Wish you have A Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!
“Loose of Neutral” in Electrical Circuit in traditional expensive residential apartment
The night scene of Hong Kong is always representing the prosperity and the stunning pictorial attraction for many people . The backdrop of the night scenery is the densely packed high-rise buildings being lit up.
With the air-conditioning became introduced in Hong Kong , some traditional luxury residential development was designed with 3 phases supply to cope with the loading consumption
Effect of Neutral Loss and Over-heat
The 3-phased live wiring is pairing with the neutral wire. The power runs into your apartment through “live” and return through “neutral . There is a defect called “nentral loose” which means the neutral wire loose contact or in bad connection. If there is “neutral loose” , that may be caused by various reasons, there will be abnormal arcing around the point of connection, a flash phenomena or spake fire will be occurred from time to time to heat up the already loose connection point and adversely causing unpredictable loading of electric current passing through the entire circuit. This circuit connects the load side appliance such as air-conditioners, the electronic parts or protection fuses of these electrical appliances may be damaged.
Inspection by Infra-red scanning and WR 2 checking
Unfortunately, it was not always detectable the abnormal heat up around the connection point . I prefer to adopt the infrared thermography scanning technique in my project or my inspection. However, the electrician today prefer to do by visual inspection which in my view may be subjective in some occasion. Our in-house infra-red is E4 model from FLIR. This is not the latest model, but still fit to our general routine checking.
Acoustic performance in Curtain Wall
Curtain wall system is such a complex external envelope of the building . It is more than an enclosure but also to serve to reduce heat gain and sound proof. The evaluation of heat gain is commonly considered by the amount thermal transfer in the energy unit. Nevertheless , lesser attention is given to the acoustic consideration . Thank to my friend Dr Man and our peers Lixil who shares me one table. The airborne acoustic reduction is considered by STC value which varies as per the glass panes composition and thickness of glass. STC is to measure the degree of decibel reduction. The reduction is further related to the hertz of sound transmission. For easy communication , each composition of glass panes will be assigned the STC value. The interesting observation is that the “laminated glass” is achieving similar STC value compared to similar glass panes thickness of “insulating glass unit”. Furthermore , A 12mm thick single panes can achieve similar STC value to 6+12+6 insulating glass unit. Indeed, there are more consideration to the curtain wall acoustic including the impact-borne sound transmission caused by impact to the mullion or transom . Sometimes, the provision of the noise barrier or the provision of the balcony projecting out from the external facade can help to reflect the unwanted sound such as traffic away.
Coring the rock stratum engineering our pile foundation
Site investigation is a term to cover a lot of aspect about the site. For the Engineer in construction site, it means the process to find out the soil and rock condition. From the project management perspective, we see the most essence is whether the quality control system is working well in place . This control system involves sampling , inspection, recording and counter-check. Although the PNAP has imposed a lot of restrains in the site investigation, the entire controlling mechanism still heavily rely on the professional site staff. The sample taken will be inspected the the engineer. This inspection is to be fed back to the Designer to confirm the design assumption of piling coincide well to what happens on site. This is the feedback loop essentially important in the entire QA process.
I witness the coring process and I can say the coring of soil / rock is not a pleasant job. Sometimes, the sample was damaged in the process, sometimes, the sample was dropped in pieces. Thus , a good sampling and coring process did demand patience by labour, right machine set up, on-site engineer inspection and recording.
Revitalizing and unlock the potential in Asset
GBE <> KPDO is teammed to give a touch to turn around the simple corner becomes seductive and eye-catching art piece . Apart from aesthetic pleasure, the new architectural design regenerates the lobby and enables the vertical transportation to the podium levels. The capex and the technical-know-how are low and simple, but the magical effects is profoundly sharp.
Technical Consideration to Residential units in UK
Real estate development in UK Great Britain.We have recently received a lot of inquiries regarding the UK residential market. Putting aside valuation and rental income for a moment, there are many technical considerations involved when dealing in the UK residential market. On a high level, the HK and UK residential market can be quite similar, such as residential unit layout, headroom, room size, window provision, bathroom design, and apartment provision. Nevertheless, there are many material differences between the two markets that demand caution. For example, the concept of “area” can be confusing from the various ways it is presented, the concept of “Air Rights” similar to that in New York City, the prevalence of historical external facades that are maintained at the owner’s expense, or lifts that may not reach your floor. One interesting thing is that the elevator may not reach your preferred floor. Also , remember the judge leading the Grenfell Tower Inquiry has ruled that the cladding installed on the tower did not comply with building regulations, finding that the polyethylene-cored panels were the “primary cause” of the rapid spread of flames. It can end your building apartment life immediately
One popular way to get into the market is via pre-sale. While pre-sale activities are increasingly common, there is little to no regulation that governs these activities. Some apartments on the market for sale may not even have “planning permission”. Hence, project delivery risks are often underestimated. Meanwhile, some projects are developed in special districts, such as “Business Regeneration Zone”, which may not be well understood by most potential buyers. Moreover, agency activities involving sales of UK property in Hong Kong may not be regulated under the HK legislative framework. Overseas buyers and investors should tread carefully and with guidance from experts.
Maintenance problem from wrong “water to cement ratio” of concrete cover mix
Concrete cover is the outer concrete layer serves to protect the rebar in RC structure. Its thickness and density dictates both the protection performance and fire – resisting ability. The extract from the research paper by Albert K.H. Kwan in Department of Civil Engineering, University of Hong Kong , the concrete cover will become much permeability to water once the “water to cement ratio” exceeds 0.4. Adversely does the high water to cement ratio happen in many concreting process in Hong Kong. To account the reason behind , it is the slump of the concrete or the workability of the concrete affects the entire concreting process. The drawback from high permeability is very obvious . The concrete cover becomes lesser defensive against the water nor air penetration . The alkaline environment around the rebar is diminished along with the carbonation due from the air pollution
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