Solar Training Centre at the NWU Engineering Faculty

Elec System (SUNFARMING)

Going of the grid!

Can a household use solar power to not only supply power to household equipment, but become mobile as well?

The answer is a big Yes. One can go off the grid in a household but what about a BIG university campus building?

Is it possible?

At the NWU ANYTHING is possible, and if you want to be innovative, you can.

Prof LJ Grobler, Dean of the Eng. Faculty

Recently the NWU opened a Solar Training centre in collaboration with a German company called Sunfarming. The goal is to train students to have knowledge to use in industry in the foreseeable future. The solar panels generate electricity and it is directly fed into the grid. There are no batteries and therefore the system is very efficient. When the solar panels can't generate enough power, the ESKOM supply will augment the shortfall. 

NWU is going GREEN with electric scooters and e-bikes. GO NWU !!

http://inw.org.za/download_files/Energy,%20Food%20and%20Advanced%20Manufacturing.pdf p.61

Inspiring Innovation at NWU

Publish with permission from iKISV Nov 13' Vol 1 no. 2 Werner vd Merwe 22754504@nwu.ac.za

Innovation at Universities

 written by Anrika Botha

South African Universities are also accelerating their innovative ideas in creating an environment where the students and lecturers have the “luxury” to entertain their ideas and have it come to fruition.

 

From their web site we read - “Maties move towards entrepreneurial future

Stellenbosch University (SU) is now the home of a brand-new business accelerator, known as LaunchLab, in the centre of its Stellenbosch campus. The LaunchLab, a proud initiative of Innovus, is the hub of all entrepreneurial activity on the SU campus. Besides being home to a number of SU spin-out companies, it also houses student start-up companies and external service provider companies, who will be on hand to provide mentoring and services to any tenants who require it. The aim of the LaunchLab is to boost entrepreneurship at the University by providing networking opportunities, mentoring and affordable rental rates in an entrepreneur-friendly environment”.

From John Tyczkowski, at alleywatch we learn: Reimagining Entrepreneurship at the Universities

"One of the latest trends at universities, especially given the on-going economic malaise in the U.S., has been to create centers for entrepreneurship, innovation and economic development. Examples include the University of Florida’s Innovation Square, the University of New Mexico’s Innovate ABQ and Arizona State’s SkySong.

The idea is basically to create a complex of buildings, close to both campus and downtown, where students can go and work on their ideas and meet with industry professionals and businesspeople in order to turn those ideas into products and services. Some plans also include entrepreneurship classes and course credit for entrepreneurial ventures.

Quite simply, if you want to drive local and state economic growth, then do it, but don’t combine it with an entrepreneurial incubator. Students’ own potentially lucrative ventures are sure to get lost in the shuffle of state and local interests, and the interests of long-established businesses".

Here at NWU we agree with John when he says: “An alternative to the live/work/play model is the incubator model, which in the university environment involves small-scale deployment of time and resources to ensure quality over quantity”.

There is, however, another approach that may yet prove its worth. Scott Belair of Urban Outfitters, thinks students should innovate for a semester. He brings together students and innovators with the goal of inventing new products and services and then making them marketable, in the true entrepreneurial spirit. “I envision a 24-hour campus with hundreds of students,” Belair said in an interview with the Allentown Morning Call. “A place where the ideas never stop coming. This is just the beginning. This is the future.”

Saying John Tyczkowski: “Live/work/play and incubator models are both established, and they both work, albeit with their own particular drawbacks. Perhaps it’s time to innovate the way we innovate, and to rethink how we introduce students to the entrepreneurial world”.

Urban Outfitters' Co-Founder Is Building A College Campus Without Classes, Tests, Or Homework

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/urban-outfitters-co-founder-is-building-a-college-campus-2013-10#ixzz2kWpqlN8Z

Now that’s what I call innovative.

http://www.innovus.co.za/pages/english/news-and-events/newsletter/innovus-e-news-21st-edition---september-2013.php

http://www.alleywatch.com/2013/11/reimagining-entrepreneurship-at-the-universities/

http://www.alleywatch.com/2013/11/reimagining-entrepreneurship-at-the-universities/

Sasol’s 2013 BAJA SAE - NWU Engineering success

Sasol’s annual BAJA SAE was held in October 2013 and university students across the country geared up towards showing their vehicles off at the Gerotek Testing facilities in Pretoria. 

BAJA SAE is an intercollegiate design competition run by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). University students are invited to design, build and race off-road vehicles that withstand the harshest elements of rough terrain. Running for 16 successful years, the competition has established itself as the premier technological education event on the tertiary institutions calendar, as a tool to promote and evaluate quality automotive engineering education in South Africa.

The BAJA vehicles are judged on the creation of design specifications and the ability to meet the specifications and comply to the rules of the competition. Computer aided drafting, analysis, testing and development, manufacturability, serviceability, system integration and how the vehicle works together as a whole, are all key factors in choosing the overall winner.

                                                             NWU Baja Bug 2013

NWU won the overall static trophy, the 3^rd place for design and the internal price for “best patentable” Baja Car. NWU came 5^th out of a total of 14 cars.

Congratulations ! We are proud of you all.

“At Sasol, we are committed to the development of science and technology. With a growing concern regarding the critical need for engineers in South Africa, we are constantly looking for new ways to encourage the youth to pursue a career in engineering,” says Dumisani Mbokane, Sponsorship Specialist at Sasol.

The Baja SAE event has been a central component of the Sasol sponsorship portfolio, with the company having supported the event continuously since its inception in South Africa in 1996.

http://www.sasol.com/media-centre/media-releases/ukzn-geared-sasol-s-2013-baja-sae

http://bajasa.esteq.co.za/scores.html

BAT MO -NWU’s solar car

Science & Environment,Oct 4 2012 9:49AM

 

NWU’s solar car success

Thabo Rantlha  

North West University (NWU) Potchefstroom Campus Engineering students became the toast of the province and South Africa in making history when their debut solar car won the Olympia Class with Japan’s Tokai University the overall winner in the Sasol Solar Challenge.

The group of eight students were part of 12 teams competing against each other including South Africa, Japan and India, in an event that sent competitors on an 11-day, 5200km journey. All the vehicles had to be solar powered and maintain an average 60km/h speed. They left Pretoria, and made their way to Cape Town driving back alongside the shore, then up to Pietermaritzburg to cross the finish line in Pretoria.The Japanese top the world in solar rankings. The NWU broke two national and international records for the longest distance travelled in one day using sun power and were awarded the gold medal and the Africa Spirit award for their safety record.The NWU’s so-called batmo, was powered by the amount of energy found in a radio controlled aeroplane engine, to reach an unbelievable speed of 110km/h.It only weighs 280kg and can give a few commercial vehicles a run for their money on the pull-away, moving from 0 to 100km/h in only seven seconds.The vehicle, according to the team leader and lecturer, Prof Albert Helberg, was built mainly from carbon fibre and resin. It is much lighter, but seven times stronger than steel.“It has a hefty price tag at R750000, but it was one of the cheapest manufactured vehicles in the competition. The Japanese spent more than $2m (R16.8) to manufacture their car. We are grateful to the Technology Innovation Agency who sponsored us with R330000.” “We implemented world class sailplane technology for the aerodynamics of the vehicle and knew that we had a winning recipe.“We had to develop a first-of-its-kind engine and gearbox. It prepares the market for a higher level of technology. I believe we will see the first commercial solar powered vehicles on our roads as early as 2017,” said Helberg.He said they started constructing the vehicle in June with a large flat surface housing the sun panels slightly thicker than a piece of paper, which store about 1.2kW of energy in a battery and drive the two hub engines.“The NWU’s project forms part of a first-year students’ project that will from next year be rolled out to a postgraduate project, with more innovative research.“The batmobile will now be used as a pilot project to inspire the development of a better car.“This will be used to compete in the World Solar Competition that takes place in Australia next year,” said NWU university communications officer, Johan van Zyl.

thabor@thenewage.co.za

original: http://www.thenewage.co.za/64483-1021-53-NWUs_solar_car_success
reproduced without changes

Innovation is thriving at NWU

Innovation could be the gateway towards a better future in South Africa. New and better products, improved services, and ground-breaking new methods could be the driver of wealth if harnessed and developed.  Innovation can also lead to new businesses and improved employment opportunities.

Engineering students and staff at the North-West University are collaborating with companies on a number of high-tech projects, developing new products and solving difficult problems. The aim is to make South African companies more competitive and profitable, by leveraging the expertise available at the university, and unlocking the potential of post-graduate students.

The Innovation Support Office in the faculty of Engineering at the Potchefstroom campus employs a team of dedicated project managers that assists companies in identifying suitable government funding support programmes; assist in writing project proposals and managing projects towards successful completion. The Innovation support office also helps companies in identifying expertise at universities, and can help in building networks of expertise in order to solve multidisciplinary industrial problems.

For example: Students from the North West University, the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and the University of Pretoria, are now part of a unique research team that is supporting development work  in collaboration with Denel Aviation. In the same way, groups of engineers, researchers and students are collaborating with companies as diverse as Necsa, MTech Industrial, and numerous small businesses.

André Hattingh from the Innovation Support Office at the Faculty of Engineering, NWU, says the Engineering Faculty received around R32 million from the government to support various industry initiated projects. The Technology and Human Resource for Industry Programme (THRIP) was specifically developed by the government to promote cooperation between universities and the industry. The purpose of this funding is to tackle projects of which research inputs can be beneficial to the different industries. Cooperation is therefore mutually beneficial for universities as well as for the company because our postgraduate students get research opportunities, and the company can implement the expertise gained from it.

One of the main benefits for a company to collaborate in state sponsored programmes such as THRIP is that it can develop a long-term strategic relationship with a university research group, leading to a continued output of ideas, educated students, and artefacts. Dedicated laboratories, with expensive test and measurement equipment can also be developed that can support both strategic directed research as well as blue sky research. The research done in a THRIP project usually leads to a prototype which could then be further developed by using one of the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) support programmes.

André Hattingh

The Innovation support office currently manages more than seventeen projects. More than eighty students from different universities are financially supported and more than twenty companies are involved. Most of these students are post-graduate students, working on industry linked projects. Students working on these projects acquire relevant skills because of the continual technology transfer between university and industry and are more ready for the place of work after graduating.

For more info contact André Hattingh at 018 299 4023, 0833778581 agh@mweb.co.za

2013/06/03 

See original news article at:
http://mg.co.za/article/2013-05-31-00-innovation-in-action-at-nwu
http://potchnews.nwu.ac.za/n/126

Innovation and Commercialization at NWU Engineering Faculty

Here at the Innovation Support Office (ISO) at the NWU Faculty of Engineering, we are excited to announce this new blog. NWU has been in the news regularly.  It is our intention to feature all our projects on this blog. Here you will be able to read about our successes and some news snippets. Please come back to read more!