Students from The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (UNMC) were national champions of the 1st IEM-METD Student Design Award organised by the Mechanical Engineering Technical Division (METD) of The Institution of Engineers Malaysia (IEM).

The design competition, which carries a theme of “Construction Mechanisation for Productivity Improvement” was organised in conjunction with the CIDB-IEM Construction Fair 2016 held in Kuala Lumpur Conventional Centre (KLCC).

The competition is opened to students from Malaysian public and private universities. Out of the eight finalist teams shortlisted by the panel of judges from IEM to present their design concept in KLCC, there were three participating teams from The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (UNMC).

In the final round, the participating teams presented their design to the panel of judges drawn from renowned professional engineers in the industry. Teams from UNMC won the first, third and consolation prizes for the Best Design Award category.

The first prize was presented to Team Vicissitude, which consists of students from third year Mechanical Engineering and Civil Engineering, namely, Ng Zheng Yu, Lee Hong Yang, Chong Weng Fai and Ivan Lim Zhi Tao who bagged RM 2,500 cash and a plaque. The third prize was presented to team The Vibes from Mechanical Engineering which comprise of Nik Mohamad Rafiuddin Nik Rashid, Nur Shafieza Riwayat and Arnold Noah Mawaggali who received RM 1,000 cash reward each and a plaque. The team who won the consolation Prize is Team Magglas from Mechanical Engineering and Civil Engineering which comprise of Koh Jian Xiang, Poh Chen Keat, Terrence Ong Liong Sik and Kee Zheng Huai, they received certificates and a plaque.

Team Vicissitude’s idea is a new and innovative machinery called T-Rex, which is based upon the Archimedes Screw Pump Principle to accelerate excavation process significantly in a construction project. T-Rex can also eliminate difficulties faced by existing excavators, which will allow an exceptionally high material removal rate thus reducing the total number of vehicles inside the construction site. Team Vicissitude also won the Best Presentation Award.

Meanwhile, Team The Vibes proposed a shaking table with the ability to produce a wide range of vibrating frequency for construction applications e.g. concrete compactor, vibrating sieve and rock tumbler. The shaking table, albeit its portable size, has multi degree of freedom and it is heavy duty. Team Magglass proposed using electromagnets to eliminate human errors and provide automated correct positioning of large heavy glass panels during structural glazing of high rise buildings and eventually developed a new product – the Electromagnetic Aligned Glass Panel Lifting Equipment aka EAGLE.

"This is a proud achievement for these engineering students from UNMC in a national level design competition. This achievement should serve to inspire more students from UNMC to participate in such events in the future to gain more experience and exposure," said Dr Lim Chin Seong, the team supervisor and assistant professor at the Department of Mechanical, Materials and Manufacturing.