Undergraduate project on conceptual design of a small screw compressor

Year: 2009
Editor: Clarke, A, Ion, W, McMahon, C and Hogarth, P
Author: Machado, Laura; Gowree, Erwin Ricky; Ondoa, Georges; Hashi, Mohamed; Gaind, Roshan; Kovacevic, Ahmed
Section: NEW PEDAGOGY
Page(s): 281-286

Abstract

The European Global Product Realisation (EGPR) course is an undergraduate project designed to educate students for development of global products in distributed design teams and real life engineering situations. In order to prepare students from City University for such activity, a small project was set up between the UK based manufacturer of screw compressors and students from City University. The task is to carry out conceptual design of a small screw machine to be used as a compressor in refrigeration and natural gas compression as well as an expander in small ORC power generation systems. The design group consists of five undergraduate students in the final year of their study. The group was supported and advised by an academic. It was the first opportunity for them to follow a design procedure on the real industrial problem. The aim was to develop concepts and learn the process. The results lead to a novel idea of a modular design of screw machine which could achieve optimal performance while keeping both investment and running costs low. This paper written by the students describes the design methodology used in their self managed team and the experience they obtained from their first work for industry.

Keywords: Self navigated learning, design process, screw compressor