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A team of A-Level Physics students from Ysgol Gyfun Gwyr School in Swansea has won the ‘Airbus Award for Best Innovative or Adaptive Design’ from The Engineering Education Scheme Wales (EESW) for developing an automatic detection and treatment system for cooling towers at Schaeffler UK’s manufacturing plant in South Wales.
Ysgol Gyfun Gwyr secondary school in Gowerton, Swansea, has continued its successful partnership with Schaeffler UK’s Llanelli plant by winning the ‘Airbus Award for Best Innovative or Adaptive Design’. This is the eighth year that Gwyr has won an EESW award working with Schaeffler UK. One of the EESW judges this year described the school’s project as “the best project I’ve seen in four years of judging.”
Schaeffler’s manufacturing plant in Llanelli produces high precision engine components for the automotive market. The plant acts as an EESW ‘link’ company and so each year devotes time and resources in advising students on their selected projects.
The EESW scheme operates through local companies such as Schaeffler, who set teams of Year 12 A-Level students project briefs relating to actual industrial problems. Over a period of six months, the students work together to solve these challenges by cooperating with engineers from the link company.
From October 2013 to March 2014, Schaeffler worked with a team of eight students: Nerys Griffith, Fynn Bishop-Guest, Iwan Cole, Tom Francis, Gareth Goss, Aled Rees, Katherine Rees and Christian Stobbs.
“This year we did things a little differently,” explains Derrick Lewis, Technical Manager at Schaeffler UK and contact for EESW projects. “We decided to give the students a one-day on-site training course that included project management tools and techniques, a problem-solving exercise, followed by a ‘MOVE’ [a continuous improvement programme] challenge, where the students helped to streamline workflows and eliminate waste in production areas at the plant.”
On completion of the training day, the students were invited back to the plant the following week, when they were presented with a selection of five possible projects to choose from. The team was asked to discuss which of these projects appealed to them and why. “Allowing students to choose the problem they wanted to solve gave them ownership of the project. This has worked very well with previous teams,” explains Lewis.
This year the team chose to tackle a problem involving automatic detection and treatment of bacteria in cooling towers at the plant. Current bacterial detection methods involve a technician using agar-coated dip slides and immersing these in water from the cooling towers. These slides are then incubated for 48 hours, after which the bacteria levels are checked. This method is time consuming and costly. “This was not the project we expected the team to choose due to its complexity,” says Lewis. “Having said that, students from Gwyr School do have a habit of choosing the most challenging projects.”
“Thanks to the time spent at the plant learning about the specific tools and techniques, we knew how to develop our ideas into our working prototype,” states team captain Nerys Griffith. “Derrick ensured that we spent time writing an accurate and concise statement of requirements using SMART [Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timely] objectives, which made it easier for me as team captain to monitor our progress throughout the project.”
The team’s solution involves using a sensor system that measures the turbidity and attenuation of a water sample. The sensors are connected to a Raspberry Pi computer, which compares light levels to known calibrated results. From the analysis completed, a determination is made regarding the bacteria level in the sample. If this indicates that bacteria are present at a higher level than the planned threshold, the water is then treated with biocide. A status panel shows technicians the status of the system, if the water is being treated, or if biocide levels become low. Failsafe alarms were written into the system so that if biocide treatment is unsuccessful an operator is alerted.
A working model was demonstrated to a selection of senior staff at Schaeffler UK before being presented at the EESW’s annual South Wales awards ceremony held at The Celtic Manor Resort, Newport, on 7th April 2014.
“We are extremely happy to win this award,” says Rhys Browning, Head of Physics at Ysgol Gyfun Gwyr School. “We’d like to thank Derrick Lewis and his team for their continued support. The valuable experience and skills learnt during the competition will aid the pupils in their chosen career pathways.”
‘Making Knexions’
Schaeffler UK recently supported a ‘Making Knexions’ challenge at Morriston Comprehensive School in Swansea. Held on 13th June 2014, the event was supported by Nigel Moore of Young Engineers, Liz James from BaseWales, and Paul Griffiths from the Technology Department at Schaeffler UK.
Class 7M pupils (11-12 year olds) were given the task of designing and testing a wind turbine constructed from paper card and the popular rod-and-connector building system, K’NEX®. As Paul Griffiths recalls: “Confused faces quickly turned into enthusiastic ones as the pupils got to grips with the task and wanted their team to produce the best result. The enthusiasm levels were so high that many didn’t want to leave the class for their morning break for fear of not having a working model.”
In the closing stage of the session, each team was judged on the output of their wind turbine, the cost of construction and how well they worked together as a team. According to Griffiths, form tutor Mr McNeil found the session, “very worthwhile” and has asked for a repeat event in the next academic year.
The aim of the event was to create a stronger link between real-world engineers and the local primary school, which says Griffiths “was certainly achieved, and hopefully we’ve enthused some pupils into becoming engineers in years to come.”
For more information, please call Schaeffler UK’s Marketing Department on 0121 313 5870. Alternatively, email info.uk@schaeffler.com.
| Product Model | Inside Diameter | Outside Diameter | Thickness |
| NACV48XLL NTN | 25.4 | 76 | 46 |
| NACV44XLL NTN | 19.1 | 70 | 40 |