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News Release from: Institution of Diagnostic Engineers
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 15 December 2004
Institution brings forensic skills to
the fore
A case study in the latest issue of Diagnostic Engineering tells an interesting tale of forensic investigation used to vindicate a driver charged with dangerous driving.
The CIS TV programme that is regularly transmitted on Channel 5 in the UK uses as the basis of its stories the application of forensic (diagnostic) skills to identify the cause of the crime and subsequently expose the criminal The Institution of Diagnostic Engineers has its own CIS type of investigators in the form of investigations into failures or potential failures of plant and equipment using similar skills
This article was originally published on Engineeringtalk on 28 Sep 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
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An application of those skills was given in a case study published in Diagnostic Engineering, the members' journal distributed free to members bimonthly.
The member, an automotive consultant, was called on by the solicitor of a lady driver who was being charged with dangerous driving when her fairly new car hit other cars on the way down a steep hill.
Her claims that the brakes failed were not supported by the police who found them working normally after the crash.
The Fellow of the Institution (FIDiagE) carried out a CIS type of investigation and found two important facts.
First, that the seal on the brake fluid reservoir was damaged and water had infiltrated into the brake fluid, lowing the temperature at which it would gasify; and secondly that the rear brakes of the car had not operated from new.
This would throw the burden of braking of the front discs, in the course of which considerable heat would be generated.
When cooled the fluid would return to its normal viscosity.
It was claimed that the combination of the factors would render the brakes inoperative when the heat was transferred to the brake fluid which would be transformed from a fluid into a compressible gas.
The case was thrown out of the court when this evidence was presented.
The institution only accepts as members, engineers who can demonstrate their diagnostic and condition monitoring skills and are therefore valued by employers.
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