Upholding the spirit of pragmatic innovation and dedicated to innovation and technology (I&T) development, the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD) achieved encouraging results at the International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva 2021, winning eight awards including four Gold Medals and four Silver Medals. The International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva is a world-renowned, large-scale annual international exhibition and invention event, which attracts participants from all over the world to showcase their inventions.
Our four Gold Medal-winning projects are the Cloud-based Predictive Maintenance System for Real-Time Lift Monitoring, the Artificial Intelligent Nylon Optical Fibre Sensing Escalator Combs, the Building Semantic Artificial Intelligence, and the Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled Smart Toilet Bowl Cleaning System. Moreover, the four Silver Medal-winning projects are the Non-Intrusive Data Analytics System for Adaptive Intelligent Condition Monitoring of Lifts, the Air Filter 2.0 - Energy Saving Smart Air Filter Technology, the Fibre Optic Temperature Sensing System for Predictive Monitoring of Electrical Distribution Network, and the Smart Prison - Video Analytic Monitoring System.
Prevention is Better than Cure - Predictive Maintenance System for Lifts
The Gold-Medal-winning Cloud-based Predictive Maintenance System for Real-Time Lift Monitoring uses fiber Bragg grating sensors and electronic sensors, while the Silver-Medal-winning Non-Intrusive Data Analytics System for Adaptive Intelligent Condition Monitoring of Lifts only uses electronic sensors, to monitor the important components of lifts and their abnormal situations. Data analysis could be conducted by both of the systems to predict the risks involved in lift operation, as well as the need for lift maintenance in a short period of time. Making use of the big data, artificial intelligence (AI) technology and cloud-based computing technology, these two newly-developed systems assist engineers to formulate predictive maintenance plans for lifts, which will help reduce the risk of sudden lift failure.
Smart Escalators with Upgrade in Material, Design and Technology
The regulatory team of the EMSD re-engineered and improved the traditional escalator metal comb plates by making use of 3D scanning and printing technology, significantly reducing the chance of small objects being stuck in the escalators. Moreover, the use of optical fibre sensing, AI and cloud computing technologies allow the system to detect obstacles. The responsible person of an escalator can monitor the operational condition of the escalator in real-time via mobile application, receive predictive alerts and remove obstacles, thereby reducing the occurrence of step collision accidents. Being an innovative yet practical invention, the technology can be applied in most of the escalators as specific escalator comb plates can be produced by 3D printers with minor adjustments of the comb plate size by the computer. This system has been installed in eight escalators for field tests. Novel and innovative, the system has successfully obtained an official search report with positive results from the China National Intellectual Property Administration.
Enabling the Development of a Smart City with Building Semantic Artificial Intelligence
The Building Semantic Artificial Intelligence system, which is another Gold-Medal-winning project this year, combines digitisation and natural language processing, making the programmes of the AI services portable across buildings in a shorter time frame, bringing about optimisation of system operation and energy saving. The system can interpret the relevance of digitised E&M operation information of many buildings through an integrated semantic standard. After a big data AI analytic model for a certain building is developed, it can then be copied and applied in other buildings based on the semantic model. This approach reduces the time for digitisation of the E&M systems by about 70% compared to the past.
Promoting Digitisation of Public Health
The Gold-Medal-winning IoT-enabled Smart Toilet Bowl Cleaning System adopts the latest technology to further improve the hygiene of toilets and reduce the workload of the cleansing staff. The system is a combination of automatic toilet cleaning robots, an IoT-based sanitation monitoring platform and IoT data analysis. Empowered by IoT smart monitoring function and the AI technology for analysing toilet images, the automatic toilet cleaning robots can automatically determine the suitable cleaning mode and amount of water required, and then stretch out their robotic arms to perform the cleaning works. In the future, the system could be further applied in toilets with different designs.
16 Patents for Improving Repair and Maintenance Services
In recent years, the EMSD actively took out multiple patents for I&T solutions to assist Government departments to enhance public service quality. Since 2013, upon continuous development and research, we in collaboration with various organisations and enterprises, had successfully obtained 16 patents. These patents cover a broad range of applications, including the Non-Intrusive Data Analytics System for Adaptive Intelligent Condition Monitoring of Lifts, the Fibre Optic Temperature Sensing System, and the Smart Toilet Bowl Cleaning System, which are all recognised with an award at the International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva. These inventions provide Government departments with more effective E&M system maintenance solutions.