Improvisation the Heart of Innovation

This video shows the great master, Ravi Shankar, at work. Notice how with the change of locale the music or the melody changes instantly. When in India (depicted by the famous Taj Mahal) the melody has a distinct 'Indianess' about it. But as soon as the locale changes to China the melody highlight strains of typical Chinese melody. Again the mood changes with changes in nature and times of the day. Isn't is quite remarkable that while the tune (or raga as it is called in India) remains just the same for every situation the melody changes to reflect the master's feelings or his responses to the changes in the locale, mood, timings etc.

This is a brilliant piece of music or innovative music at its best. But this is what the Ravi Shankar calls improvisation or instant improvisation. Such instant improvisation is nothing but human responses to his/her situations and environment. Improvisations reflect human feelings at that particular moment in time. 

This helps us to understand innovation much better. The other name for it would be improvisation or a response to a given situation.

There would be many ways to understand this response. But one of the easiest would be -- 'going with the flow' -- responding to the feelings the situation evokes in us.

But that is tricky business. Much more tricky than what we might care to imagine. It is tricky to feel and stay in the present. This is because our feelings can take us back to the past experiences through our memories or transport us quickly to a future that is yet to be born through unbridled imagination, which is again distorted memory. Both are bad for us. The risky balancing act is to stay with the feelings and be intuitive about it without falling back on memory or false imagination. That is a risky tight rope walking. But that is what all masters of their games have mastered. 

For example, Sachin Tendulkar in cricket from whom rival captains have a hard time setting a field to hold him down by closing gaps.

Or take Ravi Shankar, the musician, for whom feelings flow from the depths of intuition.

Or the World chess champion Viswanand Anand who invariably finds a gap in the strongest armour of his opponents.

Or Michel Angelo who 'saw' entrapped figures trapped in uncut stones waiting to be freed by his hands. 

There is one thing that is common to all of them and one thing that sets them apart. The common thing is they all intuitively find the gaps or the existing imperfections in the present moment with their uninhabited awareness. They improvise their games based on those gaps or existing imperfections in the most intuitive manner -- no copy book styles for them. They have learned the rules of their games so well that they now break them with impunity.  

And what sets them apart? They apply the same principle in whatever game they have chosen to play. The games differ but the principle does not.

They are constantly responding to the existing 'gaps' or 'imperfections' by understanding and balancing numerous resistances the system offers. They intuitively sense these resistance and respond through improvisations accordingly. They seem to see the parts and the wholes at the same time within the same space.

This is what innovation is all about.

The Japanese have a name for it. They call it Wabi -Sabi, which means understand the imperfection in a given situation and improve upon it to make it stronger and more reliable.

The Chinese have a name for it. They call it Shan Zhai, which originally means balancing numerous resistances, see what is possible to be done cheap and effectively, start small and then grow in strength.

The Indians have a name for it. They call it Juggard, which means understand what is to be done, start with whatever is available at hand, go with the flow and build up over time.

These are all present moment responses to the feelings evoked. That to me is the best way to harness 'uncertainty' that clouds our lives.

Being in touch with one's feelings without distortion of any kind is being in touch with one's essential nature.

Or as Gregory Bateson said, "When man lost touch with nature, he lost touch with himself"

That touch has a magical creativity about it. It is innovation through improvisation born out of intuitive feelings.

This is the only way to create a good sustainable future for all since “The future is never empty, never a blank space to be filled with the output of human activity. It is already colonized by what the past and present have sent to it.” (Fry 1999)

How do we develop that is the question?

Understanding that involves deep learning.

And having an answer would be nothing short of 'Know Thyself'. That is living in freedom with heads held high.

 

 

 

Posted via email from dibyendu's posterous

Developing a Design Mind - Design Thinking

An Introduction To Indian Music by Ravi Shankar  
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01 - An Introduction To Indian Music.MP3 (5945 KB)

This is a fine introduction to Indian Classical Music (around 4 mins of audio) by none other than Pandit Ravi Shankar, the sitar maestro.

The mot important characteristics are the following:

a) Improvisation
b) Going with the flow
c) Allowing others to have their say
d) Striking a natural conversation or dialog is the key (instruments talk to each other)
e) Can only be enjoyed with an open and relaxed mind
f) Divided into 3 distinct parts -- free improvisation, dialog and convergence to a climax.
g) Primarily aimed as a tool for self development both for the players and the listeners

Reflecting on this I think appreciation and immersion into Indian Classical music certainly develop a design mind capable of Design Thinking since this is all about developing a design through doing and instant improvisation.

Hope you would find it interesting if not intriguing.

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Vibration Case Study 3

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3_brg_outer.pdf (71 KB)

This is a part of the ongoing online interactive course that we conduct through social media platforms. The forum has an interesting name -- Mahakumbh of Technical Creativity. In India it is believed that a dip in the confluence of the three rivers (Ganges, Yamuna and the invisible Swarswati) known as the Kumbh, purifies anyone and helps one in the difficult journey towards enlightenment. The Mahakumbh is held once every 12 years. The significance is noteworthy. 

Ganges stands for the power to heal - physically, mentally and spiritually.

Yamuna stands for the power to purify the world through love

Saraswati stands for the power of knowledge

No wonder the combination of the three makes a potent mixture worth all the admiration. If enlightenment can't be obtained through the help of these three powerful aids then what else can bring forth enlightenment? I wonder.

The significance of the 12 years must also not be lost on us. Today in modern language it is known as the 'Tipping Point', which signifies that it takes around 10,000 hours or more of devoted practice for anyone to reach an extremely high level of excellence. Roughly translated into years this figure would be anywhere between 10 to 14 years where the average being 12 years.

So Mahakumbh symbolically stands for the whole thing -- heal thyself, purify the world through love and become enlightened through the power of knowledge and devoted practice. Such practice is aided through meaningful dialogs, deep interactions, meetings and a host of other exciting things. 

Other than the interesting name the group also has very interesting members. And the members have a certain characteristic -- they are all bold and courageous and they all live by the following credo:

*Don't believe in anything simply because we have heard it somewhere; don't believe in rumors or things followed or spoken by many; don't believe anything written in books or spoken by authorities, teachers or elders or believe and follow traditions just because these are handed down through generations. Only after keen observation and critical examination when we find anything that agrees to our reason and commonsense and find it good and beneficial to one and all we would not only accept it wholeheartedly but also live up to it.'

That undoubtedly needs a lot of boldness, free and open spirit.

The following questions only help to train our minds towards that purpose -- understanding and insights come only after critical observation and through examination.

1.  What did the analyst do when he understood that historical vibration data or trends were not available for this piece of equipment?

2.  Why did he make those decisions?

3.  Had he known the trends what changes he would have made in the decisions and why?

4.  How can you justify the selection of the frequency bandwidth of 2000Hz? What is the basis of such judgment?

5.  Why the highest overall reading appeared in the horizontal direction of the motor NDE?

6.  Why do you think the most informative signature was found in the axial direction?

7.  Other than using the formula how else do you think the analyst could have deduced that the problem was with the outer race?

8.  Would the analyst have done better by paying attention to something else and correcting that problem?

You can also be a part of it and leave your responses in the comment box. We can still have an interesting dialog.

Acknowledgment:

We acknowledge the help of AV Technology, UK for sharing this case study for in-depth learning through discussions and dialogues (not debates).

Posted via email from systemvibes

In Search of Fame!

Mr. Pogolal De, CEO of a public limited company, is currently busy shopping for new clothes. After all he has to look at his best at the prize giving ceremony.   He has been invited by a national daily based at Mumbai, as a nominee for their annual function. Every year the newspaper felicitates the best CEOs who have demonstrated exemplary contribution in their field of work. The newspaper also had a TV channel and they had regularly started beaming the prelude and promos of the “much awaited awards function”.

Mr. De is excited and so is his small family consisting of his two sons and almost dwarfed rather midget wife. “Dwarfed” in the sense that she is only 4’8” tall and does not in any way match the stature of the nearly 6’ tall Mr. De. The Des have become “NRB” meaning “Non resident Bengalis”. They have adopted the local custom and tradition. Sometimes “Pogo “as affectionately called by his proud mother, sits with an “esraj” or listen to the songs of Rabindra Nath Tagore. “You should not forget your roots”, he often tells his sons, but who cares.

Mr. De is a Chartered Accountant by profession. He always tries to speak Queens’ English but unfortunately his “roots” doesn’t allow him to copy the immaculate intonation of Queen's English. After hopping many a company he finally descended on a steel company. His bosses are happy as he is giving results. And what exemplary contribution Mr.Pogolal De had done as a CEO? As per the prelude of the TV channel---- Mr. Pogolal De had conceived and executed the idea of connecting the plant to the harbour by building a bridge thereby saving lot of money for the company. Imagine what the company engineers were doing?

Pogo and his family came to Kolkata for the big day a well twenty days in advance. It was more like athletes coming for the Olympics well before time so as to acclimatize themselves for the biggest sporting event. Pogo again went for a shopping spree. He and his sons brought Kurtas; wife brought traditional Bengali “Dhakai Jamdani” saris.  They would have to look and feel like true Bengalis at the show.  This is what they thought would win them some brownie points. Pogo’s proud mother started campaigning for his son well in advance The newspaper had designed a SMS voting system whereby the nominee who garnered the maximum number of votes would win the “coveted” prize. The people will vote for the “greatest CEO“of India.

The D-day arrived. All the action was captured “live” on TV. Mr. Pogolal De uttered something which common people couldn’t decipher and comprehend at all. After all common people seldom understand Management jargon. So, Pogo narrowly missed the mark. He just got a plaque and a chance to meet some “extremely beautiful” film and TV actresses. Next morning, Pogo was roaming in the local market only hoping someone will recognize him and start a conversation but no one came forward.  His childhood friends intentionally avoided him. Pogo had overtaken them in every sphere but what has he done for them and the unemployed youth of his locality. With a heavy heart Pogo boarded the flight back to his adopted home.

Many awards are conferred by government agencies, different institutions and companies which make a mockery of the whole thing. People strive to get awards, which help them to enhance their social status and fame. Liberal doling out of awards to the wrong people robs the very purpose of these awards. The best example is Dr. Chitranjan S. Ranawat who did a knee operation on Atal Behari Vajpai -- the then Prime Minister of India and immediately gets a Padma Bhushan award. He was not awarded before for his services in the field of medicine. Similarly, cash awards are given to those employees who are close to their bosses. This sends a wrong signal to deserving individuals who really toil and sacrifice their lives often neglecting their families for the organization.

Organizations exhibit the same zeal in gunning for this award and that!

They are in the mad Search for Fame not prepared to work silently In Search of Excellence.

 

Sitendu De is the author of this post.

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To be or Not to be Motivated

Two days back we were conducting a program on ‘Motivation and Team building’ for group of first line officers of an electronic component manufacturing company.

After inauguration of the course, with top managers still there to monitor, I asked the participants a simple question, ‘How many of you are motivated at work?’ In a second all hands shot up in the air as if it were a reflex action. I just couldn’t believe this. It was simply too good to be true. The next question naturally followed, “Why then do you think management selected you to attend a course on motivation and team building?”  Answers varied but the one that struck me most was ‘You have come to teach us how to be motivated. So we are in to listen to the tricks of being more motivated.’

Oh my God! ‘Teach’ motivation; ‘Tricks of being more motivated;’ did I hear correctly?

The top managers left the training hall happy with the belief -- the training has taken off well and was ‘interactive’. This was all they wanted to monitor.  

Long after the ice was broken and transformed into flowing water I put the question again, “How many of you are really motivated at work?” This time there was no show of hands.

Surprised, I queried, ‘What happened?’

Then one by one they opened up:

“To tell the truth, I just don’t feel like leaving my bed to come to office.”

“I have been working here for the past 16 years. None ever appreciated me or my work.”

“I think I am stuck with a stupid job. My bosses don’t believe that I am capable of doing something much better.”

“The pay I get is insufficient to take care of my child’s education in good schools’

And it went on and on….

‘So why did you say that you all were very motivated?’

‘We just pretended because the bosses were around. We told them what they would like to hear. Otherwise they would take it out on us during performance appraisal review.’

Are bosses/managers/leaders listening?

Can anyone remain motivated in an environment of fear or in an environment that sucks?

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Vibration Engineer and the Body

I am constantly in awe of the beauty and design of our human body. It never ever fails to surprise me. It tells me almost everything I need to know for my survival and sense-making of the world around me. 

It tells us when we need food. It never fails to tell us when we need love and when we must get up from bed and when we must go to sleep. It informs us of our deepest emotions and feelings and what is going on in our minds and in the mind of others and it tells us what to do and when is the best time to do it. It is a fine piece of instrument cleverly designed over million of years. It deserves a lot of respect and care since it would continue to serve us well only if we care to listen to it and train it.

The design is surprisingly simple. We have 6 senses that connect the outside to the inside. These, which we call inward senses, are sight, touch, hearing, smell, taste and feeling. These senses are all connected to the mind for sense making, processing and action. For action we have 5 outward senses, which are -- move, eliminate, grasp/hold, express and create. In total, we then have, 11 senses and one mind to work with. It is as simple as that. But it creates a world of difference once we learn how to use them effectively. 

What do we often say about the highest class of musicians like Ravi Shankar or artists like Hussain or dancers like Birju Maharaj? We say that they feel their art in their bodies and expresses their art through it. Similarly, good vibration engineers also feel their subject through their bodies and mind. Let us see how the mind-body helps a vibration engineer to develop that great feeling for the subject and makes him/her effective forever. 

Our bones (while in the body) are piezo-electric crystals. Hence they act as accelerometers, which are effective vibration transducers. So, when we receive a shock or a vibration from the surroundings we can immediately feel it. We feel vibrations all over our body. 

We feel the low frequency vibrations (less than 10,000 Cycles Per Minute or CPM) in the lower part of the body (navel downwards right up to the toes).

We feel the medium frequency vibration (10,000 CPM to around 45,000 CPM)  in the middle part of the body (navel up to the shoulders)

And the high frequency vibrations (above 45,000 CPM) are felt in the upper part of the body (neck and the head).

So, different parts of the body have filters (high pass and low pass filters a result of neuron networking) to filter out certain frequencies of the vibration. 

Our index finger can feel a vibration of even 10 microns (really small when we compare that to the diameter of our hair which is around 60/70 microns). I find it so useful to detect soft foots by placing the index finger at the junction of the machine's base plates.

The hand especially the palm of the hand is useful in many ways. Each palm is fitted with a number of pressure sensors. A variation in pressure activates these pressure sensors. Hence if there is a variation in vibration (where pressure is dependent on the acceleration) we can immediately sense it through our fingers and hand. It tells us whether only the fundamental is present or it is present along with other significant frequencies and harmonics. These pressure sensors also inform us about the forces and the direction in which they are acting. Fortunately our hands also sense temperature quite well. If we can keep the palm comfortably on something for about 15 seconds we are more or less certain that the temperature is below 40 degrees C. When we do the same with the other side of the palm we can sense temperature up to 60 degrees C. 

What about our ears? That turns out to be very interesting. It naturally does a Fourier Transform for us. The complex sound waves that enter our brains through our ears are split into its various frequency components along with their amplitudes. That is why in a concert we are able to distinguish between the flute and a violin and between a sitar and a tabla (the difference is created by the frequencies). So through our hearing we can sense amplitudes, frequencies, harmonics, vortices, quality of vibration, i.e. presence or absence of damping etc. It is clear that our ears play a vital role in the understanding of vibration. I call this 'playing by the ear'.

Obviously, our eyes are fascinating too. It takes in a large amount of visual data at any instant of time enabling our brains to process them to make sense of what is going on. But one thing is striking about it. Our vision is sharp and clear at around 8.8 Hz that translates to 528 cycles per minute (CPM). So our eye senses very accurately a problem with low frequency vibrations that are around 500 to 600 CPM. We are fortunate to be thus tuned. This is because low frequency vibrations are the cause of most problems. It loosens nuts and bolts. We can see base plates jumping around and pipelines, ducts and structures vibrating. This has really come to my rescue a number of times. It helped me to understand the source of a problem even before I took vibration measurements or poured over the details of the vibration data that were collected. We can even make a sense of the amount of damping in a system and sense heat transfer mechanisms.  

Of course it is easy to understand that we don't use taste as a tool for understanding vibrations but we do use smell a lot. It tells us about the effect of vibrations on parts of the system. It generally informs us of the after effects of vibration -- we smell the oil, we smell burning, we smell too much friction etc -- most of which are the after effects of vibrations.

What do we do after we have analyzed the vibration patterns? We either 'move' things around like balancing or aligning. Or we 'eliminate' defective parts. Or 'create' better designs. Or modify the structures or tighten loose parts to 'hold' the vibrations. And lastly teach others about what we have learned ('express' our feelings). By teaching others we actually reinforce our own learning for life. Very few realize this great secret and the best secret of learning. It is so cleverly embodied in our Indian saying -- the more you give the more you learn. Knowledge is the only thing in the world that increases with sharing. 

No wonder that visual data taken through all our senses and the mind make up more than 90% of what we need to 'Feel' and analyze vibration related problems. Instruments only help to enhance or clarify our understanding with some certainty. Nothing more than that. It is also not surprising that any actions that we take are only limited by our 5 outward senses. Hence the mind-body complex is the only thing that we really need to solve any problem. The real secret instrument for analyzing and taking action lies hidden in our 11 senses and one mind.

That is the secret I wanted to share. But what are we doing to train our mind-body complex to be razor sharp for sensing and action whenever we want to act?

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Unlocking The Mystery

Their children have flown the nest. Connectivity is only through the landline telephone. They were expecting the children in the Durga Puja where they would all be united---Children, daughter-in-laws, son-in-law, grandchildren. The phone rings. It’s their second son. He has transferred an amount of Rs.60, 000/- to his father’s account. May be a bribe from a son for the excuse of not meeting his parents for the last two years. Enough ---- they thought, we will live our life to the fullest. The old couple decided to go to their friend’s house at Kalna near Burdwan to have a feel of the autumn breeze and also to escape from the jaws of boredom and may be “the impending death”.

A break-in took place at the wee hours. The burglars took away cash and gold jewellery. The door and cupboard locks had been ripped off. The old couple had informed their neighbor before leaving for Kalna. The neighbour did his duty of calling the police and informing them of the incident. The old couple seems shaken but unbothered by the whole incident. May be they have now seen a new meaning in life.

I, as a dutiful neighbor, went to a hardware shop to buy some locks for the old couple so as to replace the broken ones. The locks were of different types starting from mainly padlocks, mortise locks, 2-in-one door locks…. Different mechanisms were used for locks like lever type, pin cylinder type etc. What struck me was the place of manufacture of these locks. All were from Aligarh except Godrej. Why? Why other towns or cities in India were not into lock business. Why did this lock manufacturing cluster developed in Aligarh? Why we always associate locks to Aligarh? Why Aligarh had become synonymous to locks?  Was it a family tradition of expertise being carried out for generations and why were they the best in the business in terms of its affordability, design and utility?

This C tier city, located in the state of Uttar Pradesh, is roughly 130 kilometers, south-east of New Delhi. It has a population of about seven lakhs and is not only famous for its lock manufacturing and brass castings (sculptures) but also for Aligarh Muslim University. There are about 5 large lock manufacturers; 25-30 medium sized and more than a thousand small manufacturers. A lot of lock manufacturing work is carried out in Aligarh under job work system. There are only a handful of exporters in Aligarh. However, several Aligarh based lock manufacturers supply their locks to merchant exporters in Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai as indirect exports. Some lock manufacturers supply their locks to hardware exporters who use the locks as part of their larger hardware shipments.

A utility item but business is carried out in an unorganized way. Without proper financial support the business is still being treated as a cottage industry. Almost the whole of Aligarh economy is directly or indirectly dependent on lock manufacturing. What prevents them from making it big?  Aligarh lock manufacturer competition mainly comes from Godrej who are manufacturing hi-tech computer aided design locks with non-decodable keys that are generally high priced and out of reach for most of the people in India.   May be the Aligarh lock manufacturers are helping billions of Indian households to procure locks at an affordable price to ensure safety of their “valuables” and peace of minds.

What makes this mature industry tick? The answer is that it effectively combines Chinese ‘Shan Zhai’ and Indian ‘Juggard’ principles to build and run the business without competition. This admirable combination sustains the industry and societies.

This is the sustainable business secret that unlocks the mystery behind the runaway success of the Indian manufacturing industries even in the most trying times – the key to unprecedented economic growth!

 

Sitendu De is the author of this post.

Posted via email from dibyendu's posterous

Phase and Non-synchronous behavior of Systems

This is a beautiful song composed by Oscar winner A. R. Rahaman. But this is a different type of song and music -- having a sort of magical quality around it. At times, it seems to linger on for moments while sometimes it seems to suddenly speed up. This has a profound effect on the listener' mood. As the speed fluctuates the listener enjoys the variation in emotion that the song and music evoke.

How does the celebrated genius achieve such an effect?

He does so by changing the phase between the song and the music. He purposely avoided synchronous behavior i.e. keeping the song and the music in tune or phase. Note that at times the song seems to lag behind the music. That slows down the speed producing a lingering feeling inside us. Going by the mood of the movie that is exactly the composer wants us to feel -- feel the gentle thoughts of love between the hero and the heroine -- therefore lingers the sound through the variation of the phase between the song and the music. But at times when the movie is about some action the effect speeds up by allowing the song to lead the music by a certain phase.

This leads us to a profound understanding of waveforms and system behavior.

Phase difference between two waveforms changes a physical effect. Like for example some of the harmonics or waveforms either lead or lag the fundamental frequency thereby slowing down or speeding up movement of the system as a whole.

This happens in all types of systems whether they be electrical, mechanical or electronics. Technically this is called non-synchronous vibrations that we experience frequently in the physical world.

It is worthwhile for analyst to develop a feel for such phase changes in the system. This reveals a lot about system behavior and its causes.

Listening to music and sounds is an easy way by which any analyst can develop this innate skill and hone it to perfection.

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Type II Training -- A Paradigm Shift.

How do we train workers?

It depends on how we look at the issue.

If we look at it as ‘workers are merely an extension of machines’ then we teach them skills to interface better with the machines they work with. We give them a fish a day to survive. This is the usual Type I training.

If we look at it as ‘workers are human beings who can think and figure out things for themselves and creatively contribute’ then we teach them life skills that expand their minds. We teach them how to fish. This is the unusual Type II life transforming educational experience.

There is a huge paradigm shift involved in these two perspectives.

For example, we organized and conducted for a multinational manufacturing unit located in Kolkata the unique Type II course for a period of 10 months. This was for a group consisting of 30 workers who have had studied up to Class 8. The subjects were: Science, Mathematics, Computers, Spoken English & English handwriting.

Many experts were cynical. They haven’t heard of such a course done for workers anywhere in the world. They predicted failure. So what? Having clearly understood the context and the reality we went ahead undeterred. Thanks to the Chairman to take up and support the radical idea.  

And the results were phenomenal. Supervisors vouched for the improvements they have seen with this group of workers. It was a phenomenon difficult to believe. Bosses were wonderstruck. Some were unable to comprehend as to how this could ever happen.

These workers absented themselves the least and were most productive through the year  

Quality rejection reduced without taking any special effort to improve quality.

Material wastage plummeted to an all time low in their area of work. .

They volunteered to take up jobs of their supervisors like logging production and rejection records on excel sheets, which they knew nothing about 10 months back.

They could now read and understand drawings much better, read the notices and circulars put up on notice boards and communicate with foreign visitors to their shop floors

In short, they were proud of their internal transformation and were willing to invest 2 hours of their time every day for the next 2 years for such life transforming educational experience – of the Type II.What next?

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The Triplen Harmonics

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Operation and Maintenance have become complex in modern plants. Energy being one of the most important components of the cost structure, effort is on to save energy as much as possible. As a result three important changes happened over the years.

First, loads have become non-linear in nature based on lean manufacturing principle of producing as much as needed as and when needed to match customer needs and expectations without incurring wastages.

Second, changes and modifications in the electrical drive systems have become a significant improvement activity. Thyristor and SCR drives of yesteryears are now being replaced by precise IGBT (Insulated Gate Bi-polar Transistor) devices.  Almost all drives are now fitted or retrofitted with variable frequency drives suitable for different motor frame sizes.

Third, most plants are generating and consuming their own electricity though captive power installed in their facilities.

Though this has given us a lot of advantage it has also brought in some hidden problems. One of the disturbing problems is the growing presence of electrical harmonics that affect equipment performance and disturb smooth operation of a plant.

Whether the presence of harmonics can disturb the operation of a factory or not would depend on the ‘stiffness’ of the power distribution system and the susceptibility of the connected equipment and components like motors, bearings, solenoids, cables, couplings etc.  

Harmonics are a big polluter. Such pollution is often carried back into the electric distribution system and may affect neighboring facilities. Such pollution also causes a rise in the consumption of electrical energy – the very thing we are trying to save.  

The point is how to detect the presence of harmonics in the system? Vibration spectrums often fail to detect or show up the presence of such harmonics. As a result Current Spectrum Monitoring’ is being used as a preferred technique to detect the presence of harmonics. But this technique does a good job for higher rated motors – generally for motors over 900 KW.

So what do we do for other motors lesser than 900 KW?

There seems to be an easy way out. Harmonics create excessive neutral current. This results in overheated neutrals that might be easily detected by use of Infra-red thermal imaging technique applied to MCC (Motor Control Center) and PCC (Power Control Center).

But there is something very strange about these electrical harmonics. The triplen harmonics is a strange phenomenon that needs to be understood to improve plant reliablity.

The ‘triplen’ harmonics i.e. the 3^rd, 9^th and the 15^th harmonics of the line frequency cause more damage to the system and heat up the neutral. Why is that?

This is because these harmonics are actually ‘additive’ (vector addition) in nature in the neutral of a 3 phase ‘wye’ circuit. This is easy to understand. In a 3 phase ‘wye’ circuit the phases are separated from one another by 120 degrees. Now if we multiply 120 by 3 or 9 or 15 we get an integer multiple of 360 degrees, which is one complete cycle. This puts the harmonics from each of the 3 phase conductors in phase with each other in the neutral. Hence the neutral heats up.

Note this would not happen with other harmonics like 2^nd, 4^th, etc since that would not involve all conductors of the 3 phase to be in phase with each other in the neutral. This I call the prime number effect of number 3 and combination of 3 with other primes like 3, 5, 7 etc.

Triplen harmonics also overheat transformers (especially delta – wye types), affect solenoids (used in hydraulic circuits), lightening ballasts, non-linear loads like computers and indirectly initiates premature failure of anti-friction bearings. In short it creates a random failure pattern across a manufacturing unit, which most often becomes quite puzzling.

Not only the triplen harmonics affect plant reliability but also increases the losses of electrical power since the losses in electrical power are proportional to the square of the harmonic value.

Hence it is important to detect the presence of triplen harmonics for safe and reliable operation of the plant. Fortunately, infra-red thermal imaging comes to our rescue to detect this hidden enemy of plant reliability, availability and performance.

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A New Game -- Pain in the ....

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Munna Ranjan was very happy. He cleared the UPSC Examinations. This afternoon the postman handed him an “O.I.G.S “marked registered letter. It contained the job offer, directing him to join one of the premier Government offices on or before 31^st December at Delhi.

The evening “aarti” at the Hunuman temple had just started. Munna, barefooted went to the temple. He took one of the “Hunuman Chalisa” books, squatted in front of the image of Lord Hunuman and started reading it with a new energy. He stayed there till the aarti was over. He took a “parikrama” and returned back to his home. 

Munna joined the government office on 15^th December. The elders were giving him a lot of advice. Ragging of a different kind started. He was made to do some odd jobs like filing, indexing, page numbering etc. At the end of the day Munna went to his new home, satisfied. He made a small list in his mind --- whom to give and what to give, when he gets his first salary.  

Munna started preparing for his 15^th transfer. His upright attitude in life has made him suffer. He didn’t know how to manipulate and use office politics as a weapon to guard himself. He was singled out and hammered. Munna was very good at his work. At times he became arrogant and rude to his higher ups. He thought his work would speak for him but it didn’t. Bosses wanted something more from him.

Sefali Dixit Kumar, the only daughter of an IPS officer who had headed one of the offices under the Ministry of Home regularly uses her father’s clout to gain undue advantage. Be it securing an out of turn taxi at the airport or not getting a challan (ticket) at a No-parking zone she always has her father’s name on her lips. Sefali got through the Civil Services Exams after a third attempt. Her rank was quite lower in the order. She became an IOFS (Indian Ordnance Factory Service) officer but she didn’t want to join. Her father again came to her rescue.

Sefali Dixit had married a Tamil and didn’t want to affix the surname of her husband. After a lot of coaxing and fatherly advice from her only “father” she added that “Kumar” after her name. She believed these are done by the males so as to dominate their woman folk of the society. She wanted power and wanted it badly. She was very good at understanding the power centers in the office. Her noodle strap designer blouses did the trick as most of the middle aged male officers and “over the horizon” senior officers went gaga over her. She was attractive and venomous. There was no hurdle for her. She got everything she desired. From junior staff to the chief in the office everyone addressed her as “Madame”. Every thing went smoothly for her. Her TA, Medical Bills, Leave, Loan sanction was done at record time but others had to wait for days if not for months. Was it because of her able handling of the staff or she knew exactly the pulse of the epicenter of power. She was used to hearing the phrase “yes Madam”.

“Power” is intoxicating. It gives a “high feeling”. Sefali had tasted power. She wanted to be a symbol of woman’s emancipation. She is the new generation woman where she wants to hold the reins of power. Sefali was a regular visitor to the high end clubs where army officers and government officers would love to ogle at her. Her liaison with other government officials didn’t help her office though. She enjoyed them and ey also had a new perverted feeling with her.

Sefali Dixit Kumar was also posted at the same station where Munna got posted. Sefali is Munna’s new boss. Munna did not learn from his previous mistakes. Munna made his opinions clear. He did not become a “yes madam” like others. While others were enjoying, Munna was slogging at his desk. Sefali didn’t like him. She wanted to dominate this man. All her men in her short 32 years of her life had been her slaves. She was not used to hear a “no” from anyone. Sefali was waiting for the right moment to strike Munna. The opportune moment came. An important file went missing. It was under the custody of Munna. An enquiry was initiated by Sefali. She placated him for the important missing file. The Chief of the station tried to down play the whole episode. Sefali was desperate to nail Munna. She filed a detailed report directly to the Headquarters. Some of the decision making officers were her biggest fans. They did what she wanted them to do. A commission held Munna guilty. All decisions were made ex-parte. Munna was not heard at all. Munna lost his seniority and was transferred to the newly opened station at Nagaland --- 16^th transfer.

Lesson Learned:

1. Vindictive nature and ego of bosses dampen the best people in the organizations at the expense of organizational peformance.

2. Bosses such as Shefali wants their subordinates to have their faces turned towards them and their backs turned towards work and clients.

3. This is an old game but appears in new forms. No organizational systems design can take care of this critical aspect that spoils an organization at its roots.

This post is contributed by Mr. Sitendu De.

Posted via email from dibyendu's posterous

Social Learning:A Case Study:No One No Thing

Learning is an intensely personal affair though not totally a private affair and certainly not meant for the faint of heart.

This is what I discovered about learning over an active learning span of about half a century: Effective long term learning takes place in three interdependent ways:

a) Enlist at least one like minded co-learner to start -- dialogues, discussions, thinking and working together.
b) Create time and space for deep reflections or practice by doing -- working on a live problem, doing something like blogging and twitting, listening, thinking, imagining, practicing a skill, commenting etc.
c) Engage a mentor, who has traveled a long way on this path  to assist the learning process -- dialogue, questioning, guidance, bouncing off ideas, gently encouraging to take critical leaps in understanding, learning about lessons learned etc.

Admittedly even five years back this approach was difficult to work with. Now it is not so. Thanks to the rapid growth of the social media things are turning out to be extremely interesting, easy and full of fun. Learning is everywhere and nowhere. It depends on the learner. The modern mantra of learning is NO ONE: NO THING (not NONE and NOTHING). One can set up his/her own learning experience the way he/she likes.

With this in mind I with a group of dedicated learners started leveraging the existing social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter for effective long term learning. Learning groups were formed around two subjects: a) Vibration, Flow and Wear b) Industrial Problem Solving & Innovation. In this story I would like to highlight how effective learning can take place through constructive and supportive dialogues.

We were discussing on a blog post in our one-month-old group 'Industrial Problem Solving & Innovation':Ref: http://rapidinnovation.org/what-limits-a-systems-performance-what-we-mig (What Limits a System's Performance and What we might Do about it?)

The dialogue (excerpts from Facebook)  that followed was this:

Dibyendu De: Added a comment to the blog post to make the example more clear. Does it make it clearer? Comment.

Wednesday at 15:14 · LikeUnlike

D C Padhi: Destroying a system would need enormous courage. Possibly to hide ones fear human tend to believe that things will be OK with passing of time. I think it's not the same system that become OK after elapsed time. The future only bring new sets of essence & emergence of a fresh system where man get engaged & forget the past. Whether we ourselves destroy or not it would destroy itself once balance is lost.

Wednesday at 15:24 · LikeUnlike

D. C. Padhi: To me the airport case seems to be an excellent interaction between AND & NOW. This NOW changes every moment & with that the ANDs might also change. The complete system becomes dynamic. O&M should also include system re-design all along the system life cycle to keep it at dynamic equilibrium.

Wednesday at 15:28 · LikeUnlike

Dibyendu De: Thank you. You just gave me a brilliant idea. I think the words essence and emergence are difficult words to understand by general public. It is better to call the essence as 'and' (the critical relationship that makes a difference) and the emergence as 'now'. What do you think?

Wednesday at 15:48 · LikeUnlike ·

D. C. Padhi: All I can say at this moment is that your understanding is 'WOW'! Gr8. Keep it up. Now we would build up from now. Can we now tackle the previous cases..?

Wednesday at 15:50 · LikeUnlike

Dibyendu De: So from now we would use AND and the NOW.

Wednesday at 15:55 · LikeUnlike

D. C. Padhi: Yes.Essence & emergence are difficult to swallow. I find AND & NOW the best. I think this is the central theme of ST.

Wednesday at 15:56 · UnlikeLike

D. C. Padhi: Human Dimensions of change is a long story. I have not yet studied it thoroughly. Pls allow some time.

Wednesday at 16:02 · LikeUnlike

D. C. Padhi: Can we make a simple equation {AND1,AND2,AND3.....}=NOW

Wednesday at 16:13 · LikeUnlike

D. C. Padhi: Thanks for your encouragement.

Wednesday at 16:27 · LikeUnlike

Dibyendu De: Yes, it can now be stated in simple maths or set theory. Let the elements of the set (system) be e1, e2, e3.... Then S = {e1, e2, e3,...}. Then the relationships can be drawn out (like a truth table) & defined as e1 <->e2 = AND1 and say e2 <-> e3 = AND2. Let this two form the critical relationship that determines the now. Then {AND1, AND2} = NOW.

Dibyendu De: The practical problem is how do we go from the NOW to the AND set. Why do I say this? Because we would definitely see the NOW (the visible portion). From the NOW we would have to find out the AND (the invisible portion). After we find the AND we can then change, modify or monitor the NOW for collective benefit.

Wednesday at 16:57 · LikeUnlikeWednesday at 16:53 · LikeUnlike

Dibyendu De: So, how do you do that?

Wednesday at 16:58 · LikeUnlike

Dibyendu De: You see that we would have to go down from the whole(NOW) to the ANDs, make some changes there, go up again to NOW to see the effect of the changes. So it is going down and up at the same time. That is wholistic creativity. What do you think?

Wednesday at 17:00 · Like

Dibyendu De: Not only up and down but sideways too and move in circular fashion. Truly wholistic.

Wednesday at 17:02 · LikeUnlike

D. C. Padhi:I am able see a better picture.Once the NOW is crtically observed & AND is honestly understood then ST goes and DT should come into action for achieving improvement. Am I right? Making changes seems to me like manual tuning of process controller(may be a PID control sys for better stability).Do u agree here? Lastly if we are to move circular can we not move in a sphere (the world is 3D).

Wednesday at 19:00 · LikeUnlike

Dibyendu De: "ST goes and DT should come into action for achieving improvement" - exactly. Tuning to change AND to change NOW is ok. If tuning does not change NOW - no use. The 3 words for improvements may be Design (new), Modify (change), Monitor (feedback). OR easy: Bhrama (Modify to create new NOW), Vishu (Feedback/monitor to maintain), Mahesh/Shiva (Design new after destroying the old - change the old).

Wednesday at 19:10 · LikeUnlike

Dibyendu De: Bhrama, Vishnu, Shiva - The Trinity

Wednesday at 19:11 · LikeUnlike

D. C. Padhi: This is sublime.

Wednesday at 19:14 · LikeUnlike

Dibyendu De: In ST we would go from NOW to AND. In DT we would go from AND to NOW.

Wednesday at 19:20 · Like

Dibyendu De: In fact in ST it is an iterative action between NOW to AND and Back and.. In DT it is AND to NOW and back ...(again iterative action..). In ST the iteration is in the thinking. In DT the iteration is in the action (doing) that promotes thinking.

Wednesday at 19:23 · LikeUnlike

Dibyendu De: Revised the blog post. Check whether it is now easier to understand.

Wednesday at 19:24 · LikeUnlike

D. C. Padhi; This is instant DT. May I call it Rapidinnovation.

Wednesday at 19:26 · UnlikeLike

D. C. Padhi: Now the engineering community may understand what you say.

Wednesday at 19:27 · UnlikeLike

D. C. Padhi; The blog post has a new NOW. more valuable.

Wednesday at 19:30 · UnlikeLike

Dibyendu De; OK. So Rapidinnovation is the play of the AND and the NOW or Rapidinnovation = Doing by Thinking about Thinking (ST) + Thinking by Doing (DT). Does it look right?

Wednesday at 19:32 · LikeUnlike

D. C. Padhi: It looks wonderful. She is most beautiful.

Wednesday at 19:37 · LikeUnlike

D. C. Padhi: It's beauty compels me to use "she" instead of "it".

Wednesday at 19:38 · LikeUnlike

Dibyendu De: LOL. Understand your viewpoint.

Wednesday at 19:39 · LikeUnlike

Dibyendu De; This conversation was simply fantastic -- a thing to remember for life. I would be out for about 2 hours. Would pick up the thread at about 10. Thx for the wonderful exchange.

Wednesday at 19:41 · LikeUnlike

D. C. Padhi: Yes. I can't help LOL

Wednesday at 19:41 · LikeUnlike

Dibyendu De: This is the power and the reward of a fruitful dialogue. The reward is only a benign smile inside -- smile that bring contentment. That is wealth which all the riches of the world can't buy.

Wednesday at 19:44 · LikeUnlike

Dibyendu De; It fulfills the very purpose of opening the forum in FB. The desired NOW is evident.

Wednesday at 19:45 · LikeUnlike

D. C. Padhi: It was like liberation. Reincarnation instead. Gratefully indebted to you.

Wednesday at 20:04 · Like

Legends:

ST = Systems Thinking

DT = Design Thinking

Lessons Learned:

1. Learning takes place through interactions. So, it takes two to a tango. Learning takes place through intense concentration and reflection in the numerous small pauses during the exchange. It has an advantage over face to face discussion since we can think and 'speak' without being forced to respond quickly. This deliberate act of slowing down of the mind triggers the 'reflective' capacity of the brain - vital for learning anything deeply. I term this as 'micro-meditative' state that facilitates deep and effective learning. This is precisely the advantage of learning through social media over other forms of learning where we are generally rushed into a response. Moreover, one can always check back the train of thoughts and revise it if required. This reinforces learning many times over.  

2. So, typically a double-loop learning takes during a dialogue (through reflection of each others mind brought into a dialogue) and a triple-loop learning takes place upon further personal reflection on a discussion thread. This automatically initiates higher level of learning which is highly improbable through traditional modes of learning. Note that it is always a 'one on one' interaction never 'one to many'. In Bengal there is a saying about effective learning  -- "One creates confusion; Two create Learning: Three create chaos: Four create a market"

3. Dialogues create Learning stories. It is similar to life creating and participating in creating as an on-going process.

4. Collaborative learning or social learning moves from document centric to more people centric. Hence it is like learning from nature or life. 

5. Time, space, age no longer pose as constraints to learning as seen in traditional modes of teaching and learning.

6. Feedback is instantaneous through the use of the 'like' buttons. This greatly encourages the conversations to proceed smoothly.

7. The paradigm shifts from 'Need to Know' to 'Need to Share'. Sustainable organic growth of ideas, thoughts and actions in the real world.

8. Effective Learning takes time and effort since the brain has to rewire itself through neuro-plasticity. This is easily possible through social media learning since the expansive interactions happen over a long period of time and not condensed into smaller time frames as evident in other traditional modes of learning. This is greatly aided by the stories that continuously unfold through such open dialogues. It helps in changing the neuron wiring of the brain more effectively than anything else -- leading to higher long term effectiveness.   

9. Next paradigm shift: Ask questions to "those you know" to "those who know that they don't know". This opens up a wider choice for learning to select people to ask from rather than being restricted to a few whom he/she probably knows in say the workplace. The learning environment expands.

10. Learning is the sole responsibility of the learner. Much depends on the attitude of the learner on what and how much a learner decides to take home from an engagement and how much a learner decides to 'share'. More 'sharing' leads to more learning. 

11. The learners merge to develop a collective consciousness. This is a latent power of social learning. As of today, information and knowledge are free and easily available. What is unavailable is understanding, which can be effectively harnessed through social learning by accommodating different perspectives and bouncing ideas off each other. Fortunately, Learning is no longer a lonely affair.

12. Much of effective learning happens like a story unfolding with its natural twist and turns, building on each others ideas leading to understanding, wisdom and instant realization. That makes Social Learning fun and interesting.

13. The only requirement to participate in such learning processes is the courage to engage and imagination to continue. The attitude of 'contribution' is the key. 

14. Who is the mentor and who is the mentee? Who gives? Who takes? Who gains? Who loses? No one No Thing

References:

1. http://rapidinnovation.org/the-and-is-in-the-now

2. http://rapidinnovation.org/changing-brain-pattern-for-good

3. http://zentricks.blogspot.com/2010/12/social-media-product-development-design.html

4. http://rapidinnovation.org/i-confess-i-dont-know

5. http://rmcpl.wordpress.com/2010/03/24/design-principle-9-user-experience-insi...

6.http://rmcpl.wordpress.com/2010/03/24/achieving-balance-of-opposites-design-principle-8/

 

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