Communications Report Research (Mech Engineering)

The rapid development of technology and its impact

It’s estimated that robots will eventually take over as much as 25% of the work of engineers, just as
they have replaced production workers in factories and changed the skillset necessary for those
remaining.

Even in aviation, where product data has been used for years, manufacturers are finding new
implementations. For example, flight optimization equipment is being introduced that would allow
flight plans to be altered based on real-time data on weather and traffic, leading to better fuel use and
fewer delays. Planes are also sharing data more readily with air traffic control and other aircraft to
improve safety and traffic management.

For automakers, the problem has been the fact that data rarely makes it back to the engineers. Vehicle
internal error codes are tracked and used by repair shops to diagnose problems but often deleted after
the car is fixed. If they were fed into a database, engineers could track frequently recurring problems
with, for instance, navigation and infotainment systems, and find the root causes. They could then fix
them in subsequent designs. (this is starting to happen)

In automobiles, by monitoring drivers’ habits digitally, automakers might identify driving patterns
that cause higher emissions and adjust the exhaust systems’ control algorithms for individual drivers.

Project data management tools arrange a technology system into a connected library of subsystems,
and allows data sharing across a company, removing functional silos. It can speed up development
and cut the design cycle in half.

Renewables and their impact

The renewable energy industry has seen impressive, global growth over the last
decade, and mechanical engineers have played a key role in enabling the world’s
transition to clean energy and more sustainable practices.

In 2018, for example, mechanical engineers looked at ways of improving the design
of wind turbines, and mechanical engineering has led to similar improvements in
solar and geothermal power, as well as every stage of renewable energy
development.

Improvements in technology from engineering that make it more efficient to procure,

store and distribute renewable energy, and less expensive to build renewable energy
infrastructure.

With the rapid expanse of renewables, this has helped to create many jobs for
mechanical engineers as Many of the key skills that mechanical engineers learn and
develop in mechanical engineering graduate programs have a wide range of applications
for renewable energy engineering

In addition to their contributions in the development of infrastructure and day-to-day

operations of renewable energy, mechanical engineers make numerous contributions to
the sector through research and development, addressing problems like how to reliably
store energy for long periods of time and how to improve the design of equipment
ranging from cooling systems to wind turbines.

Artificial intelligence and its impact

using artificial intelligence, the average company could achieve a 38 percent increase in turnover in
the period to 2022

 By mid-2023, it predicts the use of artificial intelligence in Germany’s manufacturing industry will
generate an additional gross value added of around 31.8 billion euros

It offers a number of significant benefits. In the case of traditional, reactive maintenance, faults are
only investigated and rectified once they’ve occurred, but predictive maintenance measures take
place at the ideal time. This prevents both the failures that are inevitable with reactive maintenance
and the waste associated with preventive maintenance. In the latter case, wear parts are regularly
replaced – even if they would have continued working for some time. Predictive maintenance is
made possible by using artificial intelligence to evaluate big data.

The form of artificial intelligence used for predictive maintenance in a way provides a glimpse into
the future. Existing databases are evaluated as a starting point for making reliable predictions, such
as the ideal time for replacing wear parts.

How does technology impact engineering? (telegraph.co.uk)