1st International conference on Quality of Life

June 2016
Center for Quality, Faculty of Engineering, University of Kragujevac

IMPACT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

Milosav Đorđević1)
Snežana Vrekić1) ON QUALITY OF LIFE

1) Technical College of Applied Abstract: Mechanical engineering is one of the oldest and
Studies, Kragujevac, Serbia broadest engineering disciplines, and plays a significant role
[email protected] in enhancing safety, economic vitality, enjoyment and overall
[email protected] quality of life throughout the world. This paper provides a
brief overview of the results of earlier investigations carried
out by different authors in which it was determined how the
Mechanical engineering contributed to the improvement of
living and working conditions of people in different areas. In
the previous century, were developed engineering
achievements that have contributed to the increase in life
expectancy, improved health conditions, increased mobility
thanks to the development of the automobile and the airplane,
increased productivity of labor as many of the products made
available to many people. In the future Mechanical
engineering will develop engineering solutions that foster a
cleaner, healthier,safer and sustainable world.
Keywords: mechanical engineering, quality of life,
achievements, future

1. INTRODUCTION being the aggregate of seven domains material

well-being, health, productivity, intimacy,
Quality of life (QoL) is a term we hear safety, community, and emotional well-being.
frequently. At first sight, in the everyday Objective domains comprise culturally relevant
discourse we mean by that notion how good life measures of objective wel-being. Subjective
is referring to people’s happiness and well- domains comprise satisfaction weighted by
being. Scientists offered various alternative their importance to individual” [3].
approaches to defining and measuring quality Quality of life is part of man's mental state
of life and the indicators that reflect it, e.g. and he is a reflection of his development, his
social indicators such as health, subjective well- social and physical environment and his own
being measures, economic indices, etc. [1]. position in this environment. It's a feeling of
Although each of the various methods has a well-being of individuals, which stems from the
number of strengths and weaknesses, they are satisfaction and dissatisfaction with areas of life
often methodologically and conceptually that are important to him, the space between
complementary. Quality of life is a complex, one's expectations and achievements.
multifaceted construct that requires multiple Engineering is the profession in which a
interdisciplinary approaches from different knowledge of the mathematical and natural
angles. In fact, good life arises from a variety of sciences, experience, and practice is applied
conditions working together in a complex way. with judgment to develop ways to utilize
Further, the quality of life will be linked with economically the materials and forces of nature
the parameters sustainability and safety of for the benefit of mankind [4]. Engineering
social and ecosystems [2]. exist everywhere in a number of ways and
Quality of life can be defined in many circumstances. It is part of our lives and
ways, making its measurement and everything we touch and do, relate significanly
incorporation into scientific study difficult. The to engineering matters in one way or the other.
research presented in this paper was used Engineering is about everything around us that
comprehensive definition proposed by are being utilised in a manner that is able to
International Society of Qality of life Studies: provide answers and solution to various
„Quality of life is both objective, each axis problems that we are facing. Engineering andt

1st International conference on Quality of Life June 2016 237

echnology change hand in hand and closely 2.1 Automobile
integrated to complement each other [5].
Mechanical engineering is one of the A historian has said that Henry Ford freed
oldest and broadest engineering disciplines. common people from the limitations of their
This is a branch of engineering that applies geography (in the early 1900's). The automobile
principles of engineering, basic science, and created mobility on a scale never known before,
mathematics for modeling, analysis, design, and the total effect on living habits and social
and realization of physical systems, customs is endless. Motor vehicles and paved
components or processes. roads have narrowed the gap between rural and
Mechanical Engineering is concerned with urban life. The automobile has radically
the design, development, research, evaluation, changed city life by accelerating the outward
manufacture, installation, testing, operation, expansion of population into the suburbs 8.
maintenance and management of machines, The car and the federal subsidies for roads and
mechanical and mechatronic systems, suburban development that supported car
automated systems and robotic devices, heat culture allowed people to live in low
transfer processes, thermodynamic and density residential areas even farther from
combustion systems, fluid and thermal energy the city center and integrated city
systems, materials and materials handling neighborhoods 9.
systems, manufacturing equipment and process
plant 6. Mechanical engineering is directly or 2.2 Airplane
indirectly involved in the creation of a large
number of products for the human needs in Not a single human being had ever flown a
almost all areas of life and work. powered arcraft when the 20th century began.
By century's end, flying had become relatively
2. GREATEST ACHIEVEMENTS OF common for millions of people, and some were
20th CENTURY even flying through space. The first piloted,
powered, controlled flight lasted 12 seconds.
The achievements of all engineering Today, nonstop commercial flights lasting as
disciplines can be found results of mechanical long as 15 hours carry hundreds of passengers
engineering. Throughout human history, halfway around the world 7. The growing
engineering is a driver of progress of availability of affordable air travel has
civilization and improving the quality of life. considerably widened aviation’s role in our
Twenty greatest engineering achievements of sustainable society. Air travel is no longer a
the past century is presented in the book “A luxury commodity. The air transport industry
Century of Innovation: Twenty Engineering has not only underpinned wealth creation in the
Achievements that Transformed our Lives” 7: developed world, but has also brought
Electrification, Automobile, Airplane, Water enormous benefits to developing economies by
Supply and Distribution, Electronics, Radio and unlocking their potential for trade and tourism
Television, Agricultural Mechanization, 10.
Computers, Telephone, Air Conditioning and
Refrigeration, Highways, Spacecraft, Internet, 2.3 Water Supply and Distribution
Imaging, Household Appliances, Health
Technologies, Petroleum and Petrochemical According to David Cutler and Grant
Technologies, Laser and Fiber Optics, Nuclear Miller, clean water technologies are likely the
Technologies and High-performance Materials. most important public health intervention of the
The book was developed through a project 20th Century (in USA). In 1900, waterborne
initiated by the National Academy of for nearly one quarter of reported infectious
Engineering (USA, 2003). Because the space is disease deaths in major cities. In the next few
limited in this paper, the following is a brief decades, waterborne disease mortality fell
overview of some achievements that are dramatically. The introduction of water
predominantly locate in the field of mechanical filtration and chlorination systems led to major
engineering. In doing so, we used different reductions in mortality, explaining nearly half
sources of available literature, as stated. of the overall reduction in mortality between
1900 and 1936 11.

238 M., Đorđević, S., Vrekić

2.4 Agricultural Mechanization home. This revolution has transformed the
conduct of our daily lives, but in somewhat
Agricultural mechanization, one of the unexpected ways. The industrialization of the
great achievements of the 20th century, was home was a process very different from the
enabled by technologies that created value in industrialization of other means of production,
agricultural production practices through the and the impact of that process was neither what
more efficient use of labor, the timeliness of we have been led to believe it was nor what
operations, and more efficient input students of the other industrial revolutions
management with a focus on sustainable, high- would have been led to predict [16].The impact
productivity systems. Historically, affordable of household appliances is monumental. They
machinery, which increased capability and enhance our personal and family lives by
standardization and measurably improved freeing our time and energy, enable more
productivity, was a key enabler of agricultural people to earn a living outside the home, and
mechanization [12]. According to Olaoye and contribute significantly to the economy 7.
Rotimi [13], the level, appropriate choice and
subsequent proper use of mechanized inputs 2.7 Health Technologies
into agriculture has a direct and significant
effect on achievable levels of land productivity, In 1900 the average life expectancy in the
labour productivity, the profitability of farming, United States was 47 years. By 2000 it was
the sustainability, the environment and, on the nearing 77 years. That remarkable 30-year
quality of life of people engaged in agriculture increase was the result of a number of factors,
[14]. including the creation of a safe water supply.
But no small part of the credit should go to the
2.5 Air Conditioning and Refrigeration century's wide assortment of medical advances
in diagnosis, pharmaceuticals, medical devices,
The practical application of mechanical and other forms of treatment 7.
refrigeration to air cooling for the purposes of
personal comfort, no doubt has a field, ... and Several achievements listed here illustrates
the day is at hand, or soon will be, when the the significant impact of mechanical
modern office building, factory, church, theater engineering at the quality of human life. In the
and even residence will be incomplete without 20 century the attention of engineers focused on
a mechanical air cooling plant.1 That several areas of human life and work. Increased
prediction, made on the occasion of the World's productivity of labor as many of the products
Fair in 1904 by the editors of the trade journal made available to many people. On many
Ice and Refrigeration, would see full realization dangerous jobs people have replaced by
by the end of the new century [15]. Climate machinery and preserve their health. Increased
control has become so reliable and inexpensive mobility thanks to the development of cars and
that it has grown from an invisible luxury to a plans. In the last century information
common necessity. The ability to transport and technologies have been applied in mechanical
store fresh foods and other perishables engineering, creating major changes in the
simplified shopping and widened our choices organization of life and work.
7.
3. PROJECTIONS FOR THE FUTURE
2.6 Household Appliances
A report of the Global Summit on the
When we think about the interaction Future of Mechanical Engineering (“2028
between technology and society, we tend to Vision for Mechanical Engineering”) was
think in fairly grandiose terms: massive prepared for the ASME (American Society of
computers invading the workplace, railroad Mechanical Engineers) Strategic Issues
tracks cutting through vast wildernesses, armies Committee of the Strategic Management Sector
of woman and children toiling in the mills. by the Institute for Alternative Futures, in 2008.
These grand visions have blinded us to an The idea of the Summit was to help create a
important and rather peculiar technological roadmap toward fulfilling the vision of
revolution which has been going on right under mechanical engineering in the next 20 years
our noses: the technological revolution in the (until 2028). In this paper, the author presents a

1st International conference on Quality of Life June 2016 239

significant projections from this report that brought about by economic growth;
relate to the future of mechanical engineering in  Advocacy to influence political decision
the context of quality of life. making on issues related to science,
According to Sam Y. Zamrik, ASME engineering and technology;
President 2007-2008, Mechanical engineers  Multy-disciplined and systems
must provide solutions to the drivers of change engineering approaches to multi-scale
inspired by a vision that calls them to: systems;
 Develop sustainably through new  Partnership among academic, industry
technologies and techniques, and respond and government to expand research and
to the global environmental pressures development and develop the next
brought about by economic growth; generation of engineers, and
 Be at the forefront of implementing a Lifelong learning for globally competent
system design approach across large and engineers and engineering leaders.
small-scale systems;
 Engage in international collaboration 4. CONCLUSION
around our critical knowledge and
competencies; The developments in technology are a
 Work in the emerging Bio-Nano continuous process in human existence. The
technologies to provide solutions in such technological advancements have provided
diverse fields as healthcare, energy, comfort and joy to life. Mechanical engineering
water management, the environment and has a direct and vital impact on the quality of
agryculture management; life for all people. Future generations of
 Create engineering solutions for the other mechanical engineers can learn from the
90 percent that live on less than two achievements of the profession of the past.
dollars a day [17]. History shows that many achievements ensure
It is necessary to create greater public steady growth of quality of life. However, in
awareness of the essential contributions of the future mechanical engineering must be
engineering to quality of life consistent with a directed towards a very complex objectives: to
sustainable world. Other critical choices the ensure sustainable development of the world
profession must make on this path to the vision and secure, cleaner and healthier life for a much
include focused efforts to improve [17]: larger population. From mechanical engineers
 Develop sustainably through new will be required multidisciplinary knowledge
technologies and techniques, and respond and successful participation in different spheres
to the global environmental pressures of life and work.

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242 M., Đorđević, S., Vrekić