KZN students showcase their creativity

Final year mechanical engineering students from UKZN displayed their projects at an open day.

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Durban - Final-year mechanical engineering students from the University of KwaZulu-Natal made a splash when they displayed their projects at an open day, on Tuesday.

Projects on display included a pumped storage power plant.

Water is pumped up to a 500 litre tank which is then released, flowing through a turbine to generate electricity, which is stored in a battery for later use.

Rishaad Soomar, 22, one of four students who built the plant, which stands about 3m high, said: “Building it was a bit challenging.”

“The biggest lesson was the practical aspect. Theory can only take you so far,” the Berea resident said.

The other big lesson for the fourth-year student was learning to work in a group.

He said this would be valuable experience when he joins the workplace.

Another project on display was a “Technology Pedal Bus”.

Nkanyiso Makhaula, 21, a member of the team that built the bus, said it can move using battery or pedal power, or both.

Its top speed is limited to 20km/h for safety reasons.

“A person can have a beer while driving it,” Makhaula said. It was envisaged the bus would be used for recreation, cruising along the beachfront promenade, for example.

He said it was known internationally as the “beer bus”, but the department was not keen on the name.

Makhaula, who lives in Chatsworth, said the best part had been when the project finally worked.

He said the initial budget had been R20 000, but it ended up costing R46 000.

He said it had taken three months to build the bus.

Head of the mechanical engineering department, Professor Glen Bright said the standard of the projects had been good. “This is an accumulation of four or five years of study,” he said.

It was also an opportunity for students to show their parents the work they had been doing.

Bright’s favourite student project was the recreational water jet pack.

He said these normally cost R1.5 million, but the students had been able to design and build one for R15 000.

Daily News

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