IEE SCIENCE, EDUCATION & TECHNOLOGY DIVISION: CHAIRMAN'S ADDRESS

On getting the right answerK.F. Raby, M.A., C.Eng., F.I.E.E.

Indexing terms: Education and training, Motors

Abstract: The rapid growth of new technology in areas such as systems engineering, information engineeringand software engineering dictates a shift of emphasis in the IEE and in the overall pattern of electricalengineering education. Nevertheless we still need to recruit, educate and train engineers for the longer-established sectors of the electrical industry. The pace of development in products such as rotating electricalmachines may not be apparent to the casual observer but it is none the less real, and significant in the contextof our national economic survival. We therefore need a continuing supply of electromechanical engineers withthe requisite imagination and breadth of vision to advance the state of the art in the heavy electrical equip-ment industry. Somewhat in contrast to the compartmented and preordained format of typical universityengineering courses and examinations, our design engineers can only get the right answers if they have theability to devise and put to themselves the right questions. Some suggestions are offered as to how the forma-tive educational attitudes and experiences might be modified so as to be more relevant to the ensuing engin-eering career.

1 Introduction

At a time when our Institution is under strong and urgentpressures to change its attitudes and corporate membershipcriteria towards a wider recognition of such disciplines assystems engineering, information engineering and softwareengineering, it may seem anachronistic that the incomingChairman of the Science, Education & Technology Divisionshould be a tradition-oriented, heavy-current electromechanicalengineer. Any chairman's address is inevitably a personalmanifesto, and I should be less than honest if I did not voicemy misgivings that, in moving necessarily and rightly toencompass the evident new technology, we may be in somedanger of losing our regard for other areas of unchangingimportance. I believe this danger exists, not only for the IEEbut also in the field of engineering education. Indeed with theonset of the IEE's role in accrediting engineering degree coursesthe two are very directly linked, and so I make no apology forventuring into these areas in this address.

2 The technology of electrical machines

Rotating electric motors and generators are by now a fairlylong-established product. After nearly a century of gradualevolution, spectacular innovations must nowadays be deemedunlikely, but this is not to deny the opportunity for continuingperformance improvement. For what man-made artefact could

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Paper 1562A, delivered before the IEE Science, Education & Tech-nology Division, 15th October 1981Mr. Raby is Engineering Director of GEC Large Machines Limited,Mill Road, Rugby, Warks, CV21 1BD

be more unchanging than the human frame itself? Yet we stillsee and expect continuing progress (Fig. 1) in the records ofathletic achievement.

A very familiar engineering product, closely comparable indevelopment life-span to the electrical machine, is the familymotor car. To remind us of the extent and pace of progress,Fig. 2 shows a Ford 10 such as I owned during my first year or

Fig. 2 Ford 10 Saloon, circa 1950

so as an electrical machine designer with BTH in 1948-50;Fig. 3 shows the equivalent Ford Fiesta which my wife runstoday. The basic mechanics are the same, but the detail designhas been improved in every conceivable way.

As with motor cars, so with electrical machines: there is acontinual process of evolutionary development, refinementand improvement not only in the machines themselves, and intheir performance, but also (and this especially) in the tech-niques and equipment with which they are designed, andmanufactured, and controlled.

I shall try to sketch the scene of this ongoing incrementaldevelopment by a few examples taken from my own experienceand that of my immediate colleagues. They show the range oftechnology we have to encompass, the sort of decisions wetake,hopefully mostly right but occasionally quite disastrouslyand expensively wrong. In this way I shall try to build up animpression of the type of engineer we seek to employ, andhence to offer a few thoughts, suggestions and challenges on

IEEPROC, Vol. 129, Pt. A, No. 1, JANUARY 1982 0143-702X182/010039 + 07 $01.50/0 39

Fig. 3 Present-day Ford Fiesta

how he might be educated and trained, and find his placeamong the corporate members of the IEE.

Taking once more the time-span of roughly 30 years fromaround 1950 to the present day, Figs. 4 and 5 show the samesort of 'before and after' pictures of two fairly large industrialmotors.

Considering first the vital statistic of specific output coef-ficient, kilowatts per cubic metre of rotor volume per revol-ution per minute, the advance is in the order of two-and-a-halftimes. At once the comparison is confused, however, becausethe 1950 motor is open-ventilated, characteristic of practice inthose days. Closed-air-circuit air-cooled machines were notunknown, but the penalty in terms of specific output coef-ficient was typically 0.5:1, and so customers had every incen-tive to install such large machines in controlled machine-roomenvironments where open ventilation was admissible. The onlyeconomic alternative was closed-air-circuit ventilation withwater cooling. Because of apprehensions about the disastrousconsequence of any water leak upon an indifferently sealedhigh-voltage winding, the only rational location for the air-to-water heat exchangers was in a costly basement foundation.Nowadays, electric motors are categorically expected towithstand the full rigours of the industrial environment;cooling water can be very expensive, whereas ambient air isplentiful and free. So the modern large motor often has CACAenclosure; admittedly the air-to-air heat exchanger, externalfan, trunking and silencers can occupy almost as much spaceas the machine itself, but by virtue of the higher total tempera-ture rise permissible with modern insulation systems theresulting output coefficient is typically within 20% of that ofthe equivalent open-ventilated machine.

The vintage photograph, Fig. 4, is dominated by the motorstarting equipment, as is the design of the machine itself. Aspecial starting winding is provided, which in conjunction witha liquid starting resistor gives gentle control of switch-ontransients and ultimate economy of system KVAR demandduring motor starting. In stark contrast, modern practice isalmost invariably to specify a cage motor started by switchingdirectly onto the line. This presupposes a sufficiently lowsystem source impedance, which in turn necessitates a machineterminal arrangement safe against very high prospectivefault currents, such as is seen in Fig. 5.

This list of 'before-and-after' contrasts could be endless,but I should like to make, here, merely one final observation;the motor in Fig. 4 is firmly grouted on a light locating base-

Fig. 4 Open-ventilated, screen-protected synchronous inductionmotor, circa 1950

plate to a very substantial foundation. The modern motor ofFig. 5 has an integral, self-supporting deep baseplate on whichit can be transported, and offered up to and aligned with thedriven equipment as a single unit. But often the ill-defineddynamic characteristics of a mezzanine plinth-type mountingcan aggravate the problems of the motor designer in aimingto ensure satisfactory vibration-free running of the completeassembly of motor and driven equipment. Many are theuncertainties facing the modern machine engineer!

3 Field analysis

A very basic task for the electrical machine designer is thecalculation and mapping of electromagnetic fields. When Ijoined the design office in 1948, the available field-mappingtechniques fell into three groups.

First and foremost, there were known explicit solutions fora range of rather simple geometric configurations, mostlyobtained by the method of conformal transformation andresulting in tedious and complicated expressions involvingtranscendental mathematical functions. The numerical calcu-lations had been done for commonly occurring situations andparameter ranges and plotted as design-office curves ornomograms. But when sometimes you needed to go beyondthe range of precalculated data, you soon realised only toowell why the curves stopped where they did, as you wallowed

Fig. 5 Present-day cage induction motor, closed-air-circuit-ventilatedwith air-to-air heat exchanger

40 IEEPROC, Vol. 129, Pt. A, No. 1, JANUARY 1982

with slide-rule, 7-figure logarithms or desk calculating machineamid frightfully ill-conditioned functional relationships.

Then there was the hand graphical method: we were adeptat sketching curvilinear squares on the back of an envelope,although generally not so familiar with plotting solenoidalfields in the presence of distributed current sources.

Finally, there was the electrolytic tank, a rather cumbersomelaboratory tool for what we would nowadays call 2D or 2^Dproblems, and the conducting (Teledeltos) paper analogue intwo dimensions. Resistance lattice network modelling came ina few years later, and could be extended to three dimensionsor in an RC variant to the solution of the diffusion equationand eddy-current problems.

Compare the situation today. Numerical integration tech-niques, readily implemented on modern high-powered digitalcomputers, have vastly increased the range of geometriesamenable to Schwarz-Christoffel transformations, as shown byBinns, Lawrenson and others [1, 2, 3 ] . Energy-based vari-ational methods, recently described and advocated byHammond [4,5] , may become a modern back-of-the-envelopeapproach yielding practically useful approximations to derivedquantities, such as inductances and eddy-current losses, withquite minimal effort.

And finally there are the modern computerised field-solutiontechniques, sometimes using finite-difference equations but

now more usually finite elements, and increasingly providedwith elegant and highly convenient pre- and post-processorroutines and interactive graphics. Professor John Brown waskind enough to refer in his 1979 presidential address to thecollaboration between Imperial College and GEC in a commoninterest in electromagnetic field problems. I am in turndelighted to note, as a happy outcome of this collaboration,the installation of the 'Mag-Net 11' field analysis softwarepackage at Rugby and part of it at Stafford also. 'Mag-Net' isthe brain-child of Professor Silvester of McGill University andProfessor Freeman of Imperial College, together withDr. Lowther who was formerly at Imperial College and is nowat McGill University. We have found it an extremely wellconceived system, easy to learn and immediately useful as anindustrial development tool. It handles magnetostatic fields intwo dimensions, with iterative allowance for magnetic satu-ration, and can be implemented economically on quite a smalldedicated minicomputer and colour graphics display unit [6].

Computerised field solutions are chiefly required as a

Fig. 6 Mag-net 11 plot of magnetic field in the interpolar region of alarge DC machine

a Machine outline established and finite-element mesh generatedb Field map for one complete pole pitchc Expanded plot for interpolar regiond Computer-derived curve of radial flux density at armature surface

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stepping-stone to more general and conventional aspects ofmachine design, and up to now the interface between fieldsolution and design calculation tends to be bridged, ratheruneconomically, by human intervention. Increasingly in thefuture we foresee direct interlinkage within the computer, andindeed we are already pressing for new facilities within Mag-Netto allow this to be achieved. Take for example the predictionof commutation conditions in a large compensated DCmachine. Fig. 6 shows the Mag-Net field map and the derivedcurve of radial flux density incident upon the armature surfaceover the commutation zone. This provides a vital item of inputdata for a further program which calculates the individualarmature coil current waveforms and commutator-brush con-tact conditions. Such sophisticated modern design techniques,if they are to have their full and proper impact, need to movein due course out of the development section and into routineuse on everyday production design; but this will only befeasible if realistic attention has been paid from the outsetto the convenient and economical use of computer power.

4 Electromechanical design

The Laplacian or Poissonian magnetostatic field is only one ofa whole range of distributed field problems encountered inelectrical-machine design. We have interacting magnetic andelectrical conduction fields linked by the diffusion equation,and closely equivalent situations of steady-state and transientthermal conduction fields. (We have already, by a bit of simplecheating, using Mag-Net to analyse one or two heat flowpatterns). Then there are mechanical field problems of fluidflow, elastic stress and strain, fracture mechanics and systemdynamics, all soluble by variants of the finite elementapproach.

Often we have to comprehend two (or even more) suchaspects simultaneously in contemplating the design of one andthe same component. Mechanical problems of vibration — poss-ibly fatigue — are often paramount; driving forces may bepurely mechanical or electromagnetic.

A good example of the complex electromechanical interac-tions arising in electrical machines can be found in the designand operation of some flexible connections in the starting cagewinding of a certain pumped-storage hydro generator-motor.Fig. la is a general view of the rotor and Fig. 1b shows therelevant features of the pole-end region, including (arrowed)one of the laminated copper connectors in question. Func-tionally they provide a current-carrying connection betweenthe pole-face cage bars and the short-circuiting-ring segment;but the design constraints upon them were seen as essentiallymechanical, namely to accommodate the differential thermalexpansions of the bars during the starting regime and to beself-supporting against the high centrifugal forces of rotationat rated speed and occasional overspeed. What was not properlyforeseen in the initial design, however, was the substantialelectromagnetic vibratory forces on the laminations due to theslip-frequency starting currents they carry. These forces, withimportant components which sweep the frequency ranges100—0 Hz and 200—0 Hz during run-up, excited a resonant-frequency mode of the innermost laminations leading topremature fatigue failures after only a few months of serviceoperation. Once the nature of the trouble had been appreci-ated, a simple solution lay in slightly reducing the free lengthof the laminations to raise their natural frequency clear of anyimportant excitations, while still retaining enough complianceto accomodate thermal expansions.

In similar vein, consider the stator endwinding of any largeAC motor intended for direct-on-line starting. The internalmake-up of each coil side — conductors, interstrand andinterturn insulation — is dictated by detail aspects of electricalwinding design. Surrounding the conductor stack is the main

Fig. 7 Pole-end region of pumped-storage hydro generator-motor

a General viewb Detail of cage bar-to-ring connectors

wall insulation of epoxy micapaper appropriate to the systemoperating voltage. Packing blocks, bracing rings and tyingcords are added to make up a composite mechanical structurewhich has to withstand very large transient electromagneticforces at switch-on, since the peak instantaneous phase currentsare typically up to ten times normal full-load and the resultingforces are (to a first order) proportional to (current).2

No right-minded mechanical designer would choose softhigh-conductivity copper and composite epoxy-mica insulationas structural materials, but we have perforce to use them inthis highly stressful situation. We try hard to compute theelectromagnetic and electromechanical circumstances, usingincreasingly sophisticated modern computing tools as theybecome available. Unfortunately the complicated geometry ofthe machine endwinding structure is not easily modelled in theco-ordinate systems of available 3D finite-element analysispackages. We have our own program for calculating the elec-tromagnetic forces on the conductors and would like to add acustom-designed routine for mechanical stresses and deflec-tions. The endwinding geometry, being common to bothaspects, could then be specified once only in a suitable co-ordinate system and input format, taking full advantage of theknown periodicity of endwinding configuration and phase-beltcoil grouping.

This would still not solve all our difficulties. The mechanicalparameters of the endwinding support system are as yet ratherimperfectly defined, and above all we should like to knowmuch more about the mechanisms and criteria of ultimate

42 IEEPROC, Vol. 129, Pt. A, No. 1, JANUARY 1982

electrical failure. This could be sudden, through gross mechan-ical cracking of the insulation causing high-voltage breakdown,or insidiously progressive through internal discharge degra-dation arising from lesser cracks or delamination. In eitherevent the root cause is electromechanical stress (includingfatigue) under the starting conditions, and the endpoint isdielectric failure under voltage stress, but we need a fullunderstanding of the intermediate mechanisms to devise withconfidence a programme of model tests, design calculationmethods and accelerated prototype proving tests for newsystems.

If all this sounds like a saga of ongoing technological chal-lenge and uncertainty, then I am succeeding in getting over theright impression to you; there are so many more open-endedaspects of electromechanical design that I wish I couldmention. But time and resources in our design offices anddevelopment laboratories are limited. We have always oneoverriding priority which I have not so far even men-tioned — cost-effective design for economical production: canwe make and sell machines at a profit against world marketprices? And yet in consequence of the very steps we take toreduce costs by increased specific loadings and reducedmaterial and labour content, we actually increase the need fordeep technological understanding and accurate design calcu-lation.

And so we turn from machines to men (or women — asmust be understood in all that follows). Let me try to outlinemy own assessment of the required attributes of a designer ofelectrical machines; I will first list them briefly, and thendiscuss each in more detail.

At the highest plane we look for:(i) Creativity: That quality for which new engineering

products are acclaimed and their designers are esteemed.At the lowest level of day-to-day competence we need:(iii) Meticulousness: The ability and willingness to progress

carefully and enterprisingly along indicated lines, so as tofulfil reasonable expectations of product performance atacceptable cost.

And, most importantly, in the middle ground between (i)and (iii), we hope to develop:

(ii) Foresight: The ability to recognise in advance prospec-tive limitations of established design criteria, and an innerfeeling for incipient misbehaviour and potential failure mech-anisms.

Attribute (i), 'creativity', is not too difficult to comprehendor even define, but arguably the most difficult to recognise inpotential and to inculcate by education and training.

I shall come later to my point no (iii), 'meticulousness'.Point (ii), 'foresight' is epitomised (I hope) in the title of thisaddress. As engineering designers we need constantly seek andstrive to get the right answers. This is crucially different andinfinitely more demanding than 'getting the answers right'.

Once a question has been formulated (short of 'The GreatQuestion — The Ultimate Question of life, the Universe and

Everything' [7], and possibly a few more like it), at least, letus say, within the day-to-day processes of engineering design,once a question has been formulated, then there are usually avariety of mechanistic and reasonably straightforward tech-niques by which an answer may be sought.

In contrast, the real and ongoing challenge to every respon-sible and progressive designer is to discern and put to himselfor his supporting colleagues the relevant right questions. Ibelieve this ability is very akin to the attribute of'creativity',and in terms of conceptual and intellectual demand falls onlyjust short of it. It is certainly not engendered by the academicexamination system in its present form; indeed quite thereverse. More of that anon. But let me not fall head-over-heelsinto my own trap; before I can address the means I must be

specific about the objective. My postulated objective, slightlyshort of the recognition and inculcation of true 'creativity', isthe recruitment, education and training (although not necess-arily in that order) of enough young people into electrical-machine design who will measure up at least to items (ii) and(iii) of my listed attributes. Some of them will then in allprobability attain to (i) as well.

Two comments in parenthesis:(a) I confidently believe, and am presupposing for the

purpose of this address, that there will be an ongoing heavyelectrical industry in the UK.

(b) That being so, then although the required recruitmentnumbers of professional engineers are quite small they areimportant; for the annual turnover of 'electrical machinery'manufactured in the UK is not far short of £2000 million,half of it for export, and the industry employs about 120000people including (I estimate) some 6000 professional engineers.

Hugh Conway, in a notable lecture to the IEE Management& Design Division in May 1981, stated, very rightly I think,that there is a radical difference between the abilities andthought processes of mechanical and electronic design engin-eers, and that electrical-machinery designers are in this to beclassed with the mechanical group. I happily and whole-heartedly agree. But I would fight to the ultimate any con-sequential inference that the most appropriate prequalificationfor an electrical machine designer is a degree in mechanicalengineering, or that his prime professional allegiance shouldbe to the I Mech E.

I have always observed so-called electrical engineers to begenerally more appreciative of and responsible to mechanicalconsiderations than are mechanical engineers to electricalmatters. I therefore believe it is both likely and seemly that amajority of key positions in electromechanical design willcontinue to be filled by 'electrical' engineers, and that thetotal spectrum of ongoing achievements and topical problemsin the electromechanical field should continue to be noted anddiscussed in the IEE.

5 Electromechanical engineering education

What can we say about the optimum first degree for ourrecruits? Their number is bound to be rather small, even if westretch a point and include some prospective commercial andmanufacturing engineers as well as designers, and then extrapo-late from our own needs to those of kindred UK industry as awhole. I do not think we can legitimately swell the numberfurther by adding in all the prospective recruits to the electricpower generation, distribution and user industries, becausetheir needs and objectives do not necessarily coincide all thatclosely with ours.

So we arrive at a group size in the order of a few hundredsat most in a typical year, or very roughly one-tenth of thetotal annual output of graduates in electrical and electronicengineering. Only a fraction of the group will enter the degreecourse with a clear intent through personal choice or pre-university training experience and allegiance to pursue a careerspecifically in heavy electrical engineering; hopefully more willbe stimulated in that direction by our friends among thelecturing and research staffs. Despite the cohesive influences ofinstitutional bias and sponsor preferences, other geographical,personal and sporadic factors will cause the 'electromechanical'student group to be somewhat scattered among the very largepresent-day number of universities and polytechnics.

So I do not believe we can realistically think in terms of thecommissioning and design of specially tailored courses (such asthe one set up in collaboration between our GEC electroniccolleagues and the University of Bath), but rather of carefulappraisal and optimisation within a broadly defined frame-

IEEPROC, Vol. 129, Pt. A, No. 1, JANUARY 1982 43

work of preferred institutions and available options. We shouldaccept that some places will be not at all interested in produc-ing the sort of engineer we are looking for. In the laboratoriesat such places, any rotating machines will be seen as enclosedblack boxes, to be characterised by a set of oversimplified,externally-measurable terminal impedances and transfercharacteristics. But I hope and truly believe that in some otherplaces there will still be machines with their entrails exposed,fitted with search wires and coils for detailed flux-densitysurveys, thermocouples to assess losses and temperature rises,strain gauges and vibration transducers and so on, just as thereare in our industrial development laboratories.

It is self-evident that we favour, other things being approxi-mately equal, those electrical engineering courses with thestrongest mechanical engineering content in the early years. Iwould hesitate to press this all the way to a total advocacy ofengineering science-type degrees, for I feel that with theexplosive growth of engineering technology, nowadays onlythe very ablest students can be expected to attain a usefulcombination of breadth and specialist proficiency within theconfines of a three-year first-degree course. For such ablestudents I would prefer the allowable range of options to bequite wide, in fact somewhat wider than is at present favouredby our IEE Accreditation Committee.

This brings me naturally to the question of enhanced degreecourses. Some of these arise from the UGC/Dainton desig-nations, some from more local initiative within the institutionsconcerned. Some aim chiefly at enhanced business orientation,some at a broadening of the engineering base; virtually allclaim an increase relevance towards engineering design. Theyall deploy roughly one additional year at university, andalmost all require close industrial collaboration and sponsor-ship at least throughout the latter half of the course.

In my view, this is at once their strength and their limi-tation. Gone, unfortunately, are the days when all the majorheavy electrical companies could gladly and enthusiasticallyoffer carefully structured and complementary training to astudent and graduate population far in excess of their ownspecific recruitment needs, hi today's world the operativequestion is not 'what ought we to do?' but 'what can weafford to do?', and this is becoming crucially limiting now notonly for manufacturing industry, but also for the academicworld and indeed for the IEE. I am very conscious that it willbe one of the key questions for the SE & T Divisional Boardduring my year of chairmanship.

Having been involved in formative discussions on several ofthe new enhanced courses, and as external examiner to one ofthem, I am equally conscious of the severe constraints ofscarce funds and resources on course planning and develop-ment, and on the level of student support (or otherwise) frompotential sponsors. For example, at a time of recession andblocked recruitment in the university scene it is natural forengineering departments planning enhanced courses to look toother faculties for service teaching in topics like industrial law,behavioural science and business economics. But noting thatsome engineering departments have long found it necessary ordesirable to provide in-house courses in engineering mathemat-ics for their students, taught by engineering staff memberswith the requisite mathematical skill and flair, we may wonderwhether the same may not be true for some of these newersupporting topics. I must admit that I had misgivings from theoutset of these courses as to whether nonengineering aca-demics, accustomed to lecturing on economics, businessstudies, industrial law and so on within their own facultyprogrammes, or to mature prospective managers in thebusiness-school context, would entirely succeed in modifyingtheir offerings to make them appropriate for a supportingcourse to enhanced-engineering-degree students. These mis-

givings were heightened by sight of various coursework assign-ments and examination papers, and further confirmed inconversation with some final-degree candidates who commentedthat their 'business studies' course content would be veryuseful if and when (as they were now minded) they set up inbusiness on their own. I recognise that I am probably overbiasedtowards the views of large-scale industry, but is this a helpfulorientation for the general run of UK engineering graduates?

However, if the engineering faculty lacks the resourses tosustain a sabbatical regime whereby its staff can be updated inmatters of industrial relevance, nor has funds to retain asizable complement of visiting industrial lecturers and seminar-leaders, then the problems of mounting a successful 'business-enhanced' degree course may be very real indeed. And if keenand effective industrial sponsorship cannot be found for theintended student population, then the whole enterprise willnever even get off the ground. I do not want to be overpessi-mistic, but, in line with my theme, I believe we must examinethe areas of difficulty and danger, and try to foresee anyprospective mechanisms of catastrophic failure, as a prerequisiteto realistic and responsible course design. It would be improperfor me to venture further into realms of governmental andnational economic policy; I can only say that in these areas liesome of the 'Ultimate Questions' to which we require theanswers.

In conclusion, I would like to examine the applicability ofmy chosen theme to the detail of engineering education andtraining, and especially to what I see as an all-pervasive patternin university lecturing and examinations. Forgive me if Iexaggerate somewhat, but I perceive an unfortunate sequenceof one-to-one correspondences:

One subject area is covered byone lecture courseoften by one lecturerwho also sets one examination paperwherein each question relates to one facet of the subjectwhich facet is signalled by the first part of the question,calling for the regurgitation of a certain item of bookworkupon which is set one straightforward piece of analyticalcalculation.

Occasionally, but by no means invariably, there is a sting inthe tail aimed to provide a little more opportunity and stretchfor the potential first-class honours candidate to display hisanalytical prowess, but still within the confines of the onetopic. How very different this is from the life of the seniorproduct design engineer in industry! When faced with theappraisal of an innovative idea of his own or his colleagues', oran inescapable extrapolation beyond the limits of priorexperience, he must set himself the right examination questions.To some extent he can be helped by a check list:

(a) Does the proposition look right, elegant, economical?(b) It is compatible with our manufacturing resources?(c) Do the important performance and operational charac-

teristics, calculated on conventional lines, measure up to thecustomer's specifications and all reasonable expectations?

Beyond this, the check list can only ask the really important,'Ultimate Question' in the vaguest possible terms: 'Pause amoment! What have you not thought of? What have youoverlooked, or not bothered to calculate because to do sowould be too difficult, too lengthy, 'too expensive', orbecause in all your experience it has never mattered before?If this time it could matter, with connotations of nonperfor-mance or catastrophic failure, what are the quantifiable conse-quential costs? What could be the retrieval mechanisms fromfinancial disaster or technological disgrace?'

I submit that such questions are scarcely dreamed of in our

44 IEEPROC, Vol. 129, Pt. A, No. 1, JANUARY 1982

philosophy of academic education and assessment, and yet Ican see no valid reason why they should not be. I visualisemore coursework assignments and examination questions onthe following lines:

(i) a careful exposition of some engineering functionalrequirement

(ii) an indicated engineering solution which may or maynot be appropriate

(iii) a challenge to the candidate to deploy the full range ofhis acquired knowledge and analytical skill to evaluate theproposition and declare whether it is appropriate or not.

I recognise that these are somewhat akin to the terms of atypical final-year honours project, but a student encountersonly one such project during his university life-span. I submitthat he could and should be exposed to many such challenges,to condition his attitude and broaden his experience.

Finally, a few words on my listed attribute (iii) in Section 4,which I have called 'meticulousness'. Few and fortunate arethe professional engineers whose whole work lies at the upperlimit of their technical capability, where they may even bedeemed successful if they are right more often than not. Mostprofessional designers, despite the availability of supportingtechnicians and computer design aids, have to spend a lot oftheir time doing quite simple calculations and taking decisionswhich are well within their competence, but wherein theallowable incidence of substantial error is at worst a fewpercent. Contrast the typical examination paper, demanding ahigh level of analytical skill, but with a pass mark of around45%. Haven't we got something wrong? Meticulously accurateperformance depends on good motivation, modesty and a keensense of personal integrity. I believe we could do a lot more tofoster these attitudes in our engineering students; indeed I amsometimes worried that the conventional university ethos, in

' ascribing the highest esteem to original and abstract thoughtand far less regard to more mundane achievement, may not bewholly appropriate within a faculty of engineering. Shouldn'twe set up a proportion of engineering exams where the ques-tions are quite easy but the pass mark is 95%?

The high qualities and standards of performance which weexpect of our engineers in manufacturing industry demand avery high degree of personal dedication. The ambitious younggraduate still has a great deal to learn in his specialised fieldbefore he can have soundly based confidence in his judgmentsand individual initiatives. His working regime will contain aproportion of dull routine, as well as recurring incidents ofextreme and urgent emergency to which he is expected to beon call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Such personaldedication may be seen as somewhat at variance with thenorms and trends of modern marriage and society. This needsto be recognised and remembered at all stages in the recruit-ment, education and training of our engineering students.

One of the outstanding qualities of the youth of today is agenuine aspiration to a life of personal service to the com-munity — a desire which frequently transcends financial con-siderations, and can counterbalance the pressures of the two-career marriage and the wish for life-enhancement throughkeen pursuit of leisure activities. Yet engineering is not one of

the professions seen by the modern teenager as characterisedby dedication and service. Indeed, one high-flyer pupil saidrecently to my schoolteacher wife that he had a problem inthinking of a career, because he 'wanted to do somethingworthwhile but all he liked doing was playing with computersand maths and making things'!

One can hardly pick up a Sunday colour supplementnowadays without finding a career advertisement asking theyoung if they possess certain exacting qualities that could beused in the service of the community or the nation. Shouldnot this opportunity be emphasised in our engineering recruit-ment as well? Why should we let any ambivalence about theaims and ethics of 'private industry' obscure the basic realitiesof national economic survival, without which we cannot beginto afford the more generally recognised 'caring professions'?

6 Conclusion

If I have seemed critical of the academic engineering scene,please accept that it is in a spirit of great warmth and encour-agement. I know that our academic friends are equally andjustifiably critical of some aspects of industrial training, and ofthe way we deploy and motivate our professional engineers.

We have spoken and written and listened and read ourselvesalmost to exasperation point in recent years on the subject ofengineering formation, both in the IEE and elsewhere. It ismuch to be hoped that by a purposeful crossflow of construc-tive ideas and suggestions, conditioned by a proper awarenessof our respective aims and constraints, we may make continuedprogress towards getting — and implementing — some of theright answers.

7 Acknowledgments

I am indebted to many colleagues in GEC Large MachinesLimited for help and advice in the preparation of this address;to Prof. E.M. Freeman for illustrative material on Mag-Net 11,and to the Ford Motor Company for Figs. 2 and 3. The viewsexpressed in the address are my own.

8 References

1 BINNS, K.J.: 'Numerical methods of conformal transformation',Proc. IEE, 1971, 118, (7), pp. 909-910

2 LAWRENSON, P.J., and GUPTA, S.K.: 'Conformal transformationemploying direct-search techniques of minimisation', ibid., 1968,115, (3), pp. 427-431

3 BINNS, K.J., and LAWRENSON, P.J.: 'Analysis and computationof electric and magnetic field problems' (2nd edition, PergamonPress, 1973)

4 HAMMOND, P., and PENMAN, J.: 'Calculation of inductance andcapacitance by means of dual energy principles', Proc. IEE, 1976,123,(6), pp. 554-559

5 HAMMOND, P.: 'Energy methods in electromagnetism' (ClarendonPress, 1981)

6 CSENDES, Z.J., FREEMAN, E.M., LOWTHER, D.A., andSILVESTER, P.P.: 'Interactive computer graphics in magneticfield analysis and machine design', IEEE Trans., 1981, PAS-100,pp. 2862-2869

7 ADAMS, D.: 'The hitch hiker's guide to the galaxy' (Pan Books,1979)

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