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Student engineers strike gold in a Canada-wide sustainability challenge

Two undergraduate teams dominated the podium with designs for a greener fuel nozzle and helicopter blade
September 30, 2015
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By Meagan Boisse


"The experience has opened many doors for us." From left: Concordia student engineers Nathaniel Kennedy-Noble, Idalma Fuentes, Basel Wehba and Ravi Natalia. "The experience has opened many doors for us." From left: Victorious Concordia student engineers Nathaniel Kennedy-Noble, Idalma Fuentes, Basel Wehba and Ravi Natalia.


The green designs of four engineering undergrads from Concordia outshone graduate and PhD efforts in last week's American Helicopter Society International's (AHS) “Spin Your Sustainability Idea” competition.

The multi-university challenge, which took place in Montreal at the international Sustainability 2015 conference, required students to come up with a project that would create a positive impact on the environment through the better design, creation and operation of helicopters, airplanes or their engines.

Fourth-year mechanical engineering students Ravi Natalia and Basel Wehba claimed first place, winning $600 for their proposal of a fuel nozzle that makes the combustion process cleaner.

“We came up with an innovative ultrasonic wave nozzle that would help reduce the size of fuel droplets,” explains Natalia. Decreasing the size of droplets helps diminish the pollutants released by the airplane, and uses less fuel.

Wehba and Natalia’s win wasn’t the only victory for Concordia. Industrial engineering students Idalma Fuentes and Nathaniel Kennedy-Noble took home third prize, even though they tackled a mechanical engineering problem, outside of their field of study.

Their project centred on incorporating greener materials into the fabrication of the honeycomb composite used to build helicopter rotor blades. Currently most honeycomb composites are made using oil-based materials, which Kennedy-Noble says are polluting to make and not easily recycled.

James Corrigan, administrative chair of Sustainability 2015, was impressed by the four winners.

“This is a very good reflection of the engineering team at Concordia, where people with an undergraduate background can compete and be successful even when they're up against teams that have graduate level talent,” he says.

This was the first time that AHS International, the world’s oldest and largest technical society dedicated to vertical flight technology, has held a conference on aviation sustainability. Corrigan says the topic is particularly relevant for those entering the industry.

Wehba and Natalia plan to use their prize money to subsidize the cost of creating a prototype of their nozzle, which will also be their final capstone project before they graduate.  As an additional reward for placing first, the two will receive technical advice and guidance from the AHS Internal Montréal-Ottawa chapter during the nozzle’s development.

“The experience has opened many doors for us,” says Ravi. The pair have made contact with Bell Helicopter and Pratt & Whitney, which are showing interest in their invention.

“We first have to prove it in the primary stage, but it’s possible this idea could blow up the aerospace industry.”
 

Find out about the award-winning Concordia engineer who is taking an "important step towards ensuring adequate fresh water for all."

 



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