Written by: Birju Galaiya
Hey guys, it’s me again! It has been a while since my last
post. I have had a great summer where I got the chance to apply my engineering
knowledge by undertaking a challenging but fun work experience.
As stated in my previous blog posts I was
searching for a summer placement after my second year. After few interviews
with several companies, I was fortunate to land a position in Aeguana Ltd- a
small engineering firm in Central London. The company wanted me to help them
develop one of their projects that they were working on and after a telephone
interview they were happy to have me for 2 months. Unfortunately the internship
started one week after my end of semester exams so I didn’t get much chance to relax. On the other hand
I was excited to start…
For
my accommodation, I was staying at my cousin’s house and I had to commute by train (about 45 minutes one way) to
Barbican where the firm was based. The daily morning rush caught me by
surprise- many people travelling to work in the heart of London. Weather-wise
it was quite hot with highs of 30ยบC which was tempting enough
to go relax in the park rather than be in the office! London in summer is
totally different from what it is in the winter- so vibrant and beautiful,
trust me you should experience it someday.
Over
the 2 months I was primarily working on Solidworks where I would design, alter
and improve components of a smart vending machine. Computer aided designing is
really interesting in terms of how precise and accurate you can make your
drawings and the simplicity of manipulating specifications iteratively to
improve the overall quality of the product. What I had learnt in my 2 years in
university helped me grasp the concepts how the vending machine operates. The
project was challenging though as there was no clear cut solution- as an
engineer you need to calculate and assume many things to come up with the best
solution.
ou
may wonder what stuff I learnt in university helped me in this internship.
Well, quite a few actually. After having designed structural bars that held the
vending machine onto the wall I had to verify the results of the Finite Element
Analysis i.e. stress and deflections. Using calculations I had learnt in one of
the modules, I calculated the stresses and the maximum deflection in each of
the structural bars. This is an important step as the brackets have to
withstand the weight of the components. It’s important to mention that I had to carry out some research on the
methods of calculations as although they were similar to what I had learnt, the
conditions were different.
I
also designed a gear system for the dispenser of the machine. I researched
about different types of gear systems and understood the fundamentals of how
the gear system works. Then I calculated the number of gears that would be
required to reduce the motor speed which would turn the pulley which forces the
item to drop from the shelve. The most difficult part was the fact that the
space to fit the gear train was limited and constrained by many factors thus it
was almost like a trial and error method I adopted in trying to fit all the
pieces while also meeting the tolerance criteria. This took time but I finally
managed to find a solution.
The 2 months went by pretty quick.
After work I usually met up with friends for dinner and enjoyed the late
sunsets and on weekends I spent time with my family. It was great working in
the summer especially in London. I thoroughly enjoyed this internship- it
taught me a lot in terms of designing components, cost optimization and I
improved my computer skills as I knew many more functions of Solidworks which I
didn’t know previously. I
would recommend anyone to undertake an internship in any firm- whether it is
big or small. The experience is immense and it shall certainly help you get a
graduate job once you have finished your studies.
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