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Education Plus
The new cutting edge courses
P.S. SREEJITH
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Newer branches of engineering, distinct from the core ones that have existed for a long time, have been gaining increasing attention. In a two-part series, we look at some of them.
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The engineering degree course covers mathematical and physical sciences; general engineering subjects, such as engineering mechanics, engineering materials, hydraulics and thermodynamics; and specialised or terminal courses.
The terminal courses are more or less derived from the basic core branches, such as mechanical, electrical and civil engineering, and a lot is being heard about these.
Courses such as mechatronics have caught the fancy of many. But what ground do these new-fangled courses cover?
Let us take a look at some of them. The list of institutions provided here is indicative and not exhaustive.
Mining engineering
Mining engineering is a field that involves many of the other engineering disciplines as applied to extracting and processing minerals from a naturally occurring environment.
The need for mineral extraction and production is an essential activity of any technically proficient society. As minerals are produced from within a naturally occurring environment, the environment can be disturbed.
Modern mining engineers must, therefore, be concerned not only with the production and processing of mineral commodities but also with the mitigation of damage or changes to an environment.
Engineering disciplines that are closely related to mining engineering are: civil engineering; environmental engineering; geotechnical engineering; hydraulic engineering; electrical engineering; and structural engineering.
Specialised areas of mining engineering involve extraction of minerals from underwater mines, seawater, in-situ retorting of rock and underground gasification.
According to a census, in the year 2007, only 103 students received Bachelor’s degrees in mining engineering throughout America.
Some of the institutions offering the course are the Indian Institute of Technology; Kharagpur; the Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi; the Indian School of Mines; Dhanbad; the Bengal Engineering and Science University, Shibpur, West Benagal; the National Institutes of Technology at Raipur, Rourkela and Surathkal; and Visvesvaraya Technological University, Bangalore.
Marine engineering
Marine engineers are the members of a ship’s crew that operate and maintain the propulsion and other systems onboard the vessel.
Marine engineering staff also deal with the “Hotel” facilities onboard, notably the sewage, lighting, air-conditioning and water systems. They deal with bulk fuel transfers and require training in fire-fighting and first aid, as well as in dealing with the ship’s boats and other nautical tasks, especially with cargo loading and discharging and gear and safety systems, though the specific cargo discharge function remains the responsibility of deck officers and deck workers.
Sometimes, they are involved in the design and construction of these complicated systems.
New design is mostly included within the naval architecture or ship design. The field is closely related to mechanical engineering, although the modern engineer requires knowledge (and hands-on experience) with electrical, electronic, pneumatic, hydraulic, chemistry, control engineering, naval architecture, process engineering, gas turbines and even nuclear technology on certain military vessels.
Some of the institutions offering the course are the KM School of Marine Engineering, Cochin University of Science and Technology; International Maritime Academy, Chennai; the Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering, Tamil Nadu; the Marine Engineering Research Institute, Kolkata; Bharath University, Chennai; and Tolani Maritime Institute, Pune.
Biomedical engineering
Biomedical engineering is the application of engineering principles and techniques to the medical field. It combines the design and problem-solving skills of engineering with medical and biological science to help improve health care and the quality of life of healthy individuals.
As a new discipline, much of the work in biomedical engineering consists of research and development, covering an array of fields: bioinformatics, medical imaging, image processing, physiological signal processing, biomechanics, biomaterials and bioengineering, systems analysis, 3-D modelling and so on.
Examples of concrete applications of biomedical engineering are the development and manufacture of biocompatible prostheses, medical devices, diagnostic devices and imaging equipment, such as magnetic resonance imaging and electroencephalogram and pharmaceutical drugs.
Some of the institutions offering the course are the Model Engineering College, Thrikkakkara; the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad; the Vellore Institute of Technology, Tamil Nadu; Anna University Tamil Nadu; Sathyabama University, Tamil Nadu; the PSG College of Technology Coimbatore; and Visvesvaraya Technological University Bangalore.
Clinical engineering
Clinical engineering is a branch of biomedical engineering for professionals responsible for the management of medical equipment in a hospital.
The tasks of a clinical engineer are typically the acquisition and management of medical device inventory, supervising the work of biomedical engineering technicians, ensuring that safety and regulatory issues are taken into consideration and serving as a technological consultant for any issues in a hospital where medical devices are concerned. Clinical engineers work closely with the information technology department and medical physicists.
A typical biomedical engineering department does the corrective and preventive maintenance on the medical devices used by the hospital, except for those covered by warranty or maintenance agreement with an external company. All newly acquired equipment is fully tested. That is, every line of software is executed or every possible setting is exercised and verified. Most devices are intentionally simplified in some way to make the testing process less expensive, yet accurate. Many biomedical devices need to be sterilised. This creates a unique set of problems, since most sterilisation techniques can cause damage to machinery and materials. Most medical devices are either inherently safe, or have added devices and systems so that they can sense their failure and shut down into an unusable, thus very safe, state. A typical, basic requirement is that no single failure should cause the therapy to become unsafe at any point during its lifecycle.
Some of the institutions offering the course are the M.S. Ramaiah Institute of Technology, Karnataka (medical electronics); Dayananda Sagar Institutions, Bangalore; and Visvesvaraya Technological University, Bangalore
Mechatronics
Mechatronics is the synergistic combination of mechanical engineering, electronic engineering and software engineering. The purpose of this interdisciplinary engineering field is the study of automata from an engineering perspective and serves the purposes of controlling advanced hybrid systems. The word itself is a portmanteau of mechanics and electronics.
Mechatronics is centred on mechanics, electronics, control engineering, computing, molecular engineering (from nanochemistry and biology), which, combined, make possible the generation of simpler, more economical, reliable and versatile systems.
The portmanteau mechatronics was first coined by Tetsuro Mori, a senior engineer of the Japanese company Yaskawa in 1969. Mechatronics may alternatively be referred to as electromechanical systems or less often as control and automation engineering.
Some of the institutions offering the courses are S.R.M. University, Tamil Nadu; Sastra University Tamil Nadu; and the Vellore Institute of Technology, Tamil Nadu.
The writer is principal, School of Engineering, Cochin University of Science and Technology.
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