1st-year Mechanical Engineering students are doing a study project on different forms of mechanical storage in their semester 2. There is also a competition element to this: the Mechanical Battery. Think of a flywheel, magnet, tension spring, torsion spring and so on.

You do not design such a mechanical battery in the 1st year for serial production or an external customer, but rather to take part in the competition and above all to learn from it!

The learning objectives of this S2 project are:

1. Working together in a project group
2. Designing a product methodically
3. Applying theory from subjects in practice
4. Writing a technical report
5. Giving a presentation with technical content

What was the competition element?
Prizes could be won (vouchers to be handed in at the bar of student union Lokaal’99) in different competition categories:

• most efficient design with highest efficiency
• most lightweight (lowest weight) design
• best weight/efficiency ratio
• most original or challenging design

The best ratio in weight/efficiency scored the student group with balloons. The student jury found group L15’s mechanical battery the most original/challenging. Extraordinary, as their project was not even finished yet.

Source: HAN, Sander Helmig and Bas Hodzelmans
Photography: Job Greeve, Bas Hodzelmans, Sander Helmig
Video: Job Greeve