CUBIC Biotech Seminar - Medical Equipment and Veterinary Clinical Service

I attended “Happy Hour Tea Gathering” which organized by Life Science Group, CityU Business and Industrial Club (CUBIC), City University of Hong Kong on 18 March 2010.

The first speaker was Dr. Stephen W. Cheung (Director, Microwave Systems, Accuray Incorporated, Sunnyvale, California, USA) and his presentation titled “Medical Equipment and Cancer Economics”.


Dr. Cheung introduced Accuray Incorporated which was a global leader in the field of radiosurgery dedicated to providing a non-surgical treatment option for those diagnosed with cancer. He said every people would experience the old Chinese saying: Birth, Aging, Illness and Death. Moreover, technologies pushed life expectancy to near 80 years old for developed countries. Therefore, aging baby-boomers are one of market perspectives. Then he briefed the investment perspectives that a highly regulated industry such as FDA in USA. The FDA approval could be obtained at least 7 years with extensive clinical trials. On the other hand, products commanded high gross profit margin (e.g. 50% up)

After that he introduced the statistic of the cause of death in US and found that cancer was ranked in second. Dr. Cheung also estimated the cancer economics on radiation therapy machines in US and China.

The following photo showed the process of cancer treatment.

Then production and applications of X-Rays were discussed.

Cyberknife system was introduced by Dr. Cheung. Source of X-rays employed in “Accuray” is about 9.4GHz and the electron energy is in the range from 4 to 9 MeV.

Finally, he discussed other application in X-ray such as Cargo Scanning. The following photos indicated the different applications.

The second speaker was Dr. Christopher M. Riggs (Head of Veterinary Clinical Services, The Hong Kong Jockey Club, Equine Hospital, Sha Tin Race course) and his topic was “Looking After the Animals at the Centre of a Multi-Billion Dollar Business – Life as a Horse Doctor in Hong Kong Jockey Club”.

In the beginning, Dr. Riggs introduced the history of The Hong Kong Jockey Club (since 1846). Then facilities were also briefed that maximum of 60 horses each trainer, 24 trainer totally. Self-contained air-conditioned, multi-storey stable blocks, sand yard and walker were provided. Jockey Club needed to follow Veterinary regulation and international liaison such as assist racing control, oversee collection of official samples, liaise over quarantine issues, perform pre- and post-race horse inspections and review “fitness to race”, etc.

The following photo was related to Veterinary Clinical Services.

Lastly, Dr. Cheung introduced his research on Fetlock Injuries.

Group photo of speakers

Dr. Michael Lam (Associate Professor, BCH Dept., CityU) also joined the seminar

For more information about CUBIC:
www.cityu.edu.hk/kto/cubic
Other related article:
http://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2009/07/hong-kong-jockey-clubs-racing.html

HKSQA Conference 2010 – Software Assessment and Certification

Hong Kong Software Quality Assurance (HKSQA) Conference is organized by Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC) on 17 March 2010. Hong Kong Society for Quality (HKSQ) is one of supporting organizations. The HKSAR government has announced Testing and Certification as one of the six industries in Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Council for Testing and Certification (HKCTC) has established on Sep 2009. The HKSQA conference aims to provide insights and forum of discussion to focus on software industry.

In the beginning, Mr. Wilson Fung (Executive Director, HKPC) gave welcome speech. He said it was the second time to hold the conference. Software testing is about 20% of the software development cost. He hopes that HKPC can facilitate Software Quality Product Certification in Hong Kong.

Dr. Hon Samson Tam (Legislative Councilor – Information Technology Functional Constituency) was invited to give an opening address. He hopes that HKPC play a role as hub of technology and train up software expert in Hong Kong.

Then Dr. Tam and Mr. Fung turn on the laser crystal ball, indicating the opening of the HKSQA Resource Centre and its website.

After that Mr. Patrick Li (Sr. Consultant, IT Industry Development Division, HKPC) introduced the HKSQ Website. He briefed HKSQA Resource Centre services as follows:
i) Consultancy and advisory services
ii) Training and education
iii) Conference and show case
iv) Industry support
v) Research and publication

He also explained the IT Governance & Management framework.

The first speaker was Mr. John Hung (Secretary – General, HKCTC) and his topic entitled “The Hong Kong Council for Testing and Certification – Its Mission and Work” He briefed the background of Testing and Certification Industry which had about 690 establishments (including in-house laboratory), employed 15,690 persons and about 8 billion business receipted.

He said HKCTC needed to work with the industry to formulate a three-year market-driven development plan within six months of establishment for consideration of the Chief Executive. There were two working group named “Working Group on the Landscape of the Testing and Certification Industry” and “Working Group on Selection of Trades for Focusing”. HKCTC exchanged views with public organizations on potential support and co-operation such as Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), Hong Kong Science Park (HKSP), Vocational Training Council (VTC) and HKPC, etc. They also discussed with IT sector to consult their views and suggestions such as Hong Kong Computer Society, Hong Kong Information Technology Federation, Hong Kong Information Technology Joint Council, Hong Kong Software Industry Association and Internet Professional Association, etc.

The second speaker was Ms. Jian hua HOU (Director Assessor, Zhuhai Southern Software Test Centre) and her topic was “Professional Software Testing”. His talk separated into two parts. The first part was software testing process and the second part was sharing the case of professional software testing.

Software testing included α test, β test and the third party test. α test is performed by design house that required analysis and assessment of design software document, process testing and adjustment by programmer. β test was performed by customer such as free trial version for public. The third party test is using professional assessment tools to test software management mechanism including software product test, software development process test and network test.

She introduced some common language such as Java, C/C++, etc.

The national standards were also briefed.

She introduced the service of Zhuhai Southern Software Test Centre (ZHSSTC) lastly. MTR and Jockey Club was their customer in Hong Kong.


And then ZHSSTC Testing Services Case Study was presented by Mr. Michael Lau (System Manger, MTR Corporation Limited). He mentioned MTR Asset Management Model and then explained why they needed the Profestional Testing Services. It is because of the high requirement on quality of work; moreover, it is more cost effective than maintaining an internal testing team. The areas of testing were included “Load Test”, “Critical Functions” and “Code Scanning (Security Loophole Checking)”.

The following test reports were from ZHSSTC:

- System Performance Testing Report

- Static Code Performance Analysis Report

- Result of Code Standard Checking

- System Security Testing Report

He also said some problems were difficult to be detected with the black box functional test, so the testing service was desirable to have a 3-party to check the quality of works of the contractors (e.g. APJ).

At the end of morning session, Mr. Xinjun AO (COO, Zhuhai AiPuJing Software Technology Co., Ltd. (APJ)) shared the work in collaboration with ZHSSTC and MTRC on Professional Testing Service. He explained three main challenges such as “Collaboration of more than 3 parties”, “Understanding of Domain Knowledge” and “Project Coordination and Communication”.

For more information:
http://www.hksqa.org/

Industrial Visit to HKSTP Laboratories

Industrial Visit to HKSTP Laboratories was arranged on 13th March 2010. Participants included members of Hong Kong Society for Quality (HKSQ) and students of Department of Biology and Chemistry (BCH), City University of Hong Kong. The visit aimed to introduce ISO 9001 certified and HOKLAS accredited laboratories to participants so as to enhance their understanding on quality management principles and practices employed in laboratory.

Gathering in University MTR Station at 9:45am


Arrived HKSTP

Queuing for HKSTP introduction program (every Saturday and Sunday)

Firstly, We visited IC Development Support Centre. Staff explained IC development history and technology in TECH PRO area.

Then we visited Probe and Test Development Centre and took a group photo.

After that we visited the following laboratories in sequence.
i) Wireless Communication Test Laboratory
ii) Reliability Laboratory
iii) Solid State Light Laboratory
iv) IC Failure Analysis Laboratory
v) Material Analysis Laboratory
vi) Biotechnology Support Laboratory

Finally, we took a group photo in front of Charles K Kao Auditorium (Golden Egg).

Two visits would be arranged for the certificate course entitled “Quality Management for Laboratory” organized by Hong Kong Society for Quality (HKSQ) and Department of Biology and Chemistry (BCH), City University of Hong Kong. In the course, 15 free seats are reserved for BCH students.

For more information:
http://www.hksq.org/
http://www.lab.hkstp.org/

Technical Seminar on Electric Vehicles

I attended a technical seminar entitled “Electric vehicles – Impacts, recent development and future” which was organized by HKSQ on 12th March 2010.
Electric vehicle (EV) is an exciting topic for transportation based on the technology of power electronics to enable the high efficiency use of the power conversion. The seminar discussed the technology including in-wheel motor, high performance motor drive, high energy density battery, high power charging and condition monitoring and their impacts on the environment, power system network and the human behavior.

Dr. Albert Tsang (past chairman) gave an opening speech of the seminar and introduced the speaker Prof. Eric Cheng who is in-charge Power Electronics Research Centre, Department of Electrical Engineering of Hong Kong Polytechnic University.



Prof. Eric Cheng briefed the content of seminar as follows:
i) The advantage of electric vehicle
ii) MyCar development
iii) Battery and charger
iv) Higher performance vehicle

The advantage of electric vehicle and disadvantage of traditional vehicle were listed below.
· Zero Emission vs Unfavourable Gases Emission
· Power Regeneration vs No Power Regeneration and consume power when stand still
· Low Noise Pollution vs Noise Pollution
· Instant start and direct drive vs Idle speed
· Simple in structure vs structure generate unnecessary heat

Then Prof. Cheng discussed the power electronics and its components design of MyCar.
· Battery Charger – switched mode power converter
· Motor – electromagnetic design
· Motor Drive – inverter design
· Light – LED converter driver
· Safety – EMI study, screening, fault tolerance, system control
· Material / New Devices – Super-capacitor battery modeling, measure of State of Charge (SoC) and State of Health (SoH)

He said the original design of MyCar was using diesel and then they decided to convert into electric drive.

Electric Vehicle range per charge was still limited by the battery. So battery technology was one of key focuses in EV development. There were four types of battery used.
i) Lead-acid batteries (relatively inexpensive)
ii) Nickel-metal-hydride battery (High self-discharge & an interim step to lithium-based battery)
iii) Lithium-ion battery (store more energy & larger power density)
iv) Carbon Nano Tube (CNT) battery

Comparison of different batteries were shown as follows: (Type / Charge & Discharge cycle / Energy)
i) Lead-acid / 400 / 30-40 WHr/kg
ii) Zinc-air / 1000 / 50-60 WHr/kg
iii) NiMH / 800 / 70-80 WHr/kg
iv) Li-ion / 1000 / 100-160 WHr/kg
v) CNT / 2000 / 180-240 WHr/kg
vi) Hydrogen Fuel cell / 1000 / 150-200 WHr/kg

The CNT battery was a 99% recyclable, rechargeable battery that utilizes a highly-conductive carbon nano tube coating to modify the fabrication of batteries.

The photo showed the CNT battery. (So thin)

Solar Golf Cart involved environmental concern on combining solar energy and electric vehicle.

Battery Management System (BMS) was briefed. It used for cell balance and to avoid charging stops when one cell reaches the peak voltage. Moreover, BMS was able to protect batteries from over temperature, overload and under load, as well as, measuring the correct SoC & SoH.

EV Battery Charger Technology was discussed.

Polymer bonded Magnetics technology was also employed in transformer core.

Two parts were shown.

In-wheel Switched-Reluctance (SR) motor drive was introduced. The motor was built in each wheel in which used differential speed for skid steering.

To use LED Lighting technology in Front and Tail Lamp of vehicle was the trend. Thermal design was one of key technology.

Then, Prof. Cheng showed the video about MyCar launch as below.

Finally, he concluded the following No.1s:
i) 1st plastic magnetic core for power conversion in the world;
ii) 1st Large EV research group in Hong Kong;
iii) 1st Self developed commercial electric vehicle in Hong Kong;
iv) 1st In-wheel motor using the switched-reluctance technology;
v) 1st Integrated charger and motor drive in Town car.

After the seminar, we visited Power Electronics Research Cent

Prof. Cheng explained the In-wheel motor to us.

Front and Tail LED lighting and integrated sphere for LED testing.

There are four types of EV working in PolyU. (i.e. Town car, Golf car, Motor cycle, MyCar & 4-wheel vehicle). One of EV was demonstrated.

The Battery and BMS of EV

Photo with Smart Car (electric vehicle)

Group photo

HKSQ flag was presented to Prof. Eric Cheng.

For more information:
http://perc.polyu.edu.hk