Wed, 13 March, 2019
TWI Technology Centre Wales is currently supporting MEng Mechanical Engineering students at Swansea University on their final year group project. As an industry supervisor, TWI created a design challenge for the students, to improve the water flow and reduce turbulence through the squirter end-effectors used for automated ultrasonic inspection. Students of the academic year-long project are working on designing and optimising the end-effector using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, as well as building 3D models and prototypes of their designs. Recently, TWI hosted the students for two days to perform testing of the designs on the actual robotic inspection cell they are designed to be used on. Further testing is scheduled for April 2019 for the students to verify their designs.
Martyn Lindop, Senior Project Leader at TWI Technology Centre Wales, said,
“This is the second year we have worked with MEng students form Swansea University, and we have been very impressed with the work that they have produced. Through the projects we gain new ideas on how to improve our systems, and it gives the students opportunities to work on real world problems”
Dr Kiyohide Wada, Lead Academic Project Supervisor at Swansea University, said,
“Many thanks to TWI’s initiative to start the project. This industry-academia collaboration has provided an excellent platform for our students to experience the real world engineering challenges. They apply creative ideas, ingenuity and insights, backed by the theory and computational analysis to optimise the design, and its verification is done through on-site testing. Students have benefited hugely from this experience, and we wish to continue our collaboration with TWI in the future.”
Swansea University MEng Mechanical Engineering students at TWI
MEng Mechanical Engineering students at work at TWI Wales