Long PhanCV

Mechatronics Expert · Ho Chi Minh City

Need the connection points to turn an idea into a real system?

That is when you need a cross-disciplinary expert. I integrate software, AI, automation and mechanics into one system, and I call that way of working "soft to hard".

I take the brief and do the PC software, PLC code, automation design, mechanical design, fabrication, assembly and commissioning myself.

IEEE Senior Member20+ years in industryRemote, and on site anywhere in VietnamEnglish · Vietnamese
[email protected]See projectsGitHub
Long Phan
4
systems in production use
2
Vietnamese patents, 2 pending
4
layers connected in one system, soft to hard
14
projects on this site, from prototype to production
Four layers I connect into one system, soft to hard
  • Software
    PC and web, Python, C#/.NET, databases, offline installers
  • AI & computer vision
    Line-scan cameras, OpenCV, YOLO, OCR
  • Automation & electrical
    Mitsubishi and Siemens PLCs, servos, SCADA, OPC UA, Modbus, Wonderware, IEC 62443, panels, sensors, battery packs, load cells
  • Mechanical
    SolidWorks, FEA, gearboxes, sheet metal

Connection points

Two kinds of connection points in the projects here

In 10 of the 14 projects below, the "problem solved" box describes a connection point.

Connections between layers

Connecting the new to existing equipment

  • Buried gate valves: the drive drops through the existing valve box and fits inside the 146 mm protective pipe, so the street is not dug up.
  • Auma GK25.2 gearboxes: a 180 Nm servo drive clamps to the pipe and turns the 2,000 Nm gearbox at its input, and the gearbox stays in place.
  • A water plant's legacy SCADA: AlertEye reads 375 tags over read-only OPC UA, with no changes to the control logic.
  • Water meters already in the ground: the reader slips over the water pipe and clamps onto the body of a Kent meter, without removing the meter or shutting off the water.

What I do

One expert across the whole machine

The projects here bring several disciplines together. That is where you would normally need several different contractors.

Retrofits

Add automation to expensive equipment and turn it into IoT devices, without replacing it.

Special-purpose machines

New machines with superior throughput, and patents for those improvements.

Industrial software and vision

An automatic truck weighbridge with camera vision, SCADA network monitoring, and a stereo AI model that rebuilds objects as CAD from images.

Selected work

Projects in service and in development

Open a project for photos, video and details. The four marks on each card show which layers that project connects.

Draymir on site, scanning an X-ray film3
In use since October 2025

Draymir: robotic X-ray film digitizer for NDT

A robot cell that takes radiographic films from a tray and scans each one at 24 µm per pixel, with no operator between films.

Layers in this project: Software, AI & computer vision, Automation & electrical, Mechanical
Denso SCARAMitsubishi QServoBasler line-scan
View project
3D model of the weighbridge with traffic lights, barriers and a truck on the deck3
In use since June 2026

Fully automatic truck weighbridge

A manually operated truck scale turned into a station that weighs, identifies and logs every truck without an attendant.

Layers in this project: Software, AI & computer vision, Automation & electrical
Modbus RTUOPC UAYOLOXPaddleOCR
View project
Inspection screen, pass and fail on each can
Deployed

Line-scan label inspection on a paint can line

A station on a paint can line that images each can through 360° and rejects wrinkled, misprinted or wrong labels.

Layers in this project: Software, AI & computer vision, Automation & electrical, Mechanical
Basler line-scanOpenCVMitsubishi MCSiemens S7
View project
Turntable car wash with a car on the turntable4
Patent VN 2-0003657 · open hardware

Turntable touchless car wash

The car turns on a turntable past four fixed spray columns: about twice the throughput of a standard in-bay wash.

Layers in this project: Software, AI & computer vision, Automation & electrical, Mechanical
Machine designPLCVision path planningOpen hardware
View project
Live network map built from the plant AutoCAD drawing
Live map of 117 devices on two sites

SCADA audit and live network map

A full audit of a water plant's SCADA, and a live map that shows the health of every network device on the plant's own drawing.

Layers in this project: Software, Automation & electrical
WonderwareSchneiderAllen-BradleySiemens
View project
Spoken alarm dashboard with live values from the plant SCADA
Running since September 2026

AlertEye: spoken alarms on a legacy SCADA

Alarms that operators cannot miss: live values from the plant SCADA on kiosk screens and phones, with each alarm spoken aloud in Vietnamese.

Layers in this project: Software, AI & computer vision, Automation & electrical
OPC UAAlarm engineNeural TTSKiosk
View project
Radiograph and the weld region found on it5
Open source, Apache 2.0

Weld ROI Finder: finding the weld region on radiographs

Software that finds the weld region on digitized radiographic films, before the defect detection step.

Layers in this project: Software, AI & computer vision
SAM 2.1RapidOCROpenCVFastAPI
View project
Motor drive on a buried gate valve, inside its protective pipe3
Five prototype generations · patent pending

Motor drive for buried water gate valves

A battery motor drive that drops through the existing valve box onto a buried gate valve, so the street is not dug up.

Layers in this project: Automation & electrical, Mechanical
SolidWorksFEAPlanetary gearboxLFP battery
View project
Servo drive on an Auma GK25.2 gearbox2
15 CNC parts ordered, December 2025

Clamp-on drive for Auma GK25.2 valve gearboxes

A servo drive that clamps to the pipe and turns an existing 2,000 Nm Auma gearbox at its input, so a water plant can motorise its valves without replacing the gearboxes.

Layers in this project: Automation & electrical, Mechanical
Torque sizingFEAServoSolidWorks
View project
Reader on a Kent water meter3
Kent design went to mould tooling · patent pending

Water meter reader that installs without removing the meter

A reader that fits onto a water meter already in the ground and upgrades it to a smart meter, without removing the meter or shutting off the water.

Layers in this project: Mechanical
Magnetic sensor3D scanningInjection mouldingIEC 60068
View project
Chain scanner for ultrasonic testing of small pipes3
Two machining batches, Aug and Sep 2024

Chain scanner for small-pipe ultrasonic testing

A redesigned chain scanner for ultrasonic testing of pipes OD 21.3–60.3 mm, with less joint play and an encoder module.

Layers in this project: Mechanical
SolidWorksMechanism designEncoderNDT
View project
Ball-screw lifting stand for phased-array UT equipment
Delivered

Lifting stand for phased-array UT equipment

A ball-screw lifting stand that holds 50 kg of phased-array ultrasonic equipment at working height.

Layers in this project: Mechanical
SolidWorksBall screwNDT
View project
Drill-powered tube push-puller2
Delivered

Drill-powered tube push-puller

A tool that feeds probe tubing using a cordless drill as its motor.

Layers in this project: Mechanical
SolidWorksPrototypeNDT
View project
Portable motor operator on a sluice gate stand
Design

Portable motor operator for sluice gates

A battery motor operator that fits onto Rodney Hunt sluice gate stands, so gates can be opened and closed without hand cranking.

Layers in this project: Mechanical
SolidWorksGear driveBattery
View project

Patents

Ideas that became patents and open designs

Professional membership

IEEE Senior Member

It requires at least ten years of professional practice, with significant performance over at least five of them.

View certificate
  • Patent
    Turntable touchless car wash system
    VN 2-0003657 · open hardware, CERN OHL-W v2 · GitHub
  • Patent
    Water cleaning module for conveyor touchless car wash
    VN 1-0051197 · with Le Nguyen Han
  • Pending
    Remote motor coupling for buried gate valves
    Utility solution application No. 2-2024-00774
  • Pending
    High torque-density electric motor for robot limbs
    Patent application pending
  • Open spec
    Universal communication method between vehicles and automated car washes
    CC-BY 4.0 · doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17051154
  • Open source
    Weld ROI Finder
    Finds the weld region on digitized radiographs with Segment Anything · Apache 2.0 · GitHub

Experience

Twenty years, from software to machines

I began my career in software at Kasati, then moved gradually into mechatronics, PLCs and industrial automation. It has been a rich experience that helps my understanding of physics become reality.

  1. The start

    Software Engineer, Kasati JSC (VNPT group)

    Built the first private internet firewall in Vietnam and telecom billing software for VNPT An Giang.

  2. 2003 – 2009

    Vice Director, VT Company Limited

    Ran a smart card factory; delivered ticketing systems (POS, access control, turnstiles) for Vinpearl Nha Trang and Ba Na Hills.

  3. 2012 – 2018

    Co-founder & CEO, Saigon Archive JSC

    Designed and delivered archive digitization/preservation systems for national and provincial archives in Vietnam.

  4. 2018 – present

    Co-founder & CTO, Spice Tune Company

    Personal R&D company: turntable car wash, vehicle-to-car-wash protocol, Weld ROI Finder, all released as open hardware or open source.

  5. 2022 – present

    R&D Contractor, R&P Electronics

    Motor drive for buried gate valves, clamp-on drive for Auma gearboxes, portable motor operator for Rodney Hunt sluice gates, water meter readers, truck weighbridge retrofit and its software.

  6. 2024 – 2025

    R&D Contractor, Alpha NDT

    Draymir film digitizing robot, chain scanner for small-pipe UT, PAUT lifting stand, tube push-puller.

  7. 2025 – present

    Independent Mechatronics & Automation Expert, Vietnam

    SCADA alarm and network-monitoring software and a SCADA audit for a water treatment plant; line-scan label inspection station for a paint factory.

Software and vision

  • Python (FastAPI, asyncio), C#/.NET, CUDA
  • OpenCV, YOLO, PaddleOCR, Segment Anything
  • Basler line-scan cameras, encoder triggering
  • PostgreSQL, Redis, Docker, Linux edge PCs

Automation and controls

  • Mitsubishi Q-series, GX Works2, QD77MS4 motion, MR-J4 servos
  • Siemens S7, Modbus RTU/TCP, RS-232/RS-485
  • OPC UA (KEPServerEX), Wonderware/AVEVA
  • Denso SCARA, load cells, weighing indicators

Mechanical

  • SolidWorks: parts, assemblies, sheet metal, drawings for machining
  • Static FEA, gearbox and drive sizing
  • CNC machining and fabrication in Vietnam

Contact

Start a project

Send a short description of your idea or equipment and what you want it to do. Photos, drawings or a tag list help. I reply with what is feasible, a rough budget and the first step.

Email meDownload CV

From idea to real system in four steps

  1. 1A paid feasibility study: I look at your idea, equipment, drawings or data.
  2. 2You get a system architecture, a parts list and a fixed quote before anything is built.
  3. 3Design and software work is remote. Parts are fabricated in Vietnam and shipped to you, with everything prepared so installation and commissioning can be supported remotely without trouble. Anywhere in Vietnam, I can also come on site.
  4. 4Handover includes CAD files, PLC and PC source code, an operator manual and an offline installer.