Applications and Case Studies

©2010 Dr. B. C. Paul

A Really Cool Problem Based on a case study by Wayne Helmer (SIUC) and

Robert Walker (Texas A+M) You are a engineer at a HVAC/energy consulting

company in your area. Your responsibility is to design and purchase equipment for projects that you work on. The particular project under consideration involves a cooling system to be installed on a mine intake shaft. (Mines will sometimes air condition incoming air in the summer time to de-humidify it since moisture can cause shale degredation and roof falls in the shaft area. Now you must design specifications for the cooling system and contract the systems from equipment wholesalers in the area.

The Plot Thickens

Several suppliers have bid on your job. You notice that one supplier has bid the equipment at about 20% below the average price of all the other suppliers. This supplier's price seems too good to be true.

This supplier visits you the following week to discuss his bid on the cooling system. You inquire about his low bid on the system and ask to see some performance data on his units. He provides you with engineering data.

You do some thermodynamic checking and find that the work and heat output from the cooling unit is twice the energy input. You find the cooling units coefficient of performance is 6.2 while no other unit you have seen can beat 2.3. The unit claims to have a DOE compliant EER of 21 while competitors almost never break 13.

Back Peddle?

You confront the salesman. He tells you that he is sorry that he made a “mistake”. The current draw on the compressor should be higher. He says that he really wants to sell this cooling equipment because they use CFC 22 and the refrigerant will be phased out soon. He says that he wants to make you a "deal" and sell this equipment at not just 20% off but now 50% lower than similar units on the market.

Facts

The performance data you were supplied contains major errors

CFC22 is being phased out which could make future servicing of the equipment an issue CFC22 is alleged to destroy the ozone layer (although there are

technical problems with this theory such as CFC being to heavy to rise to the stratosphere or the fact that none of the ozone destroying compounds that are making holes in the ozone layer have ever been found or detected there)

The EER label on the equipment is an outright fraud The Equipment being sold is much less expensive

than any other competing unit

Questions

Is this an Economics Questions or an Ethics Question? Suppose you believe your organization has good

stores of CFC22 on hand and that you have qualified people to recycle it?

Suppose a preliminary economic analysis appears to indicate that this vendor could save the mine money even when long range maintenance issues are considered?

What Does The Code of Ethics Have to Say About This Situation?

The NSPE Code of Ethics of Engineers states:

1.b. "Engineers shall approve only those engineering documents which are safe for public health, property and welfare in conformity with accepted standards.“

Section 1 .d. says; "Engineers shall not permit the use of their name or firm name nor associate in business ventures with any person or firm which they have reason to believe is engaging in fraudulent or dishonest business or professional practices."

Houston – Do We Have a Problem?

Would There Be Any Harm in Taking This Deal if You Believe that Your Mine Can Handle the Economics, Maintenance, and Environmental Responsibility?

Conveying Integrity

Inspired by a case from Online Ethics.org You are in sales and engineering for Convoluted

Conveyor company and deal with marketing of belt and belt structure for coal mines. Your company has been retained to market and design

the belt network for Jerk Cheap Coal Company Jerk Cheap has always squeezed your companies

margins and hurt your companies profitability and of course the commissions of their sales people. In fact most salespeople don’t want to have anything to do with the jobs with Jerk Cheap. The only reason you are even on this job is that you got stuck with it because you are the junior engineer.

Interesting Clauses

Your company (and your commission) will get a percentage of the cost of the equipment and system supplied. (Of course because Jerk Cheap Coal is a stingy hard nose in deals that’s not much and it’s a lot of work on your part for a company that treats you like dirt). The contract does contain a clause that you will

split savings on the system that do not impact performance (sometimes called a values engineering clause)

You’re a Good Engineer

In laying out the conveyor system you see opportunities to lay out a conveyor system with standard and acceptable practice Because you are smarter than the

average engineer you realize there are also some tweeks you can put on the system to save costs and improve performance

Opportunity Knocks

You can put together a standard conveyor design for Jerk Cheap Coal.

After the design is accepted you can then bring forward your system improvements which will activate the Values Engineering Clause The money you bring from getting to keep 50%

of the savings will give you and your company a fat commission and almost certainly make you salesman of the month This of course will get you noticed and probably help

you get better jobs to design and bid in the future.

Is It Ethical For You to Withold Design Optimization Until the 2nd Phase of the Project even though you easily know how to put the improvements into your initial design?

The Devil Made Me Do It!

Rationalization Jerk Cheap has squeezed your margins and your still

giving them a solid standard engineering design Your colleagues are just using you to dump all the jobs no

one else wants You have a family and a career too. Most engineers would never be able to spot the

improvements that you could (its just that you are a genius)

Why should Jerk Cheap think they will get genius when they are just diving to scrape dirt off the bottom of the barrel

The company works you extra hours, and treats you with contempt – you don’t owe them a thing.

What Does the Code of Ethics Say?

The Engineers Creed To place service before profit, the honor

and standing of the profession before personal advantage, and the public welfare above all other considerations.

The Fundamental Cannons Say Act for each employer or client as faithful

agents or trustees.

This One Makes Your Hair Stand on End

Inspired by a case from Online Ethics.org You are an Engineer for Geebuddy Coal Company.

Geebuddy is planning to open a new coal mine and get a consortium of electric power companies to join with them in building the Prairies Fate Power Plant. To deliver the power onto the grid new power lines will have to be installed. The shortest and most economical route for the power lines go right past the town of Red Pudd. The Hoser Environmental Coalition has got people in the town stirred up that the Electromagnetic Fields from the power lines will cause their children to develop brain cancer and will turn the brains of adults into Jello (they may even start to believe in Al Gore’s movie “An inconvenient Truth”). Gleebuddy has ask to go to a Town Meeting and present the

company’s perspective and calm the towns people.

The Facts as You Know Them

Many common everyday objects (electric shavers, microwave ovens, hair dryers, vacuum cleaners, electric can openers) produce electromagnetic fields (EMFs). Concern arises from larger projects such as electric power lines, sub-stations, and radar facilities

In an Epidemiological Study groups of people that are exposed to a suspect condition are compared to groups of people that are not. One looks for a higher incidence of problems with the exposed group. Epidemiological studies do not establish a cause – they only suggest when a correlation may exist. Epidemiological evidence exists showing slightly higher risks

associated with living next to these field-generating facilities. But other epidemiological studies do not show significant risk

ratios.

Fact Continued

Some have argued that there is a causal mechanism to explain the cancers associated with EMFs. For example, it is argued that EMFs interfere directly with cellular activity. But EMFs are pervasive (including the earth’s own field) and it has not been demonstrated why the EMFs generated by electric power lines or radar facilities are special. Another series of studies have been carried out to see if EMFs trigger (or activitate) a cancer-causing gene that is directly responsible for the cancer. But scientists have not been able to confirm this hypothesis.

Facts Continued

An extensive animal study conducted at the Illinois Institute of Technology showed no positive results. It involved a controlled experiment in which three groups of rats were exposed to varying EMFs while a control group of rats that included Al Gore had no exposure. No significant difference between the four groups was found.

No cases exist anywhere of peoples brains being converted to jello from living near a power transmission line. (There are, however, cases of people believing Al Gores movie).

Facts You Where Involved With Determining

The Economics require that participating power companies be able to get the Electricity from the Prairies Fate Power Plant to the Grid at low cost.

The only alternate route is through the shaggy possum bottoms. This relatively undisturbed area would be very hard to service lines should they be damaged by high winds or storms The route would involve potential ecosystem damage The route would raise costs enough to threaten the power

project The route would make keeping power lines open after

storms risky to the safety of lineman and could leave communities without power for weeks at a time

More Facts You Were Involved With

Randolf the Red Nose Raindeer County has 17% unemployments and a median household income of $18,000 per year. Economic projections indicate that building the power plant and opening the mine will double average household income and cut the unemployment rate in half – but loosing the power line route past Red Pudd would put the entire project at risk of never happening.

Your work on the Mine and Power Plant plans will likely get you a $70,000 Christmas bonus and a promotion with a $50,000 per year increase in base pay if the Mine and Power Plant combination are built.

Is It Ethical for You to Go to the Town Meeting in Red Pudd and make a presentation and answer questions on behalf of Gleebuddy Coal?

What Parts of the Engineers Creed and Code of Engineering Ethics Might Apply?