Distinguished Lecture by Dr. Gerard-Andre Capolino in Singapore [Society News]

Dr. Gerard-Andre Capolino, IEEE Fellow and 2012-2013 Industrial Electronics Society (IES) president from the University of Picardie "Jules Verne," Amiens, France, was invited by the Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech) to give an IES distinguished lecture (DL) on 25 May 2012, as well as to visit the institute and some laboratories at the Nanyang University of Technology. Dr. Capolino\´s DL was titled "Condition Monitoring and Fault Detection in Complex Electromechanical Systems - Example of a Traction System." Condition monitoring and fault detection are key issues for electricity production and use. After presenting the structure of the electrical engineering research lab at the University of Picardie, Dr. Capolino went on to present different techniques that have been developed since the 1980s. His DL started by presenting a modeling approach for electromechanical systems with multiple mechanical and electrical faults. After that, classical and new signal-processing techniques for condition monitoring were presented, as well as suitable instrumentations to be implemented in realworld systems. All modern techniques related to condition monitoring in industrial applications for early fault detection in different areas such as railway traction systems, cranes, and wind turbine generators were focused on. The example of a high-speed train traction system was developed and analyzed from the point of view of condition monitoring. The DL, which lasted an hour and a half, was attended by more than 100 participants.