Introducing young students to the possibilities of pursuing engineering as a future career has always been a challenge. This is particularly true when the more traditional routes of the school curriculum and classroom teaching are followed, as they normally involve very little practical or hands-on experience.
The recent decline in students taking up engineering courses at colleges and universities means that new, alternative and innovative ways of stimulating interest in the next generation of young engineers is vital for the future of the industry as a whole.
One of the exciting ways that engineering companies can get involved is to support pioneering projects which provide real ‘hands-on’ experience and give young ‘would be’ engineers the opportunity to develop their practical engineering skills.
Huddersfield-based Woodcock & Wilson, one of the UK’s leading fan manufacturers, has always had an active programme of employing young apprentices, so when the opportunity arose to increase its commitment further by supporting a team of students build a wind tunnel for the F1 in Schools challenge, the company was only too pleased to help.
F1 in Schools is a unique technology challenge which tasks school children, aged 11 to 18, to use CAD/CAM software to design, analyse, manufacture, test and race miniature Formula One cars that are made from balsa wood and powered by CO2 cylinders.
The competition mainly tests the young students aerodynamic and design skills, with the aim of expanding their engineering knowledge and expertise.
F1 in Schools currently spans the globe, covering 29 countries from as far afield as South Korea, Australia and South Africa.
Woodcock & Wilson helped Team Momentus, from The Gryphon School in Dorset, to build a fully functional wind tunnel in which they tested their car designs by giving them a direct driven axial fan. This proved vital as the team not only became UK Champions, but also went on to win the Innovative Thinking Award at the recent World Championships in Malaysia for their wind tunnel design, beating 25 teams from 15 different countries to the prize.
The award was presented to the team which came up with the best innovative idea to be incorporated into the project and the judges were impressed by the overall design of the wind tunnel and also the fact that it could simulate race conditions.
Team Momentus’s approach was to research existing designs, looking at both open-circuit and closed-circuit wind tunnels. They also considered the aerodynamics and in particular methods of dealing with the challenges of boundary layers in the wind tunnel.
These challenges were overcome by the student engineers placing their miniature Formula One car on a raised platform in the tunnel with a sharp leading edge – effectively ‘slicing’ the air stream so the only boundary layer acting on the car was from the platform, which was kept to a minimum due to its short length.
According to Team Momentus however, the single most important aspect of the wind tunnel was the fan and motor assembly that ultimately generated the ‘wind’. The 2HP 450mm axial fan supplied by Woodcock & Wilson allowed the team to build a reasonably large wind tunnel capable of achieving wind speeds similar to those encountered in racing conditions (around 20 metres per second).
Team manager, Matt Bulger said: ‘Woodcock & Wilson’s axial fan was instrumental in Team Momentus being able to build a fully functional wind tunnel and therefore to win the Innovative Thinking Award at this year’s World Championship – we couldn’t have done it without them.’
Throughout every stage of the wind tunnel design and development, engineers at Woodcock & Wilson provided vital technical support and advice to Team Momentus. This proved critical in ultimately maintaining smooth air flow in the system and enabled them to investigate different car design features and how they affected the overall aerodynamics.
Woodcock & Wilson’s managing director Mark Jones said: ‘We are proud to be able to support a team of young design engineers. They are the future of the industry and stimulating interest at a young age can only be good news in the long term. We are a great supporter of young engineers and thrive by giving them the opportunity to develop their engineering skills. This is reflected by the fact that we employ apprentices and build their engineering knowledge with a hands-on approach, as well as supporting them with their training needs.’
The foresight and commitment demonstrated by Woodcock & Wilson will prove vital in ensuring a bright future for engineering and the next generation of young engineers.
Woodcock & Wilson Limited
Huddersfield
West Yorkshire
Can be contacted on
Tel: 01484 462777
Fax: 01484 462888
Email: service@fanmanufacturers.com
Web: www.fanmanufacturers.com
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