About SEAM

With the increasing need in machine maintenance and equipment health monitoring, the Smart Engineering Asset Management (SEAM) Laboratory was established in 2001 with the generous support from the industry. The setup of SEAM is to promote the importance of machine maintenance and introduce the latest fault diagnostic technology to local professionals, engineers and organizations. Dr. Peter Tse is currently the Director of SEAM and the Associate Professor in the Department of Manufacturing Engineering and Engineering Management. SEAM is the only local university unit addressing engineering asset management and maintenance issues in remarkable scale. SEAM has also formed the first global SEAM consortium with some of the big consortiums which disperse around the world. Currently, SEAM has collaboration and consultancy projects with over 30 companies, including most of the public utilities, manufacturers and transportation service providers. “We organize seminars and trainings for maintenance personnel from time to time. Any companies which possess machinery are also welcome to join us,” Dr. Tse said.

Equipment health monitoring is the key to prevent equipment failures that may cause human injuries or economic losses. The most prominent deliverable of SEAM is the Smart Asset Maintance System (SAMS), which encompasses a series of advanced virtual instruments and database management for machine health monitoring and fault diagnosis. SAMS has been adopted by the industry. It is used to monitor the coal milling machines for power generation, traction motors for underground trains, chillers for shopping malls and buildings, production lines for electronic and beverage manufacturing, etc.

Another recently development of SEAM is a low-cost, effective, and easy-to-use approach for detecting early defects that occur in long surface/buried pipelines. Pipelines are crucial infrastructure in any city. However, in-service pipelines are prone to defects, which may cause deterioration leading to leakage or rupture. Huge economic losses or human casualties may occur because of leakage in water and gas pipelines. Dr. Tse uses a Guided-Wave to inspect defects in pipelines. Only a very small excavation hole is needed to inspect a buried pipeline. Hence, labor costs are greatly reduced, the inconvenience caused to traffic is minimized, and less pollution to the environment is created. By using this innovative technology, costly water leaks and dangerous gas explosions can be avoided. The preliminary research outcomes have created a lot of publicity and aroused great attention from the industry and the media.