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Representatives From Turbo Lab and Korean industry leader Keyyang Signing At A Desk With Words Of MOU Signing Ceremony At The Background And Words Of Technology Development Agreement ATM On The Table
From left to right: Byung Kee Chung, Keyyang CEO; Sang-jick Yoon, Korean minister of trade, industry and energy; Greg Gammon, Turbo Lab director of operations; and Dr. Costas Georghiades, TEES associate agency director for strategic initiatives and centers | Image: Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station

The Turbomachinery Laboratory (Turbo Lab), a research center in the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES), signed an international research and scholar-exchange agreement with Korean turbocharger industry leader, Keyyang Precision Co., Ltd. The formal signing was attended by Sang-jick Yoon, Korean minister of trade, industry and energy, as part of the U.S.-Korea Business Forum held at the Hilton Houston Post Oak. It secures a critical international partnership during the centennial anniversary of TEES.

Dr. Costas Georghiades, TEES associate agency director for strategic initiatives and centers, along with Byung Kee Chung, Keyyang CEO, signed for their respective organizations. Also serving as representatives were Greg Gammon, Turbo Lab director of operations, and Gyung Won Chung, Keyyang’s director of strategic planning.

Since 2012, Keyyang has supported the Turbo Lab’s industrial research as a member of its Turbomachinery Research Consortium, a group comprising 40 industrial firms that jointly provide more than $500,000 of funding each year for industry-specific research. The signing will see further research collaborations with Keyyang, whose design and production initiatives in turbochargers for the automotive industry have yielded significant advancements over traditional turbomachinery since the company’s founding in 1994.

“These novel configurations offer improved thermal efficiency, rotordynamic stability and environmental advantages that will make a substantial difference in the passenger vehicle market,” said Dr. Luis San Andrés, professor and holder of the Mast-Childs Chair in Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University and Turbo Lab researcher.

Beginning fall 2015, Keyyang will send its engineers to pursue advanced graduate studies in turbomachinery at Texas A&M. They will learn under Turbo Lab faculty, whose expertise surrounds education and research in both performance and reliability of high performance machinery. Research projects undertaken in the turbomachinery lab, a state-of-the-art, 35,000 square foot facility, will involve empirical validation of theoretical and computational developments.

This research and exchange agreement comes at a time when the Turbo Lab is making larger forays into Asia. In February 2016, the Turbo Lab will hold the inaugural Asia Turbomachinery and Pump Symposium (ATPS) in Singapore. ATPS is the sibling of the longstanding Turbomachinery and Pump Symposia in Houston, whose attendance last year exceeded 6,200 registrants and 340 exhibiting companies.

“This year, we [TEES] are celebrating 100 years of service to the state of Texas and beyond. It is very fitting that we are formalizing an international relationship such as this, during our centennial celebration. I believe it signifies our commitment to collaboration and advancing the development of technology in the area of high speed turbomachinery,” said Georghiades.