{"id":1953,"date":"2018-11-21T11:01:04","date_gmt":"2018-11-21T11:01:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/stem\/?p=1953"},"modified":"2018-11-21T11:03:38","modified_gmt":"2018-11-21T11:03:38","slug":"the-wonderings-of-an-engineering-student","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/stem\/2018\/11\/21\/the-wonderings-of-an-engineering-student\/","title":{"rendered":"The wonderings of an engineering student"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today we are featuring a guest post from Jun Wei Fan – a naval architecture student who tells us about his experience with the Newcastle University Marine Projects Society<\/strong>.<\/h4>\n

r<\/b>over<\/b>\u00a0(noun)\u00a0a person who spends their time wandering<\/p>\n

Towards the end of my first academic year, I found myself wondering \u2013 how do I make my time in university more fulfilling? It felt as though there was just something lacking from my life. Lost, I was. That was until I made an impromptu decision to run for President of the Newcastle University Marine Projects Society, succeeding and becoming Team Captain of the\u00a0Newcastle University\u00a0ROVers<\/b>. Perhaps it\u2019s no mere coincidence that I joined the\u00a0ROVers\u00a0to both start and stop roving \u2013 as in start building ROVs and stop wandering around aimlessly like a lost soul.<\/p>\n

At this point, the unacquainted might be\u00a0puzzled. What\u2019s a ROV? Who are the\u00a0ROVers? Well, simply put, the Newcastle University\u00a0ROVers\u00a0is a competitive team comprising members of the Newcastle University Marine Projects Society\u00a0coming together to build a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV).\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

We started off with our roots within the\u00a0Marine, Offshore and Subsea Technology group.\u00a0Initially, the competitions we partook in were very marine-centric and teams comprised of only Marine Technology students, but in the years since, we\u2019ve evolved\u00a0to take on bigger, more challenging projects. In line with the new integrated School of Engineering<\/strong>, and the Head of School\u2019s (Prof. Phil Taylor) encouragement\u00a0of interdisciplinary projects<\/strong>, the Marine Projects Society\u00a0now\u00a0cherishes the benefits\u00a0of working in multidisciplinary teams. This has allowed us to harness\u00a0the\u00a0full\u00a0potential of each\u00a0member from the various\u00a0field of engineering!\u00a0Rather than\u00a0having marine tech students attempting to do everything from ground up, we are now able to draw upon the expertise\u00a0of students from computing\/electrical\/mechanical\/etc., accomplishing\u00a0more at a faster pace.<\/p>\n

\"3D
Computer Aided Design (CAD) Model of the ROV<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the outside world, employers expect graduates to work in interdisciplinary teams<\/strong>, leveraging on the\u00a0complementary skill sets of each individual. In university however, us students are,\u00a0more often than not, confined to working within our respective courses.\u00a0And that is why the Marine Projects Society has embraced\u00a0Prof. Taylor\u2019s vision for a truly integrated School of Engineering, with students and faculty working seamlessly across disciplines to produce ground-breaking\u00a0solutions<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Joining the society has given me the unique opportunity to experience what it\u2019s like to work with\u00a0other engineers and to understand their concerns; and working on the ROV project has forced me to take a\u00a0broader view of matters at hand. In the past year, I\u2019ve learnt how\u00a0to fully\u00a0consider\u00a0the different aspects of an engineering project<\/strong>\u00a0and as Captain, I\u2019ve had to balance conflicting demands from the different sub-teams (electrical, marine, mechanical, systems)\u00a0to achieve the optimum solution for the ROV.<\/p>\n

\"Team
The Team out for a\u00a0late-night\u00a0dinner after a long\u00a0work session<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The ROV project has also taught me many valuable skills and lessons<\/strong> \u2013 things which you\u2019ll find hard-pressed to pick up in\u00a0your daily lectures\u00a0\u2013 but most importantly, it has allowed me to become a practical engineer<\/strong>.\u00a0Theory is indeed important and as engineers, when we\u00a0set out to design something, we too rely on theoretical knowledge to produce an initial design. But you\u2019ll find that many things often work theoretically and yet fail in reality.\u00a0It\u2019s all too easy to get caught up in the notion of producing the perfect design.<\/p>\n

Realistically speaking\u00a0however,\u00a0a number of different\u00a0factors will\u00a0hinder\u00a0one\u2019s ability to achieve that grandeur.\u00a0Budget,\u00a0size, material availability,\u00a0these are all limitations that affected us\u00a0while designing & building the ROV \u2013 and these\u00a0challenges\u00a0will\u00a0differ\u00a0from project to project!\u00a0But learning how to work within and around these constraints has allowed all of us to become better engineers<\/strong>, engineers who are not just tied down by theory\u00a0but are capable of thinking on our feet, adapting to changing circumstances.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"The
Internal Electronics of the ROV sitting inside our watertight housing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One of the reasons why we chose\u00a0to embark on this ROV project is the unique set of challenges associated with designing something for prolonged operation in water.<\/strong> Water is a harsh and unforgiving environment, something us Marine Tech students will gladly tell you\u00a0all\u00a0about.\u00a0It\u2019s also common knowledge that water and electricity don\u2019t mix well, which is why our team spent considerable efforts to make sure everything was watertight, and waterproof where we were unable to keep water out. This involved extensive use of O-Rings, silicon grease,\u00a0stinky epoxy,\u00a0coating\u00a0of exposed elements with resin, and slathering\u00a0sealing points with\u00a0more disgusting pump grease than we\u2019d like to admit. All that was critical in ensuring that no water could\u00a0come into contact with\u00a0electricity for risk of rendering the entire water body live and electrocuting ourselves.<\/p>\n

\"The
The ROV ready for testing in our towing tank<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But all that would not have been possible without a few key people.\u00a0Having a dedicated advisor<\/strong> to guide us on this project was vital in ensuring that we could come as far as we did. Dr Maryam Haroutunian<\/strong> went above and beyond in her role, always setting aside time to advise us and listen to our updates and to join us on testing sessions. She even came back to the labs on a weekend just so we could drop the ROV into the water for ballasting and test runs!<\/p>\n

We also have the\u00a0hydrolabs\u00a0team<\/strong>\u00a0to thank for helping us with the more technical construction aspects and for tolerating us. Special mention goes to\u00a0Bob Hindhaugh and Ian Howard-Row for their continued support in allowing us to use the hydrodynamics laboratory\u2019s facilities and for offering\u00a0insights from\u00a0their wealth of\u00a0experience, and for allowing us the freedom to exercise our creativity even when you know some ideas might not work out ultimately.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Team during an overnight\u00a0worksession<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But, it\u2019s not just all work and no fun! (although work can be equally fun if you\u2019re passionate about it)\u00a0Members of the Marine Projects Society also\u00a0had\u00a0the unique chance to\u00a0interact with the industry<\/strong>.\u00a0The society hosted a talk by Nick Ridley, Principal Engineer of Soil Machine Dynamics (SMD)<\/strong>,\u00a0and we also got the chance to visit SMD\u00a0for a site tour<\/strong> and see\u00a0how they\u00a0build\u00a0ROVs\u00a0up close.\u00a0Both the talk and the trip gave our team some inspiration and guidance on designing ROVs,\u00a0and was a delightful experience for all whom attended!<\/p>\n

\"Site
Site Visits to SMD<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"More
More from the site visit to SMD<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Throughout this amazing journey, our team has gained valuable experience and knowledge<\/strong> that we now treasure deeply. Armed with this, we\u2019re looking forward to the academic year 2018\/19, where we hope to take the society to greater heights! In the pipeline are projects such as the ROV2.0<\/strong> and other exciting\u00a0(but still pending)<\/i>\u00a0ideas such as a Solar Car\/Boat<\/strong>. It is our greatest wish that many new engineers will join us for a thrilling year of roving!<\/p>\n

ROV Testing Session\u00a0For myself, I\u2019m equally exhilarated about starting on Stage 3 \u2013 a year where we begin to specialise in more advanced Naval Architecture concepts<\/strong> and reinforce our fundamentals through design projects and more. If anything, working on the ROV project has enhanced my desire to master not just the relevant technical know-how but also the interpersonal skills necessary for working on interdisciplinary projects after graduation! That is something I feel all Engineers should possess!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today we are featuring a guest post from Jun Wei Fan – a naval architecture student who tells us about his experience with the Newcastle University Marine Projects Society. rover\u00a0(noun)\u00a0a person who spends their time wandering Towards the end of my first academic year, I found myself wondering \u2013 how do I make my time … Continue reading The wonderings of an engineering student<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3033,"featured_media":1960,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,330,317],"tags":[135,359,133,335,417],"class_list":["post-1953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-meet-the-scientists","category-student-profile","tag-engineering","tag-marine-technology","tag-newcastle-university","tag-students","tag-team-project"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/stem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/stem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/stem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/stem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3033"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/stem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1953"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/stem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1975,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/stem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1953\/revisions\/1975"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/stem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/stem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/stem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/stem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}