Over 25 members went to the Isle of Wight
on May 17th 2007 for the AGM, Technical
presentations and visits were arranged by our
enterprising secretary David Carlton and committee member Andrew Mills.
We started the day’s activities with technical presentations
at the Hospitality Training Centre, Newport in a modern conference
suite
with
all visual aids. The morning started with
the following presentations:
Solar
Spirit” - being sponsored by SAMPE UK
was given by a
group of four students from Imperial College who
are embarking on a composites adventure to make a
solar powered
small boat to take part in a 220km race round Frisian Holland in July
2008. The team of undergraduates will
design, make and
test the solar powered boat, called "Solar Spirit", to compete in the
Frisian
Solar Challenge in the Netherlands,
the only solar powered boat race in Europe.
Made of glass fibre, the one man boat will be powered by 175W five
solar panels
and will be 6 metres in length. Currently the students have finished
the design
and are working on the manufacture. The boat will be powered by an
electric outboard
motor that will source its power from a combination of solar and
battery power
through the course of the challenge depending on the light conditions
and
racing strategy. The batteries will be charged using power from the
solar
panels but not necessarily during the racing phase of the day. The
solar panels
are capable of generating electricity in ambient conditions with more
energy
being generated when the sun is brightest.
The competition is open to
teams from institutes
of higher education, the business community
and members of the public. The race
is 220km, lasts six days and
runs through the
Frisian cities of the Netherlands,
via canals and lakes. Thomas Middleditch, team leader on the project,
says: "As a group we are keen to promote green technologies. We are
very
excited that we are the only UK
team entering. We are looking forward to representing Imperial, London and the UK at this important
international
event." The four students taking part are Thomas
Middleditch, Peter Huthwaite, Chris Burrows and Oliver Carson. The race
is held biennially, the first ever event
having taken place in July 2006. For more information about Solar
Spirit and
update on progress please visit the website www.solarspirit.co.uk |
|
The team of undergraduates, the
only UK
team to enter the international competition,
will design, make and test the solar powered boat.
|
GKN IoW
Osborne
Centre- presented by Giovani Marango, who gave an overview of their
composite activities. GKN Aerospace
-IoW
unit is devoted to composites
development and manufacture with the main customers being
Boeing and Airbus.
The
theme of the new centre is automated
manufacture.
Components
mentioned were Containment case for the GE
GEneX Engine, Engine Nacelles, Fan Inlet case for the JSF Engine, Wing
spars
for the Airbus A400M
. The following processes were
discussed – Prepreg tape
laying flat
followed by
hot drape forming, RFI
and
out of Autoclave processes, dry
cloth lay-up and RTM.
They are also involved in a number of
European and DTI funded
programmes: AVIATOR, EFFICOMP, ALCAS, and the Integrated Wing programme.
Work on Engine components is being undertaken within the VITAL
programme, which includes Composite Turbo Fan blades made by RTM
exploring
through thickness reinforcement such as Z pinning.
Condition
monitoring of
Solent
Composites- activities were presented
by Matthew Chalk, who gave an illuminating presentation on their
activities on
the IoW, which included – Wind Energy blade moulds, Fire and Blast
protection casings
and covers for the offshore oil and gas industry, Sub sea equipment,
marine
fire protection covers and moulds for McLaren cars. A speciality is a
wind energy Rotor Blade
Manufacturing System
RBMS. This system provides fully
integrated Smart moulds with heating systems and closure frames and
vacuum
process equipment. More details of Solent Composites can be
seen on: http://www.solentcomposites.com/
AGM- The morning
programme finished with our AGM ran
with style
by our Chairman Andrew Long, who outlined the European scene, followed
by David Carlton’s
report showing the chapter to be in a healthy state both
organisationally and
financially. Election of officers followed with the officials being
voted back
in with a full show of hands.
A first class buffet lunch was enjoyed by all
after which we
departed for site visits. During the excellent visits to
GKN and Solent
Composites, we
were shown many of the projects and technologies described in their
presentations. At 4.00 pm, we all departed on the Red
Funnel
ferries to
Southampton in bright sunshine admiring the Solent
and reflecting on another very enjoyable successful SAMPE event thanks
again to
David and both the Andrew’s.
This is what SAMPE is about – networking,
technology
sharing and team spirit.
