1998 Tribology Silver and Bronze Medals

Citation

(1999), "1998 Tribology Silver and Bronze Medals", Industrial Lubrication and Tribology, Vol. 51 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/ilt.1999.01851cab.014

1998 Tribology Silver and Bronze Medals

1998 Tribology Silver and Bronze Medals

Tribology Silver Medal

The 1998 Tribology Silver Medal was awarded to Professor Richard C. Coy, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to tribology, in particular in the field of research and application of lubricant technology (Plate 1).

Professor R.C. (Dick) Coy graduated as a physicist from Leicester in 1966. His early career involved teaching high school physics and mathematics in Canada, but in 1970 he returned to the UK to begin a PhD studentship in surface physics (tribology) at the University of Aston. It was there that he made his first contact with the staff of the Shell Research Centre. He joined Shell in 1973 where he studied additives/additive interactions and surface effects with ZDDP and valve train kinematics and wear.

Plate 1 Dr David Jilbert, Professor Richard Coy, Dr Alex Alliston-Greiner and Professor Tom Bell at the award ceremony for the 1998 Tribology Silver and Bronze Medals held at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, London, on 3 December 1998

From 1978 to 1982 he transferred to an engine lubricants product development team, shifting his fundamental research interests to an applied nature. His studies include work on alternative fuelled vehicles.

In 1982 he was assigned to Showa Shell in Japan as a senior technical advisor. He returned to the UK in 1984 and worked on both diesel and gasoline engine lubricant product development. In 1987 he became the group leader of the basic lubrication research group and ultimately took responsibility for the longer-term lubrication and combustion research programmes.

Over the years Dick and the teams for which he has borne responsibility have published widely at the cutting edge of tribological science and technology. His more recent interests have included the fields of modelling wear and design predictions of parameters such as film thickness and friction in the moving parts of internal combustion engines.

In 1994 he was appointed as a visiting professor in the School of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Leeds. He was re-appointed in 1997.

Dick has a wide national role in relation to the promotion of tribology, including significant activity with the Tribology Group of the Institute of Physics and strong liaison with the Tribology Group of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. He has organised or been on the organising committee of many seminars and conferences and through his offices with Shell has encouraged and supported a wide diversity of tribological research in universities and other institutions in the UK.

The contribution of Professor Coy to tribology in the UK for a period of over a quarter of a century has been one of tremendous substance including research, research leadership, research support and national management and administrative roles. He is indeed a worthy recipient of the 1998 Tribology Silver Medal.

Tribology Bronze Medal

The 1998 Tribology Bronze Medal was awarded to Dr David Jilbert in recognition of his excellent work in the field of prediction of rotor motion and film thickness under dynamic operation.

David Jilbert graduated with a BEng honours degree in mechanical engineering from Leeds in 1993. He successfully completed an MSc in tribology in machine design during the following year, winning prizes for best student and best individual project in the process. He gained his PhD in 1997, for a thesis entitled "A tribological study of a rotor diesel fuel injection pump".

His studies were driven by the environmental impact of diesel engine emissions from road vehicles and the demands placed on diesel fuel injection equipment. Fuel rotors are known to fail by seizure caused by scuffing between the rotor and its sleeve. David's project, undertaken in collaboration with Lucas Diesel Systems, aimed to understand the pertinent operating criteria which influence the tribological behaviour of a fuel distribution rotor in a rotary fuel pump.

The major feature of David's work was the development of a dedicated test apparatus to monitor rotor performance under realistic operating conditions. Measurements were made to determine the locus of the rotor during high pressure operation and to determine the minimum film thickness under varying speed and load conditions. He has also studied the role of the specific properties of diesel fuel in pump operation, using high temperature, high shear rate viscometer measurements.

David's achievement has been the development of a powerful predictive tool which will contribute substantially to an enormously difficult industrial problem.

David presented his PhD work at the World Tribology Congress in London in September 1997 and continues to use his tribological skills in employment with Castrol International. He has demonstrated wide ranging talents and successfully developed highly original test apparatus to deal with a complex tribological phenomenon. He is a worthy recipient of the 1998 Tribology Bronze Medal.