Mechanical & Mechatronic Engineering
Welkom by Universiteit Stellenbosch

Prof Anton Basson

​​​​Professor and Head of the Division for Design and Mechatronics

Prof Anton Basson is currently the Chairman of the Department, as well as head of the Design and Mechatronics Division. In 1987 he was registered as a   Professional Engineer (no. 870466) with the Engineering Council of South Africa. On 30 October 1995 he was evaluated as a Y-category researcher by FRD, and since June 2000 the NRF evaluated him as a C(3)-category researcher.

He did his PhD on numerical simulation of steady three-dimensional flows in axial turbomachinery bladerows. His current fields of speciality are in mechanical design, design for manufacturing and design methodology. He is currently doing research in the areas of distributed design, cost estimation during design, plastic processing machine development and aids for the design of mechatronic machines.

Academic Qualifications

  • BEng (Mechanical), Stellenbosch, 1981
  • MEng (Mechanical), Stellenbosch, 1987
  • ​PhD, Penn State, 1992

Professional Experience

1 Jan 1996 to present: 

Stellenbosch University
Professor in Mechanical Engineering (Mechanical Design)

1 Apr 1993: 

Stellenbosch University, Dept Mechanical Engineering 
Associate Professor

1 Oct 1992 - 1993: 

TF Design cc
Co-founder and Partner

1 Jan 1992: 

BMI, University of Stellenbosch
Group Manager

1 May 1987 - 1992:

BMI, University of Stellenbosch
Engineer

1 Jan 1984 - 1987: 

NIAST, CSIR, Pretoria
Engineer

Jul 1982 to Dec 1983

Military Academy, Saldanha
Assistant Lecturer in Aeronautics

Fields of Research

  • Design for Manufacturing
  • Distributed Design
  • Plastics Processing Machine Development
  • Aids for Design of Mechatronic Machines

Fields of Interest

  • Mechanical and Mechatronic Design
  • Design for Manufacturing

Chapters in Books

1.

Schueller, A. and Basson, A.H. "Case Study on Low Cost Distributed Design Support for Small Teams", in "Methods and Tools for Co-operative and Integrated Design" edited by Tichkiewitch S. and Brissaud D., Kluwer Academic, 2004, pp. 425-436.

Journal Papers

1.

Basson, A.H., Von Backström, T.W. and Du Plessis, J.P. "Numerical Prediction of Two-Dimensional Axial Turbomachinery Cascade Flows", Aeronautical Meridiana, Vol. 10, 1992, pp 115-127.

2.

Basson, A.H., Kunz, R.F. and Lakshminarayana, B. "Grid Generation for Three-Dimensional Turbomachinery Geometries Including Tip Clearance", AIAA Journal of Propulsion and Power, Vol. 9, No. 1, 1993.

3.

Kunz, R.F., Lakshminarayana, B. and Basson, A.H. "Investigation of Tip Clearance Phenomena in an Axial Compressor Cascade Using Euler and Navier-Stokes Procedures", ASME Jnl. of Turbomachinery, Vol. 113, No.3, Jul. 1993, pp. 453-467.

4.

Basson, A.H. and Lakshminarayana, B. "An Artificial Dissipation Formulation for a Semi-Implicit, Pressure Based Solution Scheme for Viscous and Inviscid Flows", Int. Jnl. of Computational Fluid Dynamics, Vol. 2, 1994, pp. 253-282.

5.

Basson, A. and Lakshminarayana, B. "Numerical Simulation of Tip Clearance Effects in Turbomachinery", ASME Journal of Turbomachinery, Vol. 117, No. 3, Jul. 1995, pp. 348-359.

6.

Schuster, H.R. and Basson, A.H. "Aspects of SUNSAT Main Structure Design and Manufacturing", R&D Journal, SA Inst. Mech. Eng., Vol. 11, No. 2, 1995, pp. 21-28.

7.

Van der Westhuizen, K., Basson, A.H. and Schuster, H.R. "SUNSAT Baseplate Design, Finite Element Analysis and Manufacturing", R&D Journal, SA Inst. Mech. Eng., Vol. 11, No. 3, 1995, pp. 51-60.

8.

Maree, W.G. and Basson, A.H. "Design for Fabrication Early Cost Estimation for Small Production Volume", CIRP Proceedings - Manufacturing Systems, Vol. 26, No. 2, 1997, pp. 95-100.

9.

Schreve, K., Schuster, H. and Basson, A.H. "Manufacturing Cost Estimation during Design of Fabricated Parts", Journal of Engineering Manufacture, Proc. IMechE Part B, Vol. 213, No B7, 1999, pp.731-735.

10.

Goussard, C.L. and Basson, A.H., "Semi-automatic extraction of primitive geometric entities from unstructured point clouds", Journal of Engineering Manufacture, Proc. IMechE Part B, Vol. 217, No B10, 2003, pp.1491-1495.

11.

Schreve, K. and Basson, A.H. "Small Volume Fabrication Cost Estimation Models for Embodiment Design", R&D Journal, Vol. 20, No. 1, 2004, pp. 9-15.

12.

Schreve, K. and Basson, A.H. "Edge detection in reverse engineering using a scanning approach. Part 1: scanning algorithm", International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, published online at http://www.springerlink.com/index/10.1007/s00170-004-2071-1, Dec 2004.

13.

Schreve, K. and Basson, A.H. "Edge detection in reverse engineering using a scanning approach. Part 2: testing, including design of experiments ", accepted for publication in International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, published online at http://www.springerlink.com/index/10.1007/s00170-004-2082-y, Jan 2005.

14.

Scheffer , C. and Basson, A.H. "A simulation model to improve pneumatic intensifier performance and reliability", Journal of the SA Inst of Mining and Metallurgy, accepted for publication, March 2005.

15.

Coetzee, C.J., Basson, A.H. and Vermeer, P.A. "Discrete and Continuum Modelling of Silo Discharge", R&D Journal, SA Inst. Mech. Eng., Vol. 22, No. 2, 2006, pp26-38.

16.

Schreve, K., Goussard, C.L., Basson, A.H. and Dimitrov, D. "Interactive Feature Modeling for Reverse Engineering", Journal of Computing and Information Science in Engineering, Vol. 6, No. 4, 2006, pp. 422-424.

17.

Coetzee, C.J., Vermeer, P.A. and Basson, A.H. "The Modelling of Anchors Using the Particle-in-Cell Method", submitted to International Journal for Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics.

18.

Coetzee, C.J., Basson, A.H. and Vermeer, P.A. "Discrete and Continuum Modelling of a Flat Blade Cutting through a Granular Medium", submitted to Computational Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering.

19.

COETZEE CJ, BASSON AH, VERMEER P. Discrete and continuum modelling of excavator bucket filling. Journal of Terramechanics 2007; 44(2) : 177-186.

20.

GOUSSARD CL, BASSON AH. Cavity-Pressure Estimation for a Piston-Moulding Life-Cycle Cost Model. Strojniski Vestnik-Journal of Mechanical Engineering 2007; 53(7-8) : 491-502.

21.

DE JONG CU, BASSON AH, SCHEFFER C. Predictive modelling of cervical disc implant wear. Journal of Biomechanics 2008; 41(15) : 3177-3183.

22.

BUSCH A, SCHEFFER C, BASSON AH. Development and testing of a prototype reflex measurement system employing artificial neural networks. Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine 2009; 94 : 15-25.

Hoffman, AJ and Basson, AH "IEC 61131-3-Based Holonic Control of a Reconfigurable Manufacturing Subsystem", International Journal of Computer Integrated                 Manufacturing, Vol 29(5), 2016, pp 520-534, DOI 10.1080/0951192X.2015.1067915.

 Kruger, K and Basson, AH "Erlang-based Control Implementation for a Holonic Manufacturing Cell", accepted for publication in International Journal of Computer                Integrated Manufacturing.

 Hoffman AJ, Basson AH. IEC 61131-3-based holonic control of a reconfigurable manufacturing subsystem. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF COMPUTER                              INTEGRATED MANUFACTURING 2016; 29(5):520-534.


Conference Proceedings

1.

Basson, A.H. "Short Life Turbine Design, Analysis and Manufacturing for Advanced RPV Engines", Proceedings of the 7th RPE Symposium, CSIR, Pretoria, April 1986.

2.

Basson, A.H. "Numerical Prediction of Two-Dimensional Axial Turbomachinery Cascade Flows", Proceedings of the First South African Aeronautical Engineering Conference, CSIR, Pretoria, May 1988.

3.

Basson, A.H., Kunz, R.F. and Lakshminarayana, B. "Grid Generation for Three-Dimensional Turbomachinery Geometries Including Tip Clearance", AIAA Paper 91-2360, 27th Joint Propulsion Conference, Sacramento, CA, 24-26 June 1991.

4.

Kunz, R.F., Lakshminarayana, B. and Basson, A.H. "Investigation of Tip Clearance Phenomena in an Axial Compressor Cascade Using Euler and Navier-Stokes Procedures", ASME paper 92-GT-299, 37th International Gas Turbine and Aeroengine Congress and Exposition, Cologne, Germany, 1992.

5.

Basson, A. and Lakshminarayana, B. "Numerical Simulation of Tip Clearance Effects in Turbomachinery", ASME paper 93-GT-316, ASME Turbo Expo, International Gas Turbine Institute, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, 1993.

6.

Basson, A.H. and Lakshminarayana, B. "Artificial Dissipation Terms for a Semi-Implicit, Pressure Based Solution Scheme", 3rd National CFD Symposium, Stellenbosch, 1993.

7.

Maree, W.G. and Basson, A.H. "Design for Fabrication Early Cost Estimation for Small Production Volume", Proceedings of the 28th CIRP International Seminar on Manufacturing Systems, RAU, Johannesburg, May 1996, pp76-82.

8.

Veldsman, G., Basson, A.H. and Van der Westhuizen, J. "Composite Mould Design and Cost Estimation for Resin Transfer Moulding", Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Composite Science and Technology, Durban, June 1996, pp. 571-576.

9.

Schuster, H.R. and Basson, A.H. "A Software 'Design Assistant' for Specification Development", Proceedings of the 22nd ASME Design Automation Conference, DETC, Irvine, California, August 1996.

10.

Basson, A.H. and Schuster, H.R. "A Procedure and Software Tool for Manufacturability Assessment during Embodiment Design", Proceedings of the CIRP STC Design Seminar on New Tools and Workflows for Product Development, Berlin, May 1998, pp. 37-48.

11.

Veldsman, G. and Basson, A.H. "The Role of Cost Estimation in Design for RTM", Proceedings of the 8th European Conference on Composite Materials, Naples, June 1998, pp. 479-486.

12.

Schreve, K., Schuster, H.R. and Basson, A.H. "Manufacturing Cost Estimation during Design of Fabricated Parts", Proceedings of the Engineering Design Conference '98 on Design Reuse, Brunel Univ., UK, 1998, pp. 437-444.

13.

Veldsman, G., Basson, A.H. "Cost Comparison of RTM Hand-Lay and Cast Tooling", 2nd International Conference on Composite Science and Technology, ICCST/2, Durban, SA, 1998, pp. 483-488.

14.

Basson, A.H and De Swardt, A.V. "Estimation of Tack-Welding and Welding Cost During Design of Heavy Earthmoving Equipment", Proceedings of the 1999 CIRP International Design Seminar, Enschede, Netherlands, 1999, pp. 299-308.

15.

Veldsman, G. and Basson, A.H. "Design for RTM Using Manufacturing Cost Estimation Models", Proceedings of the 1999 CIRP International Design Seminar, Enschede, Netherlands, 1999, pp. 321-330.

16.

Schreve, K. and Basson, A.H. "Edge Detection in Reverse Engineering using a Virtual CMM", Paper DETC'00/DAC-14540, Proceedings of the 26th ASME Design Automation Conference, Baltimore, September 2000, published on CD Rom.

17.

Groenewald, A., Basson, A.H. and Dobson, R.T. "Theoretical Modelling and Numerical Simulation of Two-phased Closed Thermosyphon considering Splashing and Geysering", Proceedings of the 6th Int. Heat Pipe Symposium, Chiang Mai, Thailand, 5-9 November 2000.

18.

Goussard, C.L. and Basson, A.H. "Semi-automatic Extraction of Primitive Geometric Entities from Point Clouds", Proceedings of the 2001 CIRP Int. Design Seminar, Stockholm, Sweden, June 2001, pp. 359-364.

19.

Liu, Y. and Basson, A.H. "Interfacing CAD and Manufacturing Cost Estimation Software using COM/OLE", Proceedings of the 2001 CIRP Int. Design Seminar, Stockholm, Sweden, June 2001, pp. 289-294.

20.

Schueller, A and Basson, A.H. "Case Study on Synchronous and Asynchronous Collaboration in Distributed Conceptual Design", Proceedings of the 2001 CIRP Int. Design Seminar, Stockholm, Sweden, June 2001, pp. 435-440.

21.

Schueller, A and Basson, A.H. "A Framework for Distributed Conceptual Design", Design Management - Process and Information Issues, Proceedings of the 13th Int. Conference on Engineering Design ICED 01, Professional Engineering Pub. for IMechE, Glasgow, August 2001, pp. 385-391.

22.

Schueller, A. and Basson, A.H. "Case Study on Low Cost Distributed Design Support for Small Teams", Proceedings of the 2003 Int CIRP Design Seminar, Grenoble, France, May 2003.

23.

Liu, Y. and Basson, A.H. "Case Study in Using COM (OLE) to Link CAD and Manufacturing Cost Estimation Software", Proceedings of the International Conference on Competitive Manufacturing COMA 04, Stellenbosch, February 2004, pp. 169-174.

24.

Basson, A.H., Bonnema, G.M. and Liu, Y. "A Flexible Electro-Mechanical Design Information System", Proceedings of the Fifth International Symposium on Tools and Methods of Competitive Engineering TMCE 2004, Lausanne, Switzerland, April 2004, pp. 879-890.

25.

Dymond, J.A.D. and Basson, A.H. "A Computational Model for Mould Filling in Lomolding and Injection Moulding", Proceedings of the 5th SA Conf. in Computational and Applied Mechanics, SACAM06, Cape Town, January 16-18, 2006.

26.

Goussard, C.L. and Basson, A.H., " Cavity Pressure Estimation for a Piston Moulding Life Cycle Model", Proceedings of the 6th International Symposium on Tools and Methods of Competitive Engineering, TMCE 2006, Ljubljana, Slovenia, April 18–22, 2006, pp 767-774.

27.

Goussard, C.L. and Basson, A.H., "Parametric Design Model for the Optimisation of a Piston Moulding Machine", Proceedings of the 2006 CIRP Design Seminar, Kananaskis, Canada (786_10147.pdf on CD Rom).

28.

DE JONG CU, BASSON AH, SCHEFFER C. Dynamic simulation of vervical spine following single-level cervical disc replacement. 29th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology (EMBS) 2007, Centre de Congress, Lyon, France, The Printing House 2007: 4289-4292.

29.

GOUSSARD CL, BASSON AH. Concept evaluation and layout design of a piston moulding machine. 16th International Conference on Engineering Design - ICED'07, La Villette Conference Centre, Paris, France, ICED'07 2007: 1-12.

30.

LIU Y, BASSON AH. An ontology based approach to a flexible aid for mechanical conceptual design. 16th International Conference on Engineering Design - ICED'07, La Villette Conference Centre, Paris, France, ICED'07 2007: 1-12.

31.

SCHREVE K, BASSON AH. Edge Detection and draft angles in feature based reverse engineering. COMA'07, Konservatorium, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa, US Drukkery 2007: 1-6.

32.

DU PREEZ ND, BASSON AH, NIEBERDING FHM, LUTTERS D. Structuring the development process according to the project context: Two case studies. PICMET 2008, Cape Town, South Africa, 2008: 1189-1205.

33.

BASSON AH, SEQUEIRA MA. Case Study of a Fixture-Based Reconfigurable Assembly System. IEEE International Symposium on Assembly Manufacturing, Suwon, Suwon, Korea, IEEE 2009: 387-392.

34.

EGBUNA CC, BASSON AH. Electric Actuator Selection Design Aid for Low Cost Automation. ICED 09 The 17th International Conference on Engineering Design, Stanford, USA, The Design Society 2009: 43-54.

35.

DIMITROV D, DU PREEZ ND, BASSON AH, VAN DER MERWE A, FOURIE CJ, SCHREVE K, SCHEFFER C. Manufacturing Research at Stellenbosch During the First Decade and Beyond. COMA '10 International Conference on Competitive Manufacturing, Wallenberg Research Centre @ STIAS, Stellenbosch, South Africa, CIRP 2010: 7-14.

36.

DYMOND FSD, BASSON AH, KIM Y. Conceptual Design of a Fixtureless Reconfigurable Automated Assembly System. COMA '10 International Conference on Competitive Manufacturing, Wallenberg Research Centre @ STIAS, Stellenbosch, South Africa, CIRP 2010: 33-38.

37.

Okoloko, I., and Basson, A.H. "Consensus with Collision Avoidance: An LMI Approach", Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Automation, Robotics and Applications (ICARA2011), Wellington, New Zealand, 6-8 December 2011, pp 84-89.

Mulibika, C and Basson, AH "Comparison of IEC 61499 and Agent Based Control for a Reconfigurable Manufacturing Subsystem", COMA'13, International                  Conference on Competitive Manufacturing, Stellenbosch, South Africa, February 2013, pp 283-288.

Kruger, K and Basson, AH "Multi-Agent Systems vs IEC 61499 for Holonic Resource Control in Reconfigurable Systems", Forty Sixth CIRP Conference on                       Manufacturing Systems, Sesimbra, Portugal, Procedia CIRP, Vol. 7, 2013, pp 503–508.
Graefe, R and Basson, AH "Control of Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems using Object-Oriented Programming", Proceedings of the 5th International Conference          on Changeable, Agile, Reconfigurable and Virtual Production (CARV2013), Munich, Germany, October 2013, pp 231-236.
Hoffman, K, Basson, AH and Le Roux, A "Towards Alternatives for Agent Based Control in Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems", in Enabling Manufacturing         Competitiveness and Economic Sustainability, Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Changeable, Agile, Reconfigurable and Virtual Production (CARV  2013), Edited by M.F. Zeah; published by Springer Cham Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London, Munich, Germany, October 2013, pp 237-242.
 Kruger, K and Basson, AH "A Stepped Conveyor Singulator Design for Reconfigurable Assembly", Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Changeable,  Agile, Reconfigurable and Virtual Production (CARV2013), Munich, Germany, October 2013, pp 213-218.
Kruger, K and Basson, AH "Implementation of an Erlang-based Resource Holon for a Holonic Manufacturing Cell", Proceedings of the International Workshop on   Service Orientation in Holonic and Multi-Agent Manufacturing (SOHOMA'14), Nancy, France, November 2014, Studies in Computational Intelligence Vol. 594, pp 49- 58, 2015.
Masendeke, DM and Basson AH, "Communication in a LabVIEW Based Controller", COMA'16, International Conference on Competitive Manufacturing, Stellenbosch,         South Africa, January 2016, pp 267-272.​
BASSON AH. A comparison of teaching practices at some leading engineering faculties. 6th African Engineering Education Association 2016, Bloemfontein, South     Africa, Central University of Technology 2016: 137-142
BASSON AH. Challenges of engineering education in the 21st century: creating sustainable solutions. 6th African Engineering Education Association 2016,                 Bloemfontein, South Africa, Central University of Technology 2016: 137-142.


Research Publications

1.

Basson, A.H., Kruth, J-P., Vandenhoudt, G., Vandormael, P., and Danckaerts, T. "Reverse Engineering: A Comparison of Alternative Techniques" , Studiedag presentation, Wetenschaplijk en Technisch Centrum van de Metaalverwerkende Nijverheid (WTCM), Leuven, Belgium, May 1998.

2.

Basson, A.H. "Integrating Design for Manufacturing and Systems Design into Undergraduate Design Courses", Design Teaching Workshop, Univ. Witwatersrand, July 1998.

3.

Basson, AH. "Manufacturing Related Research: A Local View of Present and Future", Manufacturing, Materials and Mechanics Seminar, UCT, October 2000.

4.

Basson, AH, Treurnicht, NF, De Kock EA, and Schrueder, EA, "Automated proton compensator manufacturing using continuous cutting", Proton Therapy Co-Operative Group XXXIV, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, June 11-13, 2001.

5.

Basson, AH, Treurnicht, NF, "Application of a Discrete Approximation Approach to CNC Path Generation for the Manufacture of Proton Compensators for Cancer Treatment", 17th SA Inst for Indust Eng Conference, Stellenbosch, Sept 18-20, 2002.


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