years.

When one considers a 20 year lifetime for a typical system the return on investment is minimal. However when such alternative investments are not available and the reduced discount rate is used the break even period was calculated to be approximately of 12 years. A return on investment of €3,197 compared to Year 0 was also projected which is significant when considering an initial investment in the €6,000 range at Year 0.

5 FURTHER WORK In order to improve the MATLAB model presented in this paper, the following modifications will be implemented to better approximate real world scenarios: • Inclusion of a projected percentage increase in the kWp available for typical household systems over time.

• Use of a wider supplier dataset.

• Consideration of the decrease in the overall system efficiency due to non-ideal conditions (such as obscured panel surfaces).

• Consideration of the decrease in the overall system performance in coastal areas.

Figure 6:

Net Present Value (€) vs. Year Number (i = 2%)

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An innovative leader captures the global market

WILO SE took a big step forwards in the “Hidden Champions 2013” brand ranking undertaken by the magazine WirtschaftsWoche. The Dortmund pump expert improved its position to 3rd place from 12th since the last survey in 2011.

This study presents Wilo as one of the three most significant brands among the German global market leaders in the capital goods business. It is based on a survey of more than 250 experts, including industry and trade associations, institutes and representatives of the trade press.

The WirtschaftsWoche bases Wilo’s high ranking on the fact that this innovative leader – with Germany as its starting point – is capturing the global market earlier and with more courage than other companies.

Furthermore, Wilo stands out in the major global trends of industrialisation, urbanisation and energy efficiency, beginning with the reference market of Germany. CEO Oliver Hermes wants to pursue this successful business strategy in future, “Globally, the Germans are known for having particularly high technical standards. This is why we bring our products out here first.” Nowadays, Wilo is active as an innovative all-round provider of pumps and pump systems in many different areas: from heating, cooling and air-conditioning to water supply and sewage disposal as well as agriculture and industry.

Success due to proximity to customers The company’s headquarters is in Germany but Wilo is active on a global level. The WirtschaftsWoche sees this as an important advantage as production in over 50 countries guarantees particular proximity to customers.

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Oliver Hermes wants to reinforce this advantage in future, “In order to preserve our competitive advantages, we cannot allow any reduction in quality.” A further aim is to offer the customer “ultimate service”.

Hidden Champion on record-breaking course Wilo’s Hidden Champion position is also supported by good figures. Despite difficult basic economic conditions, the company has been on a record-breaking course for several years now and has been able to significantly increase turnover and results many times in a row. According to CEO Oliver Hermes, the over 7,000 employees worldwide are an important factor in success, “The people who apply their expertise, inspiration, creativity and passion to their work at Wilo each day provide the basis for our innovative leadership and our economic success.”

Wilo is represented in Malta by 4H2o Limited, suppliers to the mechanical industry.

Besides Wilo pumps, 4H2o Limited supplies polybutylene push-fit systems and a full range of PPR pipes and fittings.

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The Current Economic Feasibility of Photovoltaic Systems in the Maltese Islands Continued

6 REFERENCES 1] R. N. Farrugia, M. Fsadni, and C. Yousif. (2005, 2005) The

Renewable Energy Potential of the Maltese Islands. Xjenza

[Research Article]. 32-42.

[2] A. Akiwale, "Solar Radiation over Malta," M.Sc., Centre for

Renewable Enery Systems Technology, Loughborough University,

2003.

Mr Chris

Scicluna

[3] E. Scerri, "The Radiation Climate of Malta," Solar Energy, vol. 28,

pp. 353-356, 1982.

[4] B. Azzopardi, J. Mutale, and D. Kirschen, "Cost boundaries for

future PV solar cell modules," in Sustainable Energy Technologies,

2008. ICSET 2008. IEEE International Conference on, 2008, pp. 589-

594.

[5] B. Azzopardi, C. Martinez, E. A., and J. Mutale, "Decision support

system for ranking photovoltaic technologies," Renewable Power

Generation, IET, vol. 7, pp. 669-679, 2013.

[6] E. A. Martinez-Cesena, B. Azzopardi, and J. Mutale, "Assessment

of domestic photovoltaic systems based on real options theory,"

Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, vol. 21, pp.

250-262, 2013.

[7] B. Azzopardi, C. J. Emmott, A. Urbina, F. C. Krebs, J. Mutale, and

J. Nelson, "Economic assessment of solar electricity production

from organic-based photovoltaic modules in a domestic

environment," Energy & Environmental Science, vol. 4, pp. 3741-

3753, 2011.

[8] K. Scicluna, M. Zammit and B. Azzopardi " The Economic feasibility

of photovoltaic systems" University of Malta, Institute for

Sustainable Energy Annual Conference - Sustainable Energy 2015,

March 2015, Malta. in the maltese islands through matlab

modelling.

[9] SMA. (8th December). Sunny Boy 2500TL/3000 TL Technical Data

Sheet. Available: www.SMA-Solar.com

[10] S. World. (2014, 8th December). The Linear Performance

Guarantee. Available: http://www.solarworld.de/en/service/linear-

performance-guarantee/

[11] MRA. (2014, 8th Decmber). Feed-in tariffs and gurantee periods

for FIT schemes available between 2013 and 2015. Available:

http://mra.org.mt/regulated-tariffs/feed-in-tariffs/

[12] S. Price and R. Margolis, "Solar Technologies Market Report," U.S

Department of Energy2008.

Mr Kris Scicluna has graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons.) in Electrical Engineering in 2011. He carried out research on Sensorless Control applied to Wind Energy applications as part of his M.Sc. degree at the Department of Industrial Electrical Power Conversion at the University of Malta. Currently he is following an M.Phil research degree in Sensorless Control applied to automotive applications with the same department. He has been employed as a Lecturer with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at the Malta College for Arts Science and Technology since October 2014. His research interests include renewable energy, automotive electronics and power converters.

Mr Mark

Zammit

Mr Mark Zammit is a Senior Lecturer at the MCAST Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, where he has been employed since 2008.

His main delivery is in the fields of Electrical Technology, Power Electronics and various topics dealing with Renewable Energy. His research interests are in the application of smart technologies to grid-connected systems, optimisation of power converter circuitry, and the design of electro-acoustic systems. His most recent work includes a book review that treats critical questions about the use of renewables, together with local research publications on the performance criteria adopted in establishing PV system performance.

Dr Inġ. Brian

Azzopardi

Eur. Ing.

Dr Inġ. Brian Azzopardi Eur. Ing. is Senior Lecturer II at the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology (MCAST). He has over 15 years’ industry-led academic experience.

Worked for Enemalta Corporation on the high voltage network development and as Consultant on award-winning energy projects. His multi-disciplinary works were acclaimed internationally. Since 2011, he was appointed as senior faculty member and retained visiting status in the United Kingdom and Lithuania.

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The Chamber of Engineers’ Engineering Excellence Awards

by Patrick Attard

On the 5th December 2014, the Chamber of Engineers organised the 13th Edition of the Malta Engineering Excellence Awards under the patronage of H.E. the President of Malta and which this year was held in St. John’s Cavalier in Valletta. The Awards were presented by the Hon. Minister Mr Joe Mizzi and were given in the following categories: • The Maurice Debono Lifetime Achievement Award that was presented to Prof Inġ. Joseph Micallef.

• The Industrial Excellence Award - there were two finalists in this category with the awarded being to

Inspectra Limited.

• The Start-up Entrepreneur Award - In this category there were also two finalists with the result being a tie and hence both were presented with the awarded.

These were Inġ. Matthew Spiteri (Altern Limted) and

Representatives of UoMRacing (University of Malta Racing Association).

The Chamber of Engineers would like to thank its corporate sponsors Bank of Valletta and Citadel Insurance and the event sponsors: Malta Communications Authority, Water Services Corporation, Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, Econetique, Alberta, Stephen Cordina and AV Warehouse.

Address from the President of the Chamber of Engineers Inġ. Norman Zammit As the President of the Chamber, Inġ. Norman Zammit welcomed all guests and indicated in his opening speech, that the Chamber of Engineers considers this important event as a yearly tribute directed towards ingenuity, engineering excellence and lifetime commitment towards the profession.

Starting his speech with a light note, reminiscing the student days when the University Engineering Students Associations had a number of catch phrases or slogans…Engineers Do It With Precision... Engineers Do it Better etc., the President stated that it was the firm belief that Engineers can do it better and give added value to Society, that acted as the impetus for the late Inġ. Maurice Debono and a group of engineers from the Chamber, to create a draft legislation and work hard to have the engineering profession finally regulated under a warrant system on the 22nd February 1988 with the approval of the ENGINEERING PROFESSION ACT Chapter 321 in Parliament.

From that time, the Chamber continued its work in favour of the profession with the formulation of a Code of Ethics. This Code of Ethics was adopted by the Engineering Board under

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The Chamber of Engineers’ Engineering Excellence Awards Continued

the law as the approved code of ethics for all engineers.

The Chamber had for long discussed the state of practice of the engineering profession in Malta and being aware of instances of inappropriate practices by a few warrant holders, it is no surprise that the Council set as one of its strategic objectives and priorities for 2014, the setting up of an Ethics and Disciplinary Committee.

The President continued by stating that the terms of reference of this committee is to review and debate the Code of Ethics for the Engineering Profession and to advise and recommend to the Council any revisions deemed necessary.

The Committee was also tasked with the responsibility to investigate cases of infringements of the Code, and to advise Council to recommend appropriate disciplinary measures to be taken by the responsible authority (Engineering Board).

The Committee was also set up to assist and give advice to members of the Chamber on problems encountered in the Industry or Society that could potentially lead to a breach of Ethics by the member in the execution of a particular task.

Therefore the committee would investigate means of support to be extended to warrant holders to facilitate adherence to the Code of Ethics and which would therefore result in the elevation of the status of the Engineering Profession and the perception of Maltese society towards it. In the new year the committee shall be launching a questionnaire amongst Chamber members with the aim to investigate better the present scenarios within Industry with regards to ethics and the perception amongst engineers of this notion, which is fundamental to their professional life governing their way of working.

Inġ. Zammit stated that ‘we have to remember that as Engineers, we are the catalysts of change and innovation and therefore we should always be the guardians and promoters to the establishment of quality and safe work practices within Industry and Society at large. We need to ensure that we will always retain our credibility and never negotiate our integrity’.

During this year the Council of the Chamber has worked on strengthening the synergies that exist between the Chamber and the Engineering Board. These synergies have in the past provided benefits to the profession and there is a constant commitment that this spirit of collaboration is sustained for the benefit of the profession. In their exchange of ideas with the Board, the Chamber have proposed a fundamental amendment to the composition of the Board where it is being suggested that the Chamber of Engineers is given the opportunity to have a representative ex-ufficio on the Board.

Inġ. Zammit also made reference to the important contribution that the Chamber has given on a European and International level with the continued participation as members in the World Federation of Engineering Organisations and the very active participation within the realms of FEANI - The European Federation of Engineering

36

Associations where as the National Monitoring Committee the Chamber attended the FEANI Annual Business Meeting that took place during October in Gdansk - Poland. Various issues were discussed during the General Assembly with one of the focal points being the introduction of the EngineerING card for engineers in lieu of the European Professional Card as proposed by the EU Commission. This document is intended to enhance mobility of engineers within the European Union. However there is still work to be done until all the National Monitoring Committees within FEANI come up to an acceptable formula for its full implementation. As Malta, the Chamber has expressed its reservations on certain aspects of the card but shall continue to support the concept.

The President also announced that the topic for next year’s Annual Engineering Conference is Energy and Transport Challenges and Opportunities, with the venue being SmartCity Malta. He stated that the topics will raise interest and was hoping that the Hon. Minister Joe Mizzi and Hon. Minister Konrad Mizzi would be available to give their precious contributions.

Finally Inġ. Zammit thanked all fellow council members for the commitment towards the work of the Chamber and other various members who have dedicated their time to represent the Chamber on various committees and organisations.

• Inġ Helga Pizzuto as vice-President of the Federation of Professional associations representing the Chamber together with Inġ. Saviour Baldacchino.

• Inġ. Johan Psaila - Treasurer for his contribution on the BRO. • Prof Dr Inġ. Robert Ghirlando, Dr Inġ. Victor Buttigieg, Inġ. Pierre Ciantar for their contribution within the Ethics and Disciplinary committee under the chairmanship of Inġ. Alex Galea.

• Prof Dr Inġ. Brian Azzopardi our Editor who together with Prof Dr Inġ Robert Ghirlando, Inġ Pierre Ciantar and myself form the Editorial Board of our flagship publication ‘Engineering Today’.

At this point Inġ. Zammit saluted the memory of the late Inġ.

John Pace previous editor for this publication and stated that Inġ Pace shall be given a special award for his contribution to the Chamber. His wife Mrs May Pace collected the award for this special recognition.

The President went on to thank Inġ Anthony Muscat, Inġ. Ray Vassallo and Inġ. Carmen Abela for their priceless contribution towards the introduction of national standards related to the installation and certification of PV panels.

He stated that the valuable support of the members is fundamental for the efficient operation of the Council. He however strongly encouraged the participation of more women within the Chamber, following the example of Inġ. Helga Pizzuto.

To conclude the President congratulated all finalists for these

prestigious awards. He stated that it was not an easy task to select the winners as results were very close and the level this year was again very high.

Address from the Hon. Minister Mr Joe Mizzi The Hon. Minister Mr Joe Mizzi started his speech by thanking the President and the Council of the Chamber for inviting him to present this year’s Malta Engineering Excellence Awards.

He went on to state that as the President of the Chamber indicated in his speech, the intent of these awards is to give recognition to persons who have contributed to the profession and the engineering environment within the Maltese society for the benefit of society at large, whilst the other two categories promote engineering excellence and entrepreneurship thereby promoting the launch of SMEs which are the motor of the Maltese economy and which the present Government has given so much focus to even with solid initiatives in the budget for 2015.

The Minister went on to state that as reported by the late Inġ. John Pace, in an article that appeared in a local journal in 2013, the engineering community celebrated 50 years from when the University opened its doors to the first 11 students to study for an Engineering degree in 1963, nine of whom graduated in 1966. Minister Mizzi exclaimed ‘most of us can only imagine a university where students have no access to the internet. Where no one has a computer or even an electronic calculator and has to perform complex calculations using a slide rule. A situation where parking at the University is not a problem as students do not have cars and this I am sure is a dream for most students and staff using their own transport to get to the University nowadays. A lot has progressed and has been achieved since that time with regards to the quantum of students that today attend the courses leading to the award of an engineering degree’.

Speaking of cars, the Minister stated that this government understands well the challenges that lie to instate an efficient transportation system that would rely heavily on efficient use of modern infrastructure. That is why a number of projects have been planned to better the current situation and this cannot be done unless we consider engineering as a backbone in transport, infrastructure and energy initiatives. ‘It was therefore a pleasure to hear that the annual engineering conference of next year shall be dedicated to Energy and Transport - Challenges and Opportunities. I firmly believe that the engineering community has a fundamental contribution to give in these sectors through expert advice, research and development initiatives as well as the application of modern engineering solutions to classical problems. We are sure that there shall be instances where the ingenuity of engineers shall be looked upon to bring about change that would be beneficial to the economy’.

The Minister did not wish to conclude his speech without noting with satisfaction the synergies that exists between the Engineering Board and the Chamber of Engineers when it

comes to the fundamental pillars of the profession which are ethics and competence. ‘It is fundamental for a Government constituted body as the Engineering Board to be able to find synergies with NGOs in the same sector and for this matter the Chamber of Engineers and the Engineering Board have kept this collaborative environment that I encourage both parties to sustain.’

He stated that he had also noted the request from the Chamber of Engineers to have formal representation ex-ufficio on the Board and assured the President and Council as well as members of the Chamber that this proposal will be given the due attention and consideration.

The Minister also made reference to the meeting that was held between the Chamber and the Engineering Board where the Chamber is closely following the ongoing discussions between MCAST and the Engineering Board with regards to the recognition of the degrees issued by MCAST for the purpose of qualification to the engineering warrant.

The MCAST detailed syllabi of the degrees are still undergoing evaluation and aware of the urgency of this matter he stated that he shall take up the discussions with the Engineering Board to see what additional resources need to be deployed to complete this review process in a reasonably short time frame.

To conclude the Minister congratulated all finalists for these prestigious awards with special appreciations going to the winners of every category.

The 2014 Awards for the best FINAL YEAR ENGINEERING and ICT Students’ Projects The second part of the evening was dedicated to the awards for the best Final Year Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Projects as well as best Final Year ICT student’s project.

• Dr. Inġ. John Betts, Dean of Engineering Faculty, University of Malta and Prof. Ernest Cachia, Dean of the ICT Faculty, University of Malta addressed the function.

• Mr Donald Dalli was the award winner from the Mechanical Engineering stream.

• Ms Rachael Nicole Darmanin and Ms Nathalie Margaret Cauchi were the winners from the Electrical Engineering stream whilst Mr Tony Cini was present with the award for the ICT Computer Systems Engineering stream.

Dr Inġ. Patrick Attard Activities Secretary and Chairman of the Malta Engineering Excellence Awards

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Newly Warranted Engineers Get Together The chamber organized a get together event for newly warranted engineers. Attendees had some time to network at the start. Council members met with the new warrant holders in an informal setting. After this, the attendees where addressed and some information on the role of the chamber of engineers was provided. In addition, BOV representatives introduced the audience to a number of opportunities which BOV offers for microsmesand startups. This is in linewith the Chamber’s drive for young engineers to undertake in entrepreneurship.

Dr Inġ. Daniel Secretary

Micallef

In her presentation, Victoria Azzopardi from EU Business Development at Bank of Valletta explored financing options for start-ups, making specific reference to engineers with an entrepreneurship spirit.

Typically start-ups and microenterprises require capital investment to set up their business. However, their risk profile, like that of SMEs, tends to be perceived as a liability because of their weak financial management structures, corporate governance and a myriad of other concerns related to the problem of starting out and being small.

Nonetheless, Bank of Valletta believes that this is an important sector that should be given all the assistance required to set up and grow. Victoria went on to illustrate the Bank’s response for this segment. The BOV Start Plus financing package, launched in December 2013, is a centralised EU financial engineering instrument, the first guarantee agreement under the CIP Programme. It is specifically designed to address the major concern of start-ups and micro-enterprises, namely access to finance. Thus, it lives up to its promise that ‘access to finance has just become easier’. She went on to explain that the Bank, particularly through its EU Representative Office in Brussels, will continue to explore other opportunities that will be of benefit to the Maltese entrepreneur.

Ms Victoria Azzopardi EU Business Development, Bank of Valletta

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Robot Wars

by Alison Baldacchino

Introduction On a yearly basis the IEEE Student Branch at the University of Malta holds Robot Wars. The members of all the participating teams are university students. The last edition was held on February 8, 2015 at the KSU Common Room at the University of Malta. Robot Wars serves as a means by which the students tackle a problem from both the mechanical and electrical aspects since amongst other things they have to determine which are the best motors and drive system, the weapon, the best way to structure and which materials to use for the chassis and armour of their robot.

This edition saw the addition of a second category to the usual one of 17kg; the hobbyweight class in which the maximum weight can be 5.44kg. It was during the registration period last year that each team had to choose in which category to participate. The smaller class was introduced due to the feedback received from students who participated in previous editions and had deemed the 17kg class as costly. In fact this year’s roboteers of the smaller class spent less than the roboteers of the larger one. In either of the two categories, each robot had to have an active weapon with which to attack the opponent. On the other hand, a restriction on the length, width, and height dimensions of the robots which was enforced in previous editions was totally removed.

1 THE COMPETING ROBOTS Among the wide range of active weapons that can be implemented, the teams’ weapon of choice varies from one

Figure 1:

Team 3310 - 17kg (Andrea Mifsud & Ariana Cassar).

Figure 2:

Team Darth Invader - 5.44kg (Alison Baldacchino, Neil Baldacchino and Norbert Bonnici).

edition to the next although the most popular tend to be the flipper and the drum. As the name implies, a flipper tries to turn the enemy robot upside down while a drum is a rotating mass which transfers the stored kinetic energy to everything it hits. During the initial planning process, each team realizes that while having an effective weapon is of utmost importance since it is through the weapon that other robots may be disabled, their own robot should be robust to sustain as many fights as possible with the minimum damage possible.

2 THE COMPETITION In the preliminary stages, each fight was 3 minutes long.

In each fight, the robots cannot forfeit until after 1 minute has passed and when the second minute has passed, a pit in the arena floor opens. In another corner of the arena floor there is a ramp which tends to be successful in making a robot unable to move. Whenever a robot ends up immobile for more than half a minute, the fight is won by the other robot. If for some reason both robots end up immobile or the 3 minutes pass with no evident winner, the judges determine who the winner is. This edition’s judges were Inġ. Marc Anthony Azzopardi, Prof. Carl James Debono, Prof. Inġ. Simon Fabri, Prof. Edward Gatt, and Prof. Inġ. Michael Saliba. Apart from the main focus of the competition, the fights themselves, the judges assigned points as they seemed fit for the best tactics, best weapon, best challenger, and best design.

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Pioneering for You

Robot Wars 2015 Continued

Figure 3:

Figure 5:

Figure 4:

Figure 6:

Drobiblika being flipped by 3310.

Drobiblika's drum eating away from RYNO's armour.

In this edition there were two drums (Dicer and Drobilka), a flipper (3310), a full body spinner with two retractable blades (PX-1), and a vertical blade bot (RYNO) in the 17kg class and a horizontal spinning blade (Darth Invader) and a drum bot (Lucky Devil) for the 5.44kg class. There were only two teams in the 5.44kg category since two other teams who had originally registered for the same category did not submit their robot since they were abroad on the competition’s day.

For the former a round robin system was applied and the top three robots moved on to a semi-final fight (second VS third).

The winning robot of the semi-final then had a match with the first placed robot (from the round robin) to determine the winner and the runner-up. In the case of the smaller class the strategy of having the winner determined from which one wins two out of three fights was carried out. The winners were 3310 and Darth Invader in the two classes respectively.

All the fights had something in particular; some robots being torn apart by the other robot, getting stuck on the sides or being flipped. At times it looked as if the robots were afraid to approach each other and made sure to avoid being left immobile by the ramp or the pit.

Dicer VS PX-1

Lucky Devil in the Arena

3 THE FUTURE It is the IEEE Student Branch’s plan to keep the two categories for the next edition since in both classes the students get to explore several challenges from which they will surely learn something. From one year to the next, the competition gets better and the robots’ robustness and quality has also improved. This gives the Student Branch the motive to continue organizing this event which draws to it a considerable number of people while also serving as a means to make students construct something and also mix with other students who may not necessarily be reading for the same degree or in their year of studies.

Ms Alison Baldacchino Chairperson, IEEE Student Branch Malta

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2015 Council Members

InÄĄ. Norman Zammit President

Dr InÄĄ. Patrick Attard Activities Secretary

InÄĄ. Saviour Baldacchino Vice President

InÄĄ. Alex Galea Membership Secretary

Dr InÄĄ. Daniel Micallef General Secretary

Mr Jurgen Seychell Student Member

InÄĄ. Johann Psaila Treasurer

Prof. Dr InÄĄ. Paul Micallef Secretary for Int. Affairs

InÄĄ. Anthony Cachia Member

Call for Authors Engineering Today

Cool Projects?

Developing Trends?

Best Prac‚ces?

To submit your ar‚cle for publica‚on visit www.coe.org.mt/publica ons Any queries are to be addressed to the editor@coe.org.mt Deadline 30th April 2015 Engineering Today is a quarterly magazine published by the Chamber of Engineers which has a circula‚on of over 1000 issues locally and Europe. The magazine features both technical and non technical ar‚cles by local and foreign authors.

Featuring advertorials on the Engineering Today is a good opportunity to promote your business. This is available through the Chamber’s advantageous corporate sponsorship packages. For more informa‚on regarding these packages, please contact the Chamber of Engineers: Tel.: 2133 4858 Mobile: 9933 4858 Email: info@coe.org.mt

www.coe.org.mt

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