Advanced Manufacturing and Robotics
Aeronautics & Astronautics
Energy & Resources Engineering
Industrial Engineering & Management
MES
You are here: Home → NEWS & EVENTS → Events Calendar
Events Calendar
  • [ April 19, 2019]

    Journey from Energy Harvesting and 4D Printing to Medical Applications

  • Speaker:
    Wei-Hsin Liao
    Date:
    April 19, 2019
    Time:
    3:00-4:00pm
    Location:
    Room 434, Mechanics Building
    Host:
    Faxin Li
  • Abstract
  • Energy can be harvested from vibration and human motion. Piezoelectric and electromagnetic power generators were used to transform the mechanical energy from vibration and human motion into electrical energy. On the other hand, robotic exoskeletons that can assist people with impaired mobility have been developed. With the developed device, paralyzed individual can regain the ability to stand up and walk. Smart ankle-foot prostheses with compact cam-spring mechanism have also been implemented to help amputees walk with less effort while having more natural gait. Utilizing additive manufacturing into smart materials has led to 4D printing technology for creating structures that can change their shape and function on-demand and over time. Actuator units were designed and fabricated directly by printing fibers of shape memory polymers in flexible structures. They can serve as tubular stents and grippers for biomedical applications. In this talk, related research projects and key results will be presented.
  • Biography

  • Wei-Hsin Liao received his Ph.D. from The Pennsylvania State University. Since 1997, Dr. Liao has been with The Chinese University of Hong Kong, where he is Professor and Chairman of Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering. His research has led to publications of 230 papers in international journals and conference proceedings, 16 granted patents. As the General Chair, he organized the 20th International Conference on Adaptive Structures and Technologies (ICAST 2009). He was the Conference Chair for the Active and Passive Smart Structures and Integrated Systems, SPIE Smart Structures/NDE in 2014 and 2015. He is a recipient of the ASME Best Paper Awards in Structures (2008), Mechanics and Material Systems (2017). He received the SPIE 2018 SSM Lifetime Achievement Award. He is on the editorial boards of the Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures, as well as Smart Materials and Structures. Dr. Liao is a Fellow of ASME, HKIE, and IOP.