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Details of 2008 - 2009 Projects Team 1: School / College Denbigh High School Contact Teacher: Simon Clemmett Company: Qioptic Project Engineer: Lee Eccles, David Bell Student Names: Amy Coxon, Rachel Morris, Megan Ward, Sarah Hunter, Simon Hodgkinson, Eric Williams Jones Project Brief: Qioptic requested that we design a controller that would allow a soldier to operate the thermal imaging controls remotely. This is desirable as the operator may be wearing gloves in hostile environmental conditions. The controller must be useable by right or left handed operators and be silent in operation. Team 2: School / College Prestatyn High School. Contact Teacher: Tracy Vaughan, Peter Hughes. Company: re-npower renewables Project Engineer: John Baxendale Student Names: Karla Thomas, Hanne Sabine Sunde, Tom Ellerman, Daniel Hitchen, Joel Thomas. Project Brief: Llynau Diwaunedd supplies water for the Garnedd Power Station. To better manage the storage and release of water, a remotely operated release facility is required. The project is to determine the extent of the problem and devise a method of monitoring the lake level and remotely controlling the release of water. Team 3. School / College Alun School Contact Teacher: Graham Nutt Company: Corus Living Solutions. Project Engineer: James Bird. Student Names: James Fortune, Robert Hughes, Richard Mills, Harry Chadwick, Tomas Grundy, Matthew Connah. Project Brief: Corus Living Solutions use a product called “Spanspac” which is packed in 15 Kilo bags. Around 10-15% of the content is wasted being left in the bag. A substantial cost saving would be achieved if a framework was devised to successfully remove all of the material from the bag. Team 4. School / College Alun School. Contact Teacher: Dr Rob Nixon Company: Toyota Manufacturing UK Ltd. Project Engineer: Steve Blanchard. Student Names: Kerri Taw, Robert Paul Williams, Alex Burbeck, Tom Wyatt Jonathan Crane, Laurence Angel, Madalina Aghinitei Project Brief: Toyota Manufacturing UK Ltd, currently use a washing process to remove oil and swarf from the engines. It has been recognised that this is not effective. This current method results in the engine block holes being affected by residues, which effects cleanliness and quality of the engine. The task is to find a new and more effective way to remove debris from the engine block holes. Team 5. School / College Hawarden High School Contact Teacher: Mark Taylor, Osian Jones. Company: Corus Colors Project Engineer: Tony Clark Student Names: Peter Fahy, Ryan Spracklin, Adam Shuqair, Nathan McDonald, Liam Ellis, Alun Edwards, Tom Houghton Project Brief: A variety of safety valves are used on various equipment e.g. steam boilers. By their nature they have to be reliable in their operation and testing of relief valves is critical to ensure they operate at the correct maximum pressures. The current method of testing is old and may now be not suitable for testing all relief valves that require testing. The aim of the project is to identify those valves that require testing. The team will endeavour to design a test rig that can be built on site at Corus. Team 6. School / College Holywell High School Contact Teacher: Peter McCann, Barry McGauty. Company: Airbus Project Engineer: Shaun Thomas. Student Names: Samuel Roberts, Benjamin Davies, Daniel Wood, Katie Parry Project Brief: As part of the A350 project, a project brief has been proposed to develop and propose methods of construction of the wing, from concept phase into steady state production. This is to be achieved by evaluating traditional and horizontal wing assembly techniques, present proposals to enable Airbus UK move into steady state production. Also, build a prototype and illustrate the proposals. Team 7 School / College Holywell High School. Contact Teacher: Gareth Roberts. Company: Airbus Project Engineer: Mark Shaw. Student Names: Steven Ahl, Natalie Papper, Katie Eyton Project Brief: To design and manufacture a hand held tool which is capable of inserting and removing 1/4 and 5/16 dowels that are used in the manufacturing process of the A380 Airbus wing. The tool must be capable of being held by one person. Team 8. School / College Ysgol Syr Hugh Owen. Contact Teacher: Dr Hugh Williams. Company: First Hydro. Project Engineer: Adrian Jones. Student Names: Owain Emyr Huws, Llion Francis, Osian Hughes, Non Roberts, Brea Leung, Sion Owens Project Brief: Modify the existing model of Dinorwig Power Station to incorporate both audio and visual elements to the display. The model is located in the Electric Mountain Visitor Centre and should give visitors a clear insight to the power station tour they are about to embark on. Team 9. School / College Ysgol Syr Hugh Owen. Contact Teacher: Dr Hugh Williams Company: Magnox North Sites Project Engineer: Rich T Jones. Student Names: Daniel Hughes, Christopher Roberts, Sion Roberts, Osian Gwyn Williams, Matthew Wilkinson, Dylan Graham, Dewi Roberts Project Brief: To investigate the options and possibly to manufacture a prototype device that can detect small quantities of diesel oil residue and hence prove the concept. It is expected that the oil would appear as a bloom on sea water. The requirement is primarily to detect an abnormal situation and raise an alarm by the operation of no-Volt contacts. The device should be cheap to manufacture, reliable in operation, easily maintained sufficiently robust to withstand site installation. Also consideration be given to marketability of the diesel oil pollution monitoring device to other industries. Team 10. School / College Coleg Menai. Contact Teacher: Company: Magnox North Sites Project Engineer: Rich T Jones Student Names: David Davies, Christopher Hurley, Caron Jones, Steffan Rowlands, Connor Williams. Project Brief: The project involves looking at options for designing a mechanism, possibly on a portable mast, that could be used to remove and replace surveillance cameras for maintenance. To facilitate this there would also be a requirement for power and signal connections to be made remotely. Team 11. School / College Llandrindod High School Contact Teacher: Andrew Gentle, Tony Rivers. Company: Control Techniques. Project Engineer: Bryan Richmond, Simon Bates, Nick Cotton. Student Names: Hannah Jones, Michelle Nott, Joe Stephens, Rhidian Lewis, James Evans, Jo Stephens. Project Brief: Problems are being experienced with the alignment and insertion of a pin header that joins two electronic sub assemblies together. The brief is to research, design, manufacture and test a mechanism that would enable the correct alignment of three parts of the product without causing damage to any part of the product. This will enable the company to manufacture mor Solution Platform (SP) Drives with fewer failures. Team 12. School / College Llanidloes High School. Contact Teacher: Steve Thomas, Simon Ealey-Fitzgerald. Company: Aber Instruments. Project Engineer: Nick Taylor, Peter Jones Student Names: Adam Price, Ashley Davies, Christopher Siddons, Peter Spreull, Jonathan Evans, Vicky Upson. Project Brief: Research, design and manufacture the development of a reliable manufacturing method of an Annular Bio-mass Sensor. The final method is to be both efficient and economical. Team 13. School / College Newtown High School. Contact Teacher: Andrea Troth. Company: Makefast Engineering. Project Engineer: Bob Millard, Dave Carter, Mike Mills. Student Names: Katy Chandler, Amy Oxford, Louis Miskin, Jedd Renshaw, Ben Papworth, David Cade, Rachel Kinmond Project Brief: Sleek track car project. A new design for the lock unit reducing the number of components and assembly operations by removing riveting operations on the top surface. Team 14. School / College Penglais Comprehensive School. Contact Teacher: Steve Jones, Dave Ball. Company: e.ON (Rheidol) Project Engineer: Gareth Jones Student Names: Joseph Warren, William Boshoff, Merlin Drake, Ruth Ashford Sonakshi Khorana, Casper Donnison, Hefin Squires Project Brief: The Dinas Reservoir supplies water to the Rheidol Power station. If the water level becomes low enough air can enter the pipeline and serious structural damage would occur. This could happen if water level in the reservoir becomes too low. The power station does not have a system to automatically stop the water from flowing from the reservoir if this was to happen. Our task is to design a system to monitor the water levels in the reservoir and prevent the water levels from falling beyond a safe level by shutting down the generators and closing off the pipeline. Team 15 School / College: Caldicot Comprehensive School Contact teacher: Richard Scott Company: InBev UK Project Engineer: Paul Evans Student names: Rhiannon Beck, Glen Greenhalgh, Christopher Milliken, Gney Mehta, Daniel Wescott, Stephen Woodfield Project Brief: The brief was to develop a system to monitor the condition of bearings in a motor, using temperature and vibration monitoring. This would enable an assessment of the life span of the bearing, hence determining the point at which the bearing needs to be replaced. To do this, the team used a lathe to spin a shaft with three bearings spread out and monitored the surface temperature and vibrations over a period of two hours, recording the readings made every 15 minutes. By using the lathe to test the bearings, they monitored, over the course of two hours, the increase in temperature and vibrations the bearings gave off. These results were then compared to the results shown by the damaged bearings. The results will be recorded and then compared, to determine the point at which the bearings ideally need to be replaced to avoid down-time in the brewery. Team 16 School / College: Haberdashers’ Monmouth School for Girls Contact teacher: Anne Kavanagh Company: Alcatel-Lucent Telecom Ltd Project Engineer: S. Trott, J. Martin, D. Reynolds Student names: Emily Collier, Madeleine Daniels, Imogen Howarth, Meghan O’Neill, Catherine Shewell Project Brief: The team were asked to investigate the requirements of the client (Severn Area Rescue Association). They were then asked to investigate if commercial systems already exist and cost against development in-house. The next phase was to develop a method to track boats, vehicles and rescue personnel using satellite navigation and Global Positioning System Technology; transmit the position of the mobile beacon to the Control room using Marine VHF radio; display the position of beacons either overlaid on a PC map display or on a ‘Sat Nav’ display. Team 17 School / College: Llantarnam School Contact teacher: Brian Fisher Company: Capita Symonds Project Engineer: Alison Walker Student names: Georgia Cooke, Peter Grover, Hannah Little, Huw Thomas, James Waddington Project Brief: Design a park and ride railway station located in the Risca area. An unmanned station is required as part of a railway reopening scheme. An outline design should be produced having consideration for site constraints, vehicular and pedestrian access, car parking requirements, access between platforms, current design standards, passenger safety and environmental aspects. One of the main problems that arose was the positioning of the railway station platform. This caused such a problem as there were many regulations that had to be followed and also it was vital the positioning was correct as everything else would follow accordingly, including the car park location and design and also ramps and pedestrian walk ways. Team 18 School / College: Ysgol Gyfun Gwynllyw Contact teacher: Dr. Tony Vobe Company: BAE Systems Ltd (Glascoed) Project Engineer: Derek Knight Student names: Cerys Baldwin, Tomos Davies, James Exall, Gareth Marfell, Robert Morgan, Carrie Peploe, Morgan Scrivens, Tomos Touhig Project Brief: BAE Systems, Land systems, Munitions, Glascoed require a piece of equipment to be able to cut an accurate length of a product called BLADE that is used for demolition purposes. This length of BLADE will be used for proving purposes. Every component manufactured by BAE Systems, Land Systems, Munitions, Glascoed is required to be proofed. This is to ensure that it will function within its design specifications when required. The project is to produce a prototype piece of equipment for cutting 200mm length of BLADE. This piece of equipment must be able to accurately cut the material without squashing or damaging the material in any way while being cut. The team evaluated 3 possible options. Team 19 School / College: Bassaleg School Contact teacher: Tom Williams Company: Gyrus Medical Ltd Project Engineer: Mike Lazda Student names: Adam Abou-Zahr, Rishi Awatar, Christopher Carter, Peter Mack, David Noakes, Lewis Walden Project Brief: The project was to measure the life of an RF medical device used by Gyrus Medical. The students detected the audio tones emitted from the device to measure the exact amount of time the equipment. Possible solutions evaluated included an RF Frequency detector, Audio Tone detector, Foot Pedal Switch, Stopwatch, Oscilloscope. The solution that they selected was the Audio Tone detector. Team 20 School / College: Caerleon Comprehensive School Contact teacher: Richard Jackaman Company: Fairfield Mabey Ltd Project Engineer: Alex Wilson Student names: Ffion Dowd, James Dowdall, Chelsea Edwards, Jacob Harris, Matthew Price, Didan Obilande, Ryan Wiggam Project Brief: Design a Jig/Table to hold fabricates bracings whilst they are welded using a robotic welding system. There are 3 main considerations: - Design of stops and clamps to hold bracings.
- Calculations for productivity i.e. how many bracings will fit on the table at any one time.
- Calculate size and number of legs and supports for the table top.
The biggest problem was how to hold the bracings on the table. The students had 3 main ideas for how to do this. Their first idea was to use electromagnets; this would mean that clamps and packers would not be needed. The second idea was to use clamps to hold down the girders and the final idea was to use levers. Team 21 School / College: Rougemont School ‘1’ Contact teacher: Jane Goodwin Company: Airbus (UK) Ltd Project Engineer: Dr Geoff Platts Student names: Josh Aston, Stefano Carnevale, Austin Elwood, Sherman Fang, David Jenkins, Bert Jones, Sam Ringham, George Sweeney Project Brief: The students have been asked to manufacture an impact testing device designed to simulate the impact of debris on an aircraft wing – specifically the lower wing skin, constructed of various materials. Also, they have been asked to determine the energy required to inflict type 2 damage on the skin of the wing. Team 22 School / College: Rougemont School ‘2’ Contact teacher: Jane Goodwin Company: Contour Premium Aircraft Seating Project Engineer: Richard Hopcraft, Alison Oak Student names: Nico Bains, Hannah Bowman, Karimah Hassan, Jonathon Hughes, Emily Murphy, Jake Rosser, Sandhya Sreekumar Project Brief: The team were asked to investigate, develop and design a concept to ensure that passengers receive high levels of privacy within a first class suite. As the idea was meant to exist as a concept, the team were given no real budget but were asked to use their own judgement and research to decide the feasibility of the project in terms of cost, weight and engineering complexity. Using diagrams they had seen of first class seats, they designed a ‘pod’ to surround most of the passenger, seat and features while including an extendable wall that when completely closed can isolate the passenger from the rest of the cabin. At the same time, the wall of the ‘pod’ has on it panels made of a smart material that can turn opaque or transparent depending on the passengers preference – thus ensuring extra privacy. Team 23 School / College: St. Joseph’s RC High School Contact teacher: Stewart Holt Company: Solutia UK Ltd Project Engineer: Rhys Price Student names: Joseph Kelly, Elliott Hubbard, Patrick James, Sam Lewis, Donarto McNiven, Daniel Nowell, Grant Thompson Project Brief: To build a lid capable of preventing the escape of phosphates from the vibrating oversize screen and construct a method of cleaning or preventing the build up of phosphates on the inside of the bag filter chamber, during the drying process. - Oversize Screen - Electromagnet used to hold lid down and absorb vibration preventing the escape of the phosphates.
- Bag Filter Chamber - Spray nozzles used to remove phosphate build up, as the substance is soluble in water. Also, a grinder unit located at the base of the chamber will break apart any large lumps of phosphate and so prevent blockages in the pipe work beneath.
Team 24 School / College: St. Julian’s Comprehensive School Contact teacher: Leigh Price, Tim Davies Company: Arvin Meritor HVBS (UK) Ltd Project Engineer: Mathew Morris, Refaat Malki Student names: Rahul Basu, Daniel Crawford, James Gilbert, Joseph Powell, Thomas Spargo, Christopher Williams Project Brief: The majority of test work completed on truck brakes at the Arvin Meritor Cwmbran test facility use pads that have been machined to different work conditions to replicate pad wear throughout the life of the brake. It would be more realistic to real life conditions and also less labour intensive if there was a device that would replicate continuous pad wear. The objective of the project is to design and make an adjusting spacer device that replicates pad wear when testing commercial vehicle brakes. The device must adjust at a specified rate to replicate pad wear and it must occupy a specified space envelope to be placed on any of the static bench fixtures at the test facility. The device must be mobile and it cannot be permanently constrained to one fixture. Team 25 School / College: Cardiff High School Contact teacher: Anthony Toye Company: G.E. Aircraft Engines Ltd Project Engineer: Steve Sommers, Jonathan Davies Student names: Kathryn Atkinson, Rafy Avades, Owen Campbell-Moore, Andrew Davis, Mark Harwood, James Kirk, Abdullah Safdar Project Brief: The brief was to design a device to hold CFM engine gearbox bearings so that the axial and radial clearance could be measured under specified load conditions. The team designed and built a model to show the principle of their design. They evaluated different designs and manufacturing methods e.g. pyramid / conical mounting ideas. Team 26 School / College: Fitzalan High School ‘1’ Contact teacher: Kiren Sekhar Company: Laing O’Rourke Project Engineer: Iolo Evans Student names: Samina Ali, Jasmine Alsheekhhamid, Sahra Alsheekhhamid, Kishan Bhudia, Saaqib Fiaz, Rahid Khan, Hanief Manan Project Brief: To remotely detect cracks in underground drainage pipes. When pipes are laid in the ground they can be damage during the back filling process. Currently people are sent down to the pipe where pressure testing is carried out to assess the integrity of the pipe. The team propose an alternative method of detecting cracks which will avoid the need to send down personnel and avoid the potential risk of injury associated with the current detection process. Solutions evaluated included the remote detection of cracks using ultrasound, Infra-red thermal imaging, HD Video cameras, Beta/Gamma radiation tracers and a Gas Tracer. Team 27 School / College: Fitzalan High School ‘2’ Contact teacher: Keiron Sekhar Company: Perkin Elmer Project Engineer: Andrew Smith Student names: Henna Ahmed, Mohammad Ammar Herman Ahmed, Suji Begum, Jakir Hussain, Sana Junaid, Larry Khanna, Jenny Roap, Mohammed Wahidur Rohman Project Brief: The project was to increase the efficiency of a production line which assembles scientific analysis equipment. The team were also tasked to redesign the room in which the production line operated. This new design included full modernisation, with such features as lighting, colour, flooring, walling and personnel facilities. The solutions included conveyor belts to automate the transport system and the team also added a central computer to control the pull system. This was included to increase efficiency and save time within industry. Each part could be made at a workstation and passed along the conveyor belt onto the next stage and finally into test. Each workstation also had a personal touch screen monitor, so that workers could transmit information to one another. Team 28 School / College: Howell’s College, Llandaff Contact teacher: Rhian Chard Company: Cardiff Harbour Authority Project Engineer: Andy Bell, Roger Thorney Student names: Max Russell-Allison, Spencer Darby, Ruby Flynn, Hannah Gee, Priyantha Kulatilake, Dominic McLaughlin, Rob Owen, Crispin Warner Project Brief: Cardiff Harbour Authority is responsible for the removal of debris from the water in Cardiff Bay. Most of the debris is loaded into barge borne skips by specialist boats. The barges are then towed to the Harbour Authority’s quay where the full skips are lifted out by a pillar crane onto the quay-side and replaced by empty ones. The full skips are removed from the limited operating area of the crane and transported to landfill sites by contractors’ skip lorries. In order to maximise the use of the crane and improve the efficiency of the barge load/unload operation at peak operational times, the full skips need to be repositioned on the quay side prior to their collection. Cardiff Harbour Authority would like to investigate options for a safe and cost effective method for the management of the skips to allow their storage and removal by skip lorries. Team 29 School / College: Llanishen High School ‘1’ Contact teacher: Charles Edwards Company: Hyder Consulting (UK) Ltd Project Engineer: George Smith Student names: Rhys Evans, Katie Faillace, Daniel Harris, Henry Llewellyn, David Maddison, Luke Morrish-Thomas Project Brief: Governments in England and Wales are driving development of zero carbon buildings and have introduced targets for England - 2016 and Wales – 2011. The project brief is to design a zero carbon building, maximising the use of recycled materials, whilst keeping costs comparable to a typical building design. Team 30 School / College: Llanishen High School ‘2’ Contact teacher: James Birchall Company: Memory Lane Cakes Ltd Project Engineer: David Pearce Student names: Thomas Atkins, James Baker, Gareth Bevins, Thomas Granes, Samuel Howells, Cesar Chu Ortega, Matthew Smith Project Brief: The brief was to investigate noise pollution on site and to evaluate current noise reduction systems. Also, to explore available noise reduction methods and to conclude a ‘best method’ for reduction of noise. The team explored various methods of solving the noise pollution problem which included Noise Cancelling, Damping and insulation. Team 31 School / College: St David’s Catholic College ‘1’ Contact teacher: Peter Spear Company: Associated British Ports Project Engineer: Gareth Perry Student names: Nile Bridgeman, Jhon Ramriez, Nico Sancier, Ben Slocombe, Luke Thwaites, Okey Ukachukwu Project Brief: The brief was to evaluate possible equipment for launching a rope line from one side of a ship lock to the other (approx. 30 metres). This is required when there is an emergency breakdown to lock gate machinery and the lock gates need to be opened or closed by rope. Failure to do so would prevent a ship from entering or leaving the port. Existing methods involve a member of staff throwing a line by hand, which is unreliable and demands high levels of skill from the thrower. The requirements are for a device that can reliably and safely propel a rope across the lock in all weathers. It should perform consistently. It should be easy to operate by one person and require no external power source (in case of power failure). Ideally, the device will be cheap to manufacture so that several can be kept at each location. The power source could be springs, elastic, compressed gas etc. Pyrotechnic devices are to be avoided because of the danger in operation in a (wet) crowded work area. Team 32 School / College: St David’s Catholic College ‘2’ Contact teacher: Peter Spear Company: Huntleigh Healthcare Project Engineer: John Iles, Steve Kedward Student names: James Paolo Carlos, Tomasz Iwaniak, Monika Jakimowicz, Christian Reddington, Joseph Storer-Martin Project Brief: To simulate human arterial blood flow, so that an ultrasound Doppler can be used to measure the blood flow within the arm. This project is primarily acting as a quality assurance device for the ultrasound Dopplers produced by Huntleigh Healthcare, as results may not be consistent when employees test the Dopplers on themselves. Solutions evaluated included electronic pulsing method, rotary peristaltic pumps and linear peristaltic pumps. Team 33 School / College: Whitchurch High School Contact teacher: Lauren Dupres Company: Celsa Steel Project Engineer: Bob Fleck, Jonathan David Student names: Alice Burnett, Ya Sin Cheung, Patrick McDowell, Charlotte Pearce, Nathan Penketh Rebecca Thomas, Alun Welsh Project Brief: The students were asked to design a spreadsheet to calculate bearing temperatures and flow rates on the caster withdrawal straightener unit. (WSU) As the problem was in an inaccessible place, the engineers redesigned the brief slightly to make it possible to find solutions. The team decided to look into possible reasons why the bearing was failing and then come up with real solutions. They looked at bearing materials, water cooling systems, changes to material thicknesses, heat transfer through steel & water, water treatment chemicals & bearing change rotations. Team 34 School / College: Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Glantaf Contact teacher: Meirion Powell Company: BBC Wales Project Engineer: Dave Williams Student names: Arwel Jones, Joshua Lewis, Alun Meggy, Kevin Rossiter Project Brief: To create a battery charger that discharges and charges Li-ion, NimH and NiCad batteries. It must be able to charge 4 batteries and run off the mains and a car battery (12V). The students attended the workshop at Cardiff University where they evaluated a range of possible solutions. Team 35 School / College: Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Plasmawr Contact teacher: Richard White Company: ITV Wales Project Engineer: Mike Bryan Student names: Jake Hawkins, Robert Morgan, Manon Roberts, Gareth Rosser, Matthew Wilkinson Project Brief: ITV Wales have asked the students to assess and if possible improve the quality of recording in a voiceover booth. At the moment the room has an ‘unacceptable’ level of reverberations, which is affecting the quality of the recording. The team is expected ‘to design and implement a solution to bring the booth up to the required standard’. Since cost is an important issue, the end solution must be cost effective, with an adherence to a budget of £1,000. The room also has practical requirements, such as the need for eyesight between the booth and either one of the editing studios on either side of the booth. The team discovered that the principal ways of solving the problem were: i) Absorption. ii) Diffusion. iii) Phasing. iv) Changing of the equipment in the room. Team 36 School / College: Cwmcarn High School Contact teacher: A. Phillips Company: General Dynamics Ltd Project Engineer: Karl Pfister Student names: Joshua Bateman, Samuel Gibbons, George McIntyre, Timothy Reese, Luke Slade, Amy Stapleton, Carys Thomas, Francis Westcott-Thomas Project Brief: Design and implement a mobile camera unit that can travel the roads around the Newbridge office on preset routes. Solutions evaluated included creating a vehicle that can travel directed routes, and record images and film of it’s specified surroundings. The team propose to build a vehicle with all electronics attached and have it in working order – it will also have the computers linked to it, to supply the instructions. Team 37 School / College: Lewis School Pengam Contact teacher: Neil Watkins, B Meredith Company: Welsh Water / Laing O Rourke Project Engineer: Richard Codd Student names: Rhian Cliss, Beth Gerrish, Jon Piekarski, Huw Price, Alice Rees, Chris Rose, James Sherdel Project Brief: The aim of this project is to study a real life clean water system which includes a pumping station called Haugh Wood. The students aim will be to calculate the before and after pressure and flow rates through the system, then compare and contrast the results. This will be done both theoretically and experimentally. The aim will be to use Colebrook white computer software to model the real life system, analyse the results and calculate the increased capacity of the pumping station. The pump affinity laws will also be looked into and worked examples undertaken to establish the relationships between flow rate, head and power. Team 38 School / College: Ebbw Vale Comprehensive School Contact teacher: Helen Chenery Company: Axiom Manufacturing Services Project Engineer: Phil Jones, Nick Baker Student names: Tom Gillard, Grant Markham, Anthony Price, Tom Wade Project Brief: Design a holding device to hold varying numbers and sizes of circuit board whilst undergoing tests is a vibration and heat chamber. Solutions evaluated included the following: 1.“Jig” idea where pieces lock around circuit board. 2.“Bed of nails” idea where pins are used to lock around circuit board. 3.Frame with moveable x and y axis using clamps to secure circuit boards. Team 39 School / College: Bishop Hedley RC High School Contact teacher: Ian Griffiths Company: Design and Manufacture Ltd Project Engineer: Phil. Corke Student names: Charles Mendoza, Charlotte Mendoza, Luke Ryan, Daniel Scrivens, Thomas Watkins Project Brief: Security is an issue concerning many County Borough Councils at the moment. One solution is to place security gates in the streets behind houses to attempt to stop petty crime such as theft and vandalism. The brief was to design a way for council workers and emergency services to have easy access through the security doors without hindering their work or putting lives at risk. The design must be such that it does not affect the integrity of the door and make it prone to break in and vandalism. The team looked at using Infra Red sensors and receivers to open the door remotely. This would save time in the event of an emergency as the opening of the door would be instantaneous, ensuring that emergency services would not be hindered in their progress. Team 40 School / College: Cyfarthfa High School Contact teacher: Jonathan Davies Company: Mountway Project Engineer: Darren Young Student names: Rachael Astley, Lewys Edwards, Gavin Griffiths, Matthew Owen, Alex Rickwood Project Brief: The group have been set the engineering task of designing and manufacturing an assembly rig for an electric bathing chair lift for disabled / elderly people. The rig has to be cost effective and cut down on labour time whilst ensuring that the process is uncompleted enough for all employees to master immediately. The actuator that lifts the seat has to be assembled with a T connector which is bonded with a special adhesive; the actuator arm has to be clamped effectively without causing damage to the product. Once assembled the T connector is torque tested to 30N/m to ensure reliability. A range of solutions have been carefully analysed to arrive at the best possible solution. Initial ideas range from basic mechanical clamping to fully automated systems. The group have decided to utilise the airline that runs near the assembly area; the test rig encompasses pneumatic cylinders to clamp the actuator and specialist motors that cut out at the given torque measurement. Team 41 School / College: Aberdare Boys` / Aberdare Girls` Schools [combined] Contact teacher: James Thomas, David Anthony Howells. Company: National Grid LNG Project Engineer: Martin Bennett. Student names: David Bruton, David Emm, Thomas Halley, James Hunter, Leigh Jones, Kati Maull, Tim Ng Project Brief: The Team has a brief which involves the unblocking of a carbon dioxide “build up” within an “in feed” pipe to a National Grid L.P.G. storage tank at its Brecon facility. The temperature within the tank is minus 162 degrees centigrade, and the blockage location is inaccessible from close quarters. There is also an additional problem, as the tank cannot be emptied it must remain fully operational during the removal of the blockage. The nearest access point is 15 to 20 metres away from the blockage. This suggests that the solution will need some method of remote access to the surface of the blockage. Current thinking is that a type of vehicle will need to be designed and used. The vehicle will be operated through an umbilical feed from the access point. This in itself provides realistic scientific and engineering problems which need to be solved. Team 42 School / College: Mountain Ash Comprehensive School Contact teacher: Jon Soden Company: National Grid LNG Project Engineer: Thomas Snelling Student names: Warren Jones, Matthew Parsons, Jack Ross, Nathan Tingle Project Brief: Due to seemingly unique local weather conditions, National Grid has experienced a significant temperature loss in certain extended lengths of gas pipeline at its Dynevor site. The team has been challenged with devising a flexible system which could deflect cold rain and limit the temperature loss in affected areas. Team 43 School / College: Tonypandy Community College Contact teacher: Mark Roberts Company: M.F.C Survival Ltd Project Engineer: Chris Aylward, Des Sheppard Student names: Kailey Groves, Jodie Jeynes, Alex Newman, Stacey Parry, Ryan Paul, Ross Picton, Nicholas Taylor, Shayne Thomas Project Brief: Design a quick release valve for a survival shelter enabling a section to be removed without deflation of the shelter structure. The team attended the workshop at the University of Glamorgan where they assessed a number of possible solutions to the problem. Team 44 School / College: Treorchy Comprehensive School ‘1’ Contact teacher: Helen Francis Company: British Airways Avionic Engineering Project Engineer: Simon Arscott Student names: James Chau, Scott Davies, Geraint Edwards, Thomas Ellis, David Evans, Steffan Jones, Ricky Jones, Kyle Morgan, David Terrell Project Brief: British Airways Avionic Engineer (BAAE) repairs a wide range of products for British Airways (BA) and other airlines. BAAE is currently diversifying the business by adding new product ranges to its repair capability. One such product is the aircraft toilet system. Before work can commence on the product it needs to be thoroughly cleaned. The cleaning and testing processes consume a large amount of hot mains water, which both costs money and is also not good for the environment. The challenge is to submit a proposal for an environmentally sound solution to reduce the amount of mains water and electricity used by this process. The cost of implementing the scheme should be paid back within 2 years by the saving made. Team 45 School / College: Treorchy Comprehensive School ‘2’ Contact teacher: Helen Francis Company: AKG Project Engineer: Les Richards Student names: Richard Eveson, Callum Lewis, Sophie Lloyd, Nathan Millwater, Adam Port, Zoe Stone, Greg Waters, Greg Wilcox Project Brief: AKG manufacture and test large heat exchangers for motor vehicles and mechanical equipment. The company must ensure that each unit produced can withstand the large pressures that the heat exchangers are subjected to in use, and therefore regularly test units before they are shipped. Air is pumped through a submerged unit at high pressure while an operator watches for bubbles emerging from any potential cracks or flaws. The group’s challenge is to identify some common faults in the heat exchangers in order that the manufacturing process may be adapted to avoid or minimise such faults. The group will also be looking at proposals for a quicker and more effective method of testing the units. Team 46 School / College: Ysgol Gyfun Llanhari Contact teacher: Nerys Howells Company: L’Oreal Manufacturing (UK) Ltd Project Engineer: Scott Davies Student names: Josh Hulse, Adam Williams, Rhys Worgan Project Brief: The problem is there is no way of testing the quality of every crimp on tubes of shampoo. The company currently use a ‘jacomex’ to test the crimp on a random sample, but this can mean that they miss any crimp problems for long periods. If a faulty product is found during the ‘jacomex’ testing then the line stops work done since the last test has to be rechecked. The aim of this project is to devise a method of checking the quality of the crimp on every tube. It is important to know that there is not much space in the filling machines and the tubes fill at approximately 1 every second. Solutions evaluated include a beta emitter and receiver, pressure pads, sonar mapping, camera recognition, laser recognition Team 47 School / College: Cowbridge Comprehensive School Contact teacher: N. Hassan Company: Royal Air Force (St. Athan) Project Engineer: Sgt. Billy Jamieson Student names: Matt Credali, Will Elliott, .Tom Haines, Nick Jones, Ben Newham, Stephen Warfield, Fred White. Project Brief: A training aid is required to show dynamic and static imbalance in a wheel. The team evaluated different designs and decided upon two designs which are currently being made into prototypes. They will be tested and the best design will be evaluated, changes will be implemented and the final product will be made. Team 48 School / College: St Cyres School Contact teacher: Rhodri George Company: Dow Corning Project Engineer: David Davey Student names: Christopher Evered, Ceri Hill, Sufyan Iqbal, Alex Roan, Jack Williams Project Brief: The brief was to fill a 1000 litre IBC storage container with a high viscosity fluid. Because of the time it takes to fill the container this process needs to be semi-automated – i.e. the operator locates the container, presses a button and walks away. The students need to design an automatic method for detecting when the container is full to stop the container over filling. As part of the design process they will need to assess the risks to people and equipment, consider the legal regulations that may apply to the chemical industry. In their research they came up with two plausible solutions that would best suit the problem. The first was to measure the rate of flow of the liquid. The second solution was to weigh the IBC container as it fills. When the container reaches the maximum weight a command will be sent from the weighing scales to the valves telling them to close. Team 49 School / College: Stanwell School ‘1’ Contact teacher: Kevin Pepper Company: Zeon Chemicals Europe Limited Project Engineer: C. Prosser Student names: Joshua Evans, James Green, Sam Hodgson, Ellen Huish, Gabrielle Szary Project Brief: The brief was to identify and install dust/fume extraction equipment to allow Zeon plant operators to weigh out and split large quantities of raw materials into smaller quantities to use for manufacture. As part of the design process they needed to assess health and safety regulations as well as the impact of the extraction unit on the environment. Ideas considered include several different types of extraction such as an extraction bench. The students researched various forms of extraction and different ways of storage, as well as researching health and safety regulations such as ATEX and COSHH to make sure their ideas were acceptable. Team 50 School / College: Stanwell School ‘2’ Contact teacher: Nick Gifford Company: RWE npower (Aberthaw Power Station) Project Engineer: Damian Gilmartin, Richard Kadim Student names: Jack Bates, Kristian Birch-Hirst, Harry Hughes, Adam Muse, Jonathon Rafii Project Brief: The brief was to design a device that could be inserted or attached to the cooling water pipes in the power station to accurately measure the temperature and flow rate of the water before and after it has passed through the condenser within the station. This should help the power station to measure the turbine efficiency and understand the losses within the steam cycle, and ultimately improve the overall efficiency of the power station. The options for the device included a steel bar fitted across the pipe with temperature sensors recording the temperature, a rotating turbine to measure the flow rate, and a combination of the two in a ‘vortex’ shape to monitor both simultaneously. However, the best solutions were the non-intrusive devices that would not lead to alterations in the water pressure in the pipe. These primarily involved the use of sound waves. Team 51 School / College: Brynteg Comprehensive School Contact teacher: Adrian Davies Company: SAS International Project Engineer: Paul Smith Student names: Adrienne Barr, .Matthew Bush, Tom Crook, Michael Thould Project Brief: SAS International produces high quality ceiling tiles, through a range of various manufacturing techniques. During the painting process the tiles are carried through an automated paint plant supported by small disposable wire hooks. The wire hooks are produced by a semi automatic wire forming machine. The hooks are currently removed from the machine manually and placed by hand into a storage container by an SAS operative. The team were asked to investigate ways in which the process of collecting the hooks from the machine could be carried out more efficiently and effectively. The team came up with a number of proposed solutions for this problem and discussed them with their engineer at SAS International. Each idea had all its advantages and disadvantages discussed with the SAS Engineer and after the final solution was agreed a plan for implementing was put in motion. Team 52 School / College: Bryntirion Comprehensive School Contact teacher: Lee Allinson Company: Ford Motor Co. Ltd. (Bridgend) Project Engineer: Christian Rees Student names: Craig Campbell, Rhodri Ebenezer, Kyle Grisedale, Alexander Hof, Rhodri Hopes, Matthew Jenkins, Lloyd McVeigh, Aaron O’Connell Project Brief: The brief was to develop an offline system that will be able to re-etch engines with their unique identification numbers that have experienced faults whilst on the production line. The team were given the criteria that must be met and the system must be portable and be operated manually. The engine, when on the system, must be tilted slightly to ensure the stylus is perpendicular to the metal surface. Ford has to scrap perfectly working engines because they do not meet the legal requirements of having a unique ID code. This code holds information such as the factory of origin and the date and time that the engine was made. The team decided to place a turntable on a ‘trolley’ like system as this satisfies the criteria given, as it will be able to be tilted and it will be portable. Team 53 School / College: Cynffig Comprehensive School Contact teacher: Richard Daniel Company: Tarmac - South Cornelly Quarry Project Engineer: Huw Thomas Student names: Lauren Fyfe, Kevin Lawlor, Richard Phillips, Gavin Sibley, Abigail Stone, Evan Thomas Project Brief: The process of quarrying limestone at Tarmac’s Cornelly Quarry relies heavily upon the operation of the primary impact crusher. This 36 tonne rotating mass consumes large amounts of energy on start up, some of which is wasted during periods where stone is not being crushed. The team has been asked to investigate how to harness the wasted energy produced by the crusher to enable some of this energy to be re-used elsewhere in the quarrying operation. Team 54 School / College: Ogmore Comprehensive School Contact teacher: Richard Baron Company: Coppice Alupack Project Engineer: James Lamin Student names: Damien Barnard, James Gilmore, Chris Williams Project Brief: The team worked with Coppice Alupack to develop a control system for a pressure balance cylinder attached to a press tool. The cylinder provides a balancing force to assist the lifting of the tool. With no balance, excess energy is required to both lift and slow the descent of the tool. Currently a manual setup is required, an automated one would enable faster and more accurate settings in order to reduce energy consumption and wear in the tooling. Team 55 School / College: Porthcawl Comprehensive School Contact teacher: R Lawson Company: TVonics Project Engineer: Mike Jones, A Boon, M LaForges Student names: Jack Simlett, Tom Staley, Richard Vaughan, Ryan Williams Project Brief: Digital TV will soon replace analogue broadcast technology. When this happens, all television sets must be digitally compatible. Instead of replacing old analogue TVs, many are opting to use a digital set top box. The team were set the task of enabling set top boxes which use only SCART connections to be connected to TV sets which are not SCART compatible by designing an RF to SCART modulator. Team 56 School / College: St. Clare’s School Contact teacher: Fiona Neeson Company: Capita Glamorgan Consultancy Ltd Project Engineer: Dexter Matsel Student names: Alexandra Louise Dunlop, Rhodri Martin, Michael Stuttaford, Christian Wallis, Alex Whately Project Brief: The first priority was to carry out a feasibility study on the potential introduction of a crossing point to the Ogmore River. The students designed bridges for four specific locations along the Ogmore River, proposed by Bridgend County Borough Council as part of the “All Wales Coastal Path” scheme. This has the aim of improving access to the coast both for local communities and for visitors to Wales for local path improvements. The team assessed the types of bridges that would be suitable and tried to use the natural local environment to aid us as much as possible. With many problems, such as, flooding, the tide and the Site of Specific Scientific Interest, they needed to find the best solutions to these problems. They looked at the ecology, with an ecologist, and the possibility of building an “eco – bridge”. Team 57 School / College: Ysgol Pencoed School Contact teacher: Mark Avaient Company: Sony (Pencoed) Project Engineer: Kevin Edwards Student names: Joshua Baker, Joshua Britton, Benjamin Davies, Scott Morgan, Adam Skinley, Lee Young. Project Brief: Manufacture a solution for a Sony digital video camera control panel. The panel operates all camera functions and costs approximately £3000 a piece. Quality Control and Assurance are essential aspects of these expensive electrical projects. The control panels are at present tested with the human eye and faults happen because of the human intervention. The Sony device is made up of several push buttons that light up when activated and then turn back off when pressed again. The team were asked to design a solution that presses each button and checks that they have been pressed correctly and are not sticking and to test if the buttons are the correct colours and located in the correct places. Finally they need to look at how they can test whether the lights are activating. Team 58 School / College: Neath Port Talbot College ‘1’ Contact teacher: Keith Waite Company: Vector International Project Engineer: John Wilbraham Student names: Corey Bailey, Kyle Blackmore, Adam Hill, Luke Lewis, Tyler Lloyd, Steffan Nicholls, Monique Wassili Project Brief: Design, develop and assess the suitability of instrumentation that can be fixed to a boring machine, in place of the cutting tool, in order to roll a compressive stress layer into the surface of a low alloy steel ring and induce a small dimensional change. Team 59 School / College: Neath Port Talbot College ‘2’ Contact teacher: Keith Waite Company: Vector International Project Engineer: John Wilbraham Student names: Hayden Davies, Caile Di. Muzio, Daniel Dowling, Ryan Gibbons, Karl Jones, Josh Williams Project Brief: Design, develop and assess the suitability of instrumentation to roll a compressive stress layer and induce a small dimensional change in a low alloy steel ring, utilising a ball bearing to apply force. Team 60 School / College: Bishop Vaughan RC Comprehensive School Contact teacher: Andrew Smith Company: Western Power Distribution Project Engineer: Gary Davies, Andrew Roderick Student names: Kevin Barry-Dawkins, Nicky Cursio, Joshua Davies, Tabatha Ferreira, James Palmer, Scott Waddell Project Brief: The brief was to design and develop a realistic solution regarding Liquid Earthing Resistors (LERs). These devices maintain a constant resistance to limit fault current on the network during fault conditions i.e. 1000 amps feedback to transformer, but the resistance of the LER alters due to variable temperature changes from environmental factors. The team evaluated a range of possible solutions: · A circuit to stabilise temperature and resistance by using fan and heaters. · A gel substance to replace the distilled water and anti-freeze. · Using a vacuum to reduce convection. · Hemp bricks to keep stabilise temperatures. · Calibrate different temperature. Team 61 School / College: Gorseinon College ‘1’ Contact teacher: Peter Lucas Company: Hi-lex Cable System Company Ltd Project Engineer: Darren Probert Student names: Thomas Bartle, Daniel Jones, Benjamin Seaward, Ieuan Tallamy Project Brief: Hi-lex manufacture control cable systems and window regulators for various vehicle manufacturers at their factory in Port Talbot. The waste and scrap produced is stored in separate skips and containers to enable it to be recycled or re-used and this is done very successfully with steel, plastic bags, cardboard, wood etc. One of the waste streams however, (steels contaminated with plastic) is very difficult to recycle and is becoming more difficult to dispose of. Examples of this waste are plastic coated cable, mixed steel/plastic assemblies and rejected finished product which amounts to an average of approximately 6 tonnes per month. Steels and plastics are both valuable commodities that could be recycled if they were separated cost effectively but the variations in size, shape and material specifications make it very difficult to establish a suitable method of separation. Team 62 School / College: Gorseinon College ‘2’ Contact teacher: Peter Lucas Company: Hi-lex Cable System Company Ltd Project Engineer: Darren Probert Student names: Gavin Hopkins, Seaun Lombardo, Shazeena Rauf, Project Brief: Hi-lex Cable System Company Ltd manufactures control cables and window regulators for different vehicles. The brief was to find a way to recover the steel (and possibly the plastic) from the cables. The contaminated steel is a waste product produced by the company and they would like to reduce this waste. The waste is very hard to dispose of and the team had to consider the cost to implement, labour requirement, current technology and environmental impact. Hi-lex can recycle “clean” plastic and steel; they are already recycling other waste products they make such as steel, cardboard and plastic bags. Separating the plastic from the steel is not very easy because the cables have plastic inside and outside the steel. The task was to find a way to separate the steel from the plastic. Team 63 School / College: Gowerton School ‘1’ Contact teacher: Vicky Beynon Company: corus Strip Products (Port Talbot) Project Engineer: Tom Oates, Louis Ifesiokwu Student names: Rhys Axon, Rhian Bache, Daniel Drewson, Damian Fermandel, Mathew Hallett, James Harrison, Owain Hazell, Alice Matthews, Joe Osborn Project Brief: The BOS Plant at Corus Port Talbot converts molten pig iron into molten steel. This is done in a "converter" vessel and over 300 tonnes of molten metal is processed at a time. The conversion is achieved by means of an oxygen lance that blows oxygen onto the pig iron at high velocities to react with carbon in the molten metal and hence remove Carbon Monoxide from the product. The lance is cylindrical in design, water-cooled to protect it from the high-temperature (1600 degrees centigrade) molten metal, and approximately 20 metres long. A major issue with the lances is that they attract build-up of waste products on their outer casings. The waste products (a mixture of molten metal, slag and other materials) cling to the casing and over time build up to the point where the lance can no longer be used. The project is to come up with a practical means of removing the "skull" build-ups from the lances without removing them from the production process. Team 64 School / College: Gowerton School ‘2’ Contact teacher: Vicky Beynon Company: corus Strip Products (Port Talbot) Project Engineer: Tom Oates, Louis Ifesiokwu Student names: Jonathan Hughes, Joe Parkhouse, Daniel Ronan, James Thomas, Matthew Wedlake. Project Brief: The BOS Plant at Corus Port Talbot converts molten pig iron into molten steel. This is done in a "converter" vessel and over 300 tonnes of molten metal is processed at a time. The conversion is achieved by means of an oxygen lance that blows oxygen onto the pig iron at high velocities to react with carbon in the molten metal and hence remove Carbon Monoxide from the product. The lance is cylindrical in design, water-cooled to protect it from the high-temperature (1600 degrees centigrade) molten metal, and approximately 20 metres long. A major issue with the lances is that they attract build-up of waste products on their outer casings. The waste products (a mixture of molten metal, slag and other materials) cling to the casing and over time build up to the point where the lance can no longer be used. The project is to come up with a practical means of removing the "skull" build-ups from the lances without removing them from the production process. Team 65 School / College: Morriston Comprehensive School Contact teacher: Mark Divers Company: Solray (Comyn Ching) Limited Project Engineer: Alaistair Ching Student names: Russell Andrews, Alexander Graf von der Pahlen, Joshua Go, Marc Lewis, Kyle Jones Project Brief: The brief was to consider the current range of manufacturing components and extrusions and to propose a commercially acceptable modular design for a fixed installation, solar-energy collection unit. The students considered a number of options including flat panel and reflector panel radiant solar heat collectors; thermal siphon and pumped domestic hot water heating systems. Team 66 School / College: Olchfa Comprehensive School Contact teacher: Andrew Dunlop Company: Tyregenics Ltd Project Engineer: Cameron Mitchell Student names: Will Bennett, Will Charles, Gareth Davies, Sarah Edwards, Simeon Evans, Sophie Evans, Ceri Humphris, Alexander Swain Project Brief: Tyregenics break down used tyres and then sell on the recycled rubber in various forms. However, steel and fibres are also released during the process. The company has been able to separate the steel but the fibres remain mixed and cannot be sold on. The team were set the task of trying to find a use for these fibres, which, at the moment are sent to landfill sites. This could involve trying to separate the fibres, which are made up of nylon and rayon or perhaps finding a use for the fibres in their present form. Team 67 School / College: Swansea College ‘1’ Contact teacher: Stephen Williams Company: Trojan Electronics Project Engineer: Jason Morgan Student names: Ahmed Al-Sayyed, Henry Chukwuonye, Michael Dando, James Langstone, Nathan Lewis, Anthony Mitchell, Josh Park, Lee Thomas Project Brief: The brief was to design and develop a secure door entry system. Team 68 School / College: Swansea College ‘2’ Contact teacher: Stephen Williams Company: Trojan Electronics Project Engineer: Jason Morgan Student names: Jamie Baker, Jamie Bath, Darren Brophy, Ashley Butler, David Butler, James Dwyer. Project Brief: The brief was to design and develop a height notification system for forklift truck Team 69 School / College: Ysgol Gyfun Gwyr Contact teacher: David Wheeler Company: Schaeffler UK Ltd Project Engineer: Andrew John, Martin Phillips, Derrick Lewis Student names: Eleri Brown, Bethan Evans, Manon Harry, Gethin Morris, Elian Rhind, Jenny Sharpe, Daniel Thomas, Enya Williams Project Brief: The brief involved revolving tappets 180° whilst moving them from a grinding to finishing machine by using a work piece orientation turnaround. The company was experiencing problems with this set up - the work piece orientation turnarounds would only last around 5-6 weeks each because of the high volume of tappets which entered the turnarounds at high speeds. The brief was to find an alternative solution. Team 70 School / College: Amman Valley School Contact teacher: Richard Jones, Kevin Mackey Company: C R Clarke & Co (UK) Ltd Project Engineer: Maurice Clarke Student names: Jonathan Bevan, Ian Betton, Anthony Davies, Rhys Macmillan, Saralyn Thomas, Aled Williams Project Brief: The Company manufactures machines for polishing the edges of thermoplastic material. The diamond tools used for this purpose have to be changed regularly, and their relative positioning is critical to the process. The brief was to design a new system to measure the relative positions of the cutter heads relative to the hub during the re-setting process. Team 71 School / College: Dyffryn Taf School Contact teacher: Kevin Abel Company: Tinopolis Project Engineer: Kieran Lee Student names: Tom Bradbury, Phillip Gannon, Charlotte Lewis, Matthew Robinson, Tom Roch, Charlotte Slater, Wendy Slater, Tom White Project Brief: The problem the students were given was to produce a device that would quickly and efficiently locate a specific point on a patch field in a television studio. A patch field is a large grid of inputs and outputs, which control the routing of audio signals during a live broadcast. The product will minimize the amount of time spent with no sound in an emergency. The solution evaluated was a visual aid together with a keypad to type in the corresponding patch, which would help the engineer locate the input/output needed in as little time as possible. Team 72 School / College: St Michael’s School Contact teacher: C Stockton Company: National Health Service (Morriston Hospital) Project Engineer: J Dingley Student names: Viraj Ratnalikar, Sally Scourfield, Michael Dengfeng, Danial Malik Project Brief: Teicoplanin is an antibiotic manufactured and marketed by the pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventis under the trade name Targocid. It is distributed in the form of a fine yellow powder sealed in glass bottles, and is used throughout the National Health Service in the treatment of serious infections. The antibiotic is administered directly by injection either intravenously (through the vein) or intramuscularly (through muscle). To prepare each injection, pure water is mixed with the fine powder in the bottle and agitated in order to completely dissolve in solution. This solution is drawn into a syringe on request ready for injection. The problem lies when it comes to agitating, as shaking too vigorously can cause an unwanted chemical change producing a frothy foam which can not be injected. Team 73 School / College: Ysgol Tre-Gib Contact teacher: Steve Broomfield Company: C.R. Clarke & Co. (UK) Ltd Project Engineer: Emyr Evans Student names: Patrick Atkinson, Tim Carden, Rhys Evans, Shaun Gwizdak, Jack Pearson Project Brief: The company are designers and manufacturers of thermoforming equipment for education and industry, who carry out all fabrication in-house, starting from sheet metal. After the punching stage the shaped sheets are left with burred and sharp edges. These are currently smoothed manually with hand files and flap-wheels. The brief was to design a machine which would automatically carry out this function on pieces of varying size, shape, material and thickness. There must be no change in the dimensions of the piece. The team considered a rotating cutting head which is moved along one axis by a motor, and the piece moved along the other axis by rollers, in such a way that the cutter will smooth all parts of the outer edge. The motion will be controlled by pressure sensors and a simple logic processor which outputs to the motors. Team 74 School / College: Ysgol Gyfun Ddwyieithog Dyffryn Teifi Contact teacher: Aled Dafis Company: Protherics / BTG Plc Project Engineer: Richard Wray Student names: Jeremy Davies, Carwyn Evans, Ifan James, Rhodri James, Dafydd Jones, Cai Mainwaring, Osian Rees Project Brief: Protherics, part of BTG plc, closely monitors the discharge from its waste water treatment plant to ensure it remains within discharge consent limits. However, they do not monitor the discharge from each of their manufacturing facilities as the waste water enters the treatment plant via underground pipes. The task was to develop an automated sampling system that can be used to draw water from sub surface waste water drains and measure the PH. The system will be able to measure the PH every hour for 24 hours, and store and record the measured value. The system will be fully portable and possibly operate without the need of external power. At the end of the 24 hour period all the samples should be discharged and the sampling system self cleaning to reduce the risk of cross contamination. Team 75 School / College: Ysgol Gyfun Llanbedr Pont Steffan Contact teacher: R. Griffiths, D Hesketh Company: Dragon Machinery Project Engineer: David Wyatt Student names: Zak Boughtwood, Aled Davies, Edward Davis, Wayne Jones, Alex Taylor, Rhodri Thomas Project Brief: Dragon Machinery produce shredding and shaving machines. Some shaving machines are used to produce high quality wood shavings which can be used as bedding for racehorses. The brief was to develop the optimum cutting angle for a wood shaving machine. The Company wants to demonstrate to customers that their machines use the best cutting angle to produce the best quality shaving using minimum force. This will save money for the customer whilst producing the best wood-shaving to suite their needs. Team 76 School / College: Milford Haven Comprehensive School Contact teacher: Richard K James Company: Chevron, Pembroke Refinery Project Engineer: Dominic McDonough Student names: Corrine John, Danielle Corney, George Smithies, Alex Sainter, Matthew Parish, Stefan Llewellyn, Dusan Cosic. Project Brief: The team are further developing a number of renewable energy sources to be used within the jetty area of the Chevron Refinery at Pembroke. Wind, tidal, solar and wave energy sources are being examined, with the hope that these environmentally friendly power supplies will augment the refineries electricity supply. Team 77 School / College: Pembrokeshire College Contact teacher: Jason Pointer Company: Murco (Milford Haven Refinery) Project Engineer: Jonathan Crimmings, Brendan Mcloghlin Student names: Chris Boyett, Ollie D’alberti, Rhys Davies, Alex Pearce, Lewis Rees, Karl Smith, David Walker Project Brief: The brief was to design and produce a relay tester for the Murco refinery. Solutions evaluated included materials for the outer casing, materials used for the internal component plate, and measurements. Team 78 School / College: Tasker Milward Comprehensive School Contact teacher: D. Pascoe, K. Elcock Company: Firwood Homes Ltd & Manderwood Timber Engineering Ltd Project Engineer: Mike Edds, Chris Tansey Student names: Elin Davies, Mark Harris, Adam Higgs, Thomas Hoare, Gareth Lloyd, Laura Reed Project Brief: Firwood Homes Ltd wish to expand their business in the future to include closed panel timber frame construction, to complement their current range of open frame panel production of timber frame building solutions. The students are to design, test and evaluate a closed panel timber frame design utilising carbon neutral materials in order to comply with the recently published government targets due to come into effect in 2016. The team have evaluated a broad range of commercially available low carbon insulation materials including an innovative silica aerogel based solution. As a part of this investigation the team has looked at layering and combining insulation materials to achieve the best possible balance between thermal conductivity and economic viability. Team 79 School / College: Ysgol y Preseli Contact teacher: Marie Williams Company: Jones Login Coaches Project Engineer: Endaf Jones Student names: Lisa Bevan, Mathew Holmes, Carwyn James, Shane Lundberg, Georgina Stewart, Aled Tayler, Chris Thomas, Rhys Thomas, Dafydd Wright Project Brief: Touring coaches have strict weight limits. The team have been asked to find a way of measuring the weight of a coach, fully loaded with passengers and their luggage, to ensure the total weight is not above the legal limit. The team have looked at weight sensors on the entrance steps of the coach, at estimating the weight using a 3-D laser beam system and at axle sensors. They have had to investigate the legality of measuring an individual’s weight unbeknown to them and the problems involved with the sensitive nature of personal weight. The team have decided that axle sensors give the necessary accuracy and avoid all the above problems with weighing individuals. |