Engineering Newcomer 2024: the winners have been announced
On October 9, 2024, the winners of the first three places of the Engineering Newcomer were awarded at the Motek trade fair in Stuttgart. Since 2014, norelem, CADENAS, the Bundesarbeitskreis Fachschule für Technik and MDESIGN have been awarding prizes to the best design projects by pupils and students. Teams or individuals with project or final theses in the field of engineering and development were eligible to apply.
We would like to congratulate all winners and thank all participants for the numerous innovative submissions, which did not make the decision easy for the expert jury.
1st place: "TAC-Roll" the hose reel
First place went to Lukas Eiban, Thomas Friederich, Tom Kupfer and Rick Thienel from the Rudolf Diesel Technical College in Nuremberg, specializing in mechanical engineering technology.
The team took a traditional work process, rethought it and technologized it: The rolling up of fire hoses. Until now, the process has been carried out manually or with only minimal mechanical support, requiring a great deal of time and effort. With the "TAC-Roll", the students have succeeded in designing an automatic hose winding system that carefully rolls up fire hoses after use. The compact aluminum construction is light and easy to handle. The device ensures that the hose does not twist during winding and switches off automatically after the process. The "TAC-Roll" can be easily transported using a trolley. The system is operated using large push buttons and is also equipped with an emergency stop switch. The average roll-up time is 1.4 m/s.
2nd place: Design of an unwinding device for wire rope drums and wire rope rings
Second place went to Niklas Hanner, Enrico Jung and Timo Müller from the vocational college Platz der Republik für Technik und Medien in Mönchengladbach. The team dealt with an important safety issue: fall protection for manual work on roofs.
The handling of such systems is often complicated, especially when it comes to the design of the wire ropes. The students wanted to remedy this and develop an innovative solution to make the design of the wire ropes simpler and safer at the same time. With the support of their cooperation partner, the company Ivo Vogtman Montage- und Klettertechnik, the team drew up a list of requirements and developed a total of three designs using different materials and techniques, one of which was ultimately selected. The team designed a safe solution to facilitate the deployment of a wire rope for fall protection on various roof structures.
3rd place: Mobile lifting platform "FlexUP"
Third place went to Adrian Singer, Dominik Rothbucher and Tobias Mayr from the Technikerschule München. Their design is aimed at hobby mechanics or workshops with limited space.
The students worked on the development, design and manufacture of a mobile lift for private individuals to use when working on vehicles. The mobile lifting platform can be dismantled into individual components and can be used anywhere with the help of a box van. With a hydraulic pump and the appropriate cylinders, up to 2500 kg can be lifted to 1200 mm - completely without a power supply. This means that tires can also be changed at home without any problems.
Impressions from the award ceremony
