Igor Mezin, in full Igor Sevast’yanovich Mezin, was a leading expert in transport gas generators and industrial process automation, Dr. Sci. (Eng.). He worked at the Institute of Automation and Remote Control (IARC), the USSR Academy of Sciences, from 1954 to 1980.
At the Institute, Mezin was first an employee of Laboratory No. 8 and then, in 1955, moved to Laboratory No. 10 (Automation of Continuous Industrial Processes). He carried out several R&D works on the automation of drying drums for the cement industry. Also, Mezin was engaged in the automation of oil fields.
At that time, he designed an original device for measuring the flow rate of oil wells.
In 1958, Mezin moved to Laboratory No. 2 (Automatic Actuators), where he headed a group of experts in measuring and dosing small fluid flows. Under his supervision, a high-precision milliliter dosing unit and a special electric drive system were developed. They were used to create an automatic regulating titrator vital for the chemical industry.
In 1966, Mezin became Head of Laboratory No. 2, and the Laboratory carried out R&D works on the fluidics technology. At that time, a group of the corresponding experts from Laboratory No. 11 moved to Laboratory No. 2 and continued developing fluidic elements and modules, particularly SMST. Later, SMST-2, the fluidic module system, was implemented in the industry.
Mezin led the development of turbulent fluidic elements and a universal fluidic complex of technical control means (UNIKUS). That complex was used to construct a control system for a multiposition pneumatic industrial robot (the machine-building plant in Kirov). The system automatically operated a horizontal forging machine and an electric heating unit.
Mezin initiated R&D works on portable means for measuring and visualizing pneumatic signals in pneumatic circuits and on the reliability of fluidic elements, modules, and systems. Thus, the effectiveness and reliability of the fluidic technology were validated.
He organically combined the brilliant abilities of a design engineer with the energy and professionalism of a talented researcher.
Mezin published the following brochure:
Metodika ispytaniya struinykh elementov na nadezhnost’ (A Method to Test the Reliability of Fluidic Elements), Moscow: Institute of Control Sciences, the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1970. — 23 p. (coauthor A.N. Shubin).
It is presented in the Institute’s database:
https://www.ipu.ru/d7ipu/books_library_grid?combine=Мезин
Many inventions by Mezin are available at:
https://elibrary.ru/patents.asp