ASME RELEASES ROADMAP FOR WATER MANAGEMENT

ASME has released the ASME Water Management Technology Vision and Roadmap that aimsto guide the Society in developing products and services that benefit engineers and the global community at large. ASME’s strategic plan highlights training, technology research and development, standards development, advocacy and public awareness, and collaborations with national and international groups that share the Society’s commitment to improved water management.

“ASME will bring diverse partners together to find multidisciplinary solutions to water management technology issues that protect public health and the environment, while conserving precious water supplies and the infrastructure for future generations,” according to the report, which is drawn from the analysis and assessments of selected experts in science and engineering.

The ASME Water Management Technology Vision and Roadmap identifies five trends and drivers that will guide the Society’s activities over the next five years. The trends relate to the role of water in energy production, supply scarcity due to shifting populations, decreased water quality, the use of recycled or “gray” water in some industrial sectors, and the role of ASME members and other engineering professionals in educating policymakers and the general public.

One of the Society’s R&D objectives in water management is to stimulate technology development and to promote best practices, including standards development, for the safety and reliability of engineering components and equipment. The ASME Water Management Technology Vision and Roadmap also strongly encourages industry to use non-potable gray water to meet water conservation imperatives.

“Utilities, manufacturers, and municipalities can replace the use of freshwater with reclaimed or recycled water,” says the report.  Part of the Society’s roadmap is to address the political, economic, social, and technological hurdles “in order to tap into the considerable potential that recycling and reuse offer an industry seeking to keep costs low and a nation seeking to conserve potable water resources.”

In the area of education and outreach, ASME plans to create training seminars and workshops on water technology, new technical journals, an industry-sponsored award, and a Water Management Technology Affinity Group composed of ASME volunteers.

ASME BOILER AND PRESSURE VESSEL CODE BRINGS FOCUS TO MILESTONE ANNIVERSARY

This year’s celebration of the 125th anniversary of ASME codes and standards activity is a tribute to the organisation’s commitment to public safety, which had its beginnings with the publication of the Society’s first performance test code, in 1884, which addressed steam boilers.

Thirty years following Code for the Conduct of Trials of Steam Boilers, the Society issued, in 1914, Rules for the Construction of Stationary Boilers and for Allowable Working Pressure. This code was an act of public service, developed in response to the numerous boiler failures and mishaps, including deadly explosions, that occurred onboard steamships and in steel mills, factories and woodworking shops at the turn of the twentieth century.

The 114-page publication, known as the 1914 edition, evolved into the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code (BPVC), which today encompasses 12 sections, 28 books, and more than 14,000 pages in total.  The BPVC covers industrial and residential boilers as well as nuclear reactor components, transport tanks, and other types of pressure vessels.  The code covers every aspect of systems design, fabrication and installation and inspection, and includes specifications for welding, along with rules and guidelines related to material stress and fatigue in pressure components.

The Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code has become virtually synonymous with ASME and contributed strongly to the organisation’s stature in the U.S. and global standards-setting community.  The BPVC has been incorporated into the laws of all 50 United States and throughout the provinces of Canada.  More than 92,000 copies of the code are in use in 100 countries around the world, with translations in a number of international languages.

The first performance test code set in motion 125 years of codes and standards development in plumbing devices, process piping, cranes, hand tools, elevator and escalator systems, bioprocess equipment, and many other technical areas in which mechanical engineering has a role. Today ASME publishes more than 500 codes and standards used worldwide.
The extensive codes and standards program of ASME also involves training and certification.  There are more than 5,000 ASME certified manufacturers around the globe.

On 10 June, US Senator Ted Kaufman, honouring the Society’s 125th codes and standards anniversary, sponsored Senate Resolution 179 recognising the lasting impact of ASME codes and standards in the United States and throughout the world.  “It is impossible to ignore the effect ASME’s codes and standards have had on global development,” Sen. Kaufman said before the 111th Congress.

ASME regularly updates the code to reflect advancements in design, materials, construction methods, and applications, and issues a new edition every three years. The most recent edition of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code was released in 2007. 

FUTURE CLIMATE CONFERENCE: ENGINEERING SOLUTIONS

On 3-4 September 2009, 13 engineering associations from 12 countries came together to present and discuss the results of their research efforts on how technologies can combat greenhouse gas emissions.

This conference was the final step of the Future Climate – Engineering Solutions project. Since the kick-off conference in September 2008, engineering associations assessed the technical and economic feasibility of available and almost mature technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The outcomes of these technology assessments have been summarised in a joint report on future climate engineering solutions. The joint report and the individual plans and recommendations will be brought under the attention of the parties involved in the preparation of the COP 15 United Nations Climate Conference in Copenhagen, in December.

The basic assumption of the project is recognition that greenhouse gas emissions, and their concentration in the atmosphere, must be reduced to a sustainable level. The project definition of a sustainable level is equivalent to the best-case stabilisation scenario, presented in the 4th Assessment Report by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC).

The engineering associations of Norway, UK, India, Germany, Finland, Ireland, Sweden and Denmark have developed climate plans which describe the most important technologies and technological solutions proposed to meet the target of 50-85% greenhouse gas reduction by 2050 (excluding India as a developing country). The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers has developed roadmaps for promising technologies for a sustainable society. ASME has contributed with a position statement on technologies and policy recommendations and goals for reducing carbon dioxide emissions in the energy sector.

The most important common finding shows that near-term greenhouse gas reduction needs can be achieved with proven technologies. Further common findings call for:

• Setting reliable greenhouse gas reduction targets;
• Stimulate conditions for engineering solutions to enhance technological innovations globally;
• Implementation of energy efficiency technologies as it is the easiest, smartest and most inexpensive path towards substantial greenhouse gas reductions;
• Global action for clean transport at multinational corporate and government levels.

The joint report, the individual reports of participating associations, and the conference presentations, can be found at: http://ida.dk/sites/climate/conference2009/Sider/Conference2009.aspx

ASME was represented at this conference by:

• ASME’s Director of EMEA Operations,  Jeroen van Liempd
• ASME Speaker: Landis Kannberg, Chair of the ASME Climate Change Taskforce, presented the ASME position statement
• ASME Speaker: Deborah Lynn Bleviss, presented examples of strategies to reduce CO2 production in USA energy use

SPACE SHUTTLE CARRIES SPECIAL ASME PAYLOAD

ASME member John (Danny) Olivas, Ph.D., P.E., was among the crew of seven astronauts that launched in August from the Kennedy Space Center near Orlando, Fla., onboard the Space Shuttle Discovery. Its primary payload was the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module Leonardo. Leonardo will deliver equipment to allow the International Space Station (ISS) crew to be expanded from three to six astronauts. 

But also making the journey was a specially-designed ASME patch commissioned to commemorate Olivas’s mission on the shuttle flight, which has been designated STS-128. When Olivas returns, he promises to present the patch to ASME.

“We received a phone call from Danny back in May requesting to bring a piece of ASME memorabilia into space, preferably a patch,” said Mel Torre, director, ASME Communications. “Naturally, we were thrilled with the request. But, since we didn’t have a patch to give him we decided to create one in recognition of his shuttle mission and his membership with ASME.” The patch was delivered to Olivas and was cleared by NASA for lift-off on Discovery.

CONTRIBUTE AND WIN!

CONTRIBUTE to ASME EMEA eUpdate

ASME EMEA eUpdate is looking for contributions on the following topics (maximum of 300 words):

• Use and implementation of the ASME codes and standards in the EMEA region. How does your company implement the ASME codes and standards and what has been the impact on the business?
• Updates on technological developments on the following sectors: Nuclear power, Bioprocessing Equipment, Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing, Oil and Gas Production and Transport, Boiler Pressure Vessel Equipment.

What’s in it for you?

• gain visibility and exposure to over 27.000 mechanical engineering professionals in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
• register for the 2009 European Training course in Barcelona with the early bird fee

Please send your contribution and your photo, company logo or a company photo (jpg format, high resolution if possible). Send it to fortesc@asme.org

TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT

  

For the first time since its creation, ASME Europe organised Training & Development public courses in Copenhagen, Denmark, in partnership with the Danish Society of Engineers, IDA, and the Danish Mechanical Engineering Society, DMS.

Over 40 participants from 8 different countries gathered in the Danish Society’s energy-efficient conference center, nicely located by the canal in the city center, to increase and enhance their professional expertise in key engineering topics related to widely known ASME codes: Section VIII Division 1, Section III, and Section V. Presented by prominent ASME experts, these courses offered attendees numerous opportunities to apply their newly acquired insight to real life situations encountered in their daily professional activities.

We thank IDA and DMS for partnering with us around this initiative in Denmark, and invite you to our next Training & Development programme in Barcelona, Spain, from 7 to 11 December 2009. For more information and to register, please visit www.asme.org/education/europe.

  

http://www.asme.org/Education/Europe/

Further your professional career with the knowledge you need from the training courses.
Course titles include:

• Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code: Section IX: Welding & Brazing Qualifications
• Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code: Section XI: In-service Inspection of Nuclear Power Plant Components
• API 579: Recommended Practice for Fitness-For-Service and Continued Operation of Equipment
• Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code: Section VIII, Division 2: Pressure Vessels
• Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code: Section III, Division 1: Class 1, 2 & 3 Piping Design

Testimonials from previous sessions:

"The best feature about the course was the instructor's expertise, who provided some information that is not necessarily detailed in the Code itself" (Anonymous - attended Section VIII Div 2 course in Stockholm, Sweden, June 2009)

"ASME training programme in Europe has given opportunities for more engineers to participate and to increase code awareness. The course also exposed me to more information on piping and provided strong insight into piping design" (Olabulo Adewale, Engineering, Head of Department at Oando PLC, Nigeria - attended B31.1 course in Stockholm, Sweden, June 2009)

In Partnership with
ALITUR (Associazione dei Laureati in Ingegneria di Tor Vergata, Università di Roma); BSMEE (Belgian Society of Mechanical and Environmental Engineering); Coordinamento Mecanica; DMS (Danish Society of Mechanical Engineers); FABI (La Maison de l'Ingénieur); IDA (Danish Society of Engineers); SNE (Spanish Nuclear Society).

 

Upcoming Courses

Other Educational Activities
ASME organises a variety of educational activities worldwide. Check the upcoming dates and locations and further your knowledge and ensure the next steps in your professional future.

For the online educational opportunities please click here

CONFERENCE AND EVENTS

ASME EMEA Events Calendar
See all the events in EMEA and select the event you want to attend.

The Organising Committee of ESDA 2010 invites you to participate in the 10th Biennial ASME Conference on Engineering Systems Design and Analysis. The ESDA Conference will take place on 12-14 July 2010, in Istanbul, Turkey.

You are invited to submit your abstracts until the 16 November 2009 on the following conference topics:

• TRK 1 Advanced Energy Systems
• TRK 2 Advanced Materials and Tribology
• TRK 3 Applied Mechanics
• TRK 4 Automotive Engineering and Technologies
• TRK 5 Bioengineering and Biomedical Technology
• TRK 6 Computational Mechanics
• TRK 7 Design Engineering
• TRK 8 Dynamic Systems and Control
• TRK 9 Fluids Engineering
• TRK 10 Heat Transfer
• TRK 11 Manufacturing Systems
• TRK 12 Mechanisms and Robotics
• TRK 13 Mechatronics
• TRK 14 Micro and Nanotechnology
• TRK 15 Optical Engineering
• TRK 16 Science, Engineering & Education
• TRK 17 Systems Engineering

Please note that contributions of original research or innovative practical applications should be in English. The conference proceedings will be digitally published by ASME.

For more information: http://www.asmeconferences.org/esda2010/

DISTRICT AND COMMUNITY NEWS

The UK Section hosted  on 24 September 2009 in London the District H-wide Oral Presentation Competition. The Old Guard Oral presentation Competition, which is a common feature of SPDCs (Student Professional Development Conferences) in North America, was successfully organised for the first time in District H.

Each participant had 20 minutes to present and answer questions related to any subject regarding Mechanical Engineering. Alex Scott, from the UK & IRL Section won the competition with a presentation about his final year project about the design of a self guided car. The UK & IRL Section and the Israel Section were respectively second and third places. Alex will represent DH at IMECE in Lake Buena Vista,Florida, USA. 

The prizes awarded by ASME are as follows:

First: $1,000.00 + a trip to compete in the final competition at ASME's IMECE in Florida
Second: $150.00 and Third: $100.00.

The winning student have the chance to compete at the Final Competition which will take place during the IMECE at Lake Buena Vista, Florida, USA from 13-19 October.  The prizes at this final competition are: First: $2,000; Second: $1,500; Third: $1,000 and Fourth: $500.

ASME PUBLICATIONS

Book of the month

Pipeline Geomatics: Practice & Innovation, Edited by Steve Adam and Kelsey Davis

This third volume in the Pipeline Engineering Monograph Series discusses how geomatics is helping pipeline companies innovate efficiently and responsibly through its applications in pipeline engineering, construction, integrity, regulatory compliance, assessing environmental impact, and managing growing volumes of data.

Buy Online: http://catalog.asme.org/books/PrintBook/Pipeline_Geomatics_Practice.cfm

 

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