ASME NEWS
New Support for Hydrogen in ASME Piping Standard
A roundup of recent Society events.
PRCI PROVIDES GUIDANCE FOR THE ADDITION OF HYDROGEN PIPELINE REQUIREMENTS
The Emerging Fuels Institute of the Pipeline Research Council International (PRCI) has completed a Consensus Engineering Requirement (CER) project to translate and update the pipeline language from the ASME B31.12 Hydrogen Pipelines Standard to establish a new exception chapter for hydrogen pipelines in the ASME B31.8 Gas Transmission and Distribution Piping Systems Standard.
The comprehensive, practical guide supports fit-for-purpose projects and helps maintain pipeline safety. The final report with the proposed language and project details and a corresponding webinar are now available for free on the PRCI website.
“This change will result in a more efficient application of clear, consensus-based hydrogen rules for piping systems by consolidating these rules into the standards that are most often used by our industry partners,” said Chris Cantrell, ASME’s senior managing director of standards and engineering services.
More than 200 individuals from ASME, PRCI, and the broader pipeline community reviewed the project and provided comments as the project progressed. Moving forward, the PRCI project team will support the ASME B31.8 Hydrogen Task Group in presenting the proposed language in the CER for review and approval through a consensus process by the ASME B31.8 and B31 Standards committees for inclusion in the 2026 edition of B31.8.
ADRIAN BEJAN RECEIVES ASME MEDAL
Adrian Bejan, the J.A. Jones Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Duke University in Durham, N.C., has been awarded the 2024 ASME Medal. Established in 1920, the award is the highest honor that the Society can bestow and recognizes “eminently distinguished engineering achievement.”
Bejan received the medal at ASME’s International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition in Portland, Ore. He is honored for unprecedented creativity, breadth, and permanent impact on engineering; for developments in the new science of energy, motion, form, and evolution; and for building bridges to design in biological, geophysical, and sociological systems.
An eminent scholar in his field, Bejan earned B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1971, 1972, and 1975, respectively. He is credited with several groundbreaking developments. He unified thermodynamics with heat transfer, fluid dynamics, and the science of form (i.e., flow configuration, image, design), as a counterweight to the doctrine of reductionism; discovered, taught, and applied the Constructal Law of evolution in nature; and brought together biologists, physicists, engineers, sociologists, philosophers, economists, managers, and athletes with creative books for the public, including Design in Nature (2012), The Physics of Life (2016), Freedom and Evolution (2020), and Time and Beauty (2022).
ASME President Susan Ipri-Brown honors Adrian Bejan with the 2024 ASME Medal. Photo: Andrea Lonas
E-FEST CAREERS 2024: INNOVATING THE FUTURE
Through live and on-demand sessions, E-Fest Careers 2024 offered thousands of students and young professionals a place to learn, engage, and network.
Thousands of students and early career engineers from around the world attended ASME E-Fest Careers in September 2024. The digital event combined career and professional development sessions, a scavenger hunt, networking, and other activities. The live and on-demand sessions focused on "Innovating the Future: AI and Mechanical Engineering Synergy” featuring topics that included sustainability in robotics and automation, AI in aerospace, and women in engineering.
Palaniyappan Kailasam, director at Prolotek Technologies, presented “Importance of Dimensional Management in the Engineering Profession,” where he explored how precise dimensional control is crucial for ensuring product quality, functionality, and cost-effectiveness in engineering projects. Kailasam explained that when an individual pursues a career in dimensional engineering in manufacturing their work includes design, prototype development, and automated assembly that may have to consider parts made by separate suppliers.
Four women came together for “Women in Engineering,” a panel discussion that took on the challenge of successfully building and navigating in an engineering career. Vidhya Sriram, managing partner of PS power controls, addressed the question of core technical knowledge and how important it was to build a career in engineering. “Once you have technical knowledge,” she said, “and once you know more than those [who you are working with], then you will be better able to command respect.”
Mechanical engineering and the role engineers take in sustainability took center stage in the session, “Sustainability in Robotics and Automation”. In this session Sourav Karmakar, founder and CEO, Infinos Tech, explored the intersection of sustainability, robotics, and industry. The economy, carbon dioxide emissions, robotics, manufacturing, and carbon neutrality “is all connected,” Karmakar explained. He covered solar sails, actuators, and other ingenious methods that allow robots to move in a more sustainable way.
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