The 2015 PneuDrive Challenge has come to a close with Stellenbosch once again walking away with top honours. The theme of this year’s competition was to design a game changer for the food and beverage industry.
The winners of the competition received a 10-day all expenses paid trip to Europe where they had an opportunity to present their designs to the head offices of the sponsor companies – an invaluable learning opportunity for young engineers. SEW-Eurodrive and SMC Pneumatics also offer equipment to competing universities to ensure that future students are afforded the opportunity to experiment with the latest in drive engineering and pneumatic technology.
The judging panel (left to right): John Menasce (Hatch), Brian Abbott (SMC Pneumatics), Johan van Graan (SEW-Eurodrive), Riaan van Eck (SMC Pneumatics), Dr. Mark Gordon (Eskom), Eugene Tondolo (South African Fluid Power Association), Conrad Pilger (SEW –Eurodrive), Tobias Nittel (SEW-Eurodrive), Greg Perry (SEW-Eurodrive).
The judging panel consisting of industry and product experts worked through the entries during a two-day judging process which took place at the SEW-Eurodrive offices in Johannesburg. The panel announced the top three teams for the 2015 competition as follows:
1. Stellenbosch University – BottleBot.
2. WITS – The Potato Game Changer.
3. WITS – Autonomous Warehouse Floor Cleaner (which also received the Innovation Prize).
Stellenbosch University takes first place
The Stellenbosch University team visited local micro beer brewery Stellenbrau, and analysed a specific problem – the need for an efficient, inexpensive and automated application for transporting empty beer bottles onto the capping machine. Micro-breweries do not always have the capital to invest in expensive equipment. Thus they often rely on rudimentary means of solving problems, such as the transporting of bottles in a factory. Stellenbrau relies on manual labour for most of their operations.
The team consisted of Reghardt Pretorius, Johannes Leuvennink, Madeli du Toit, Joshua Blom and Jean Swart, under the guidance of lecturer Dr Cobus Muller. The proposed solution aims to improve and add value to the company by allowing better utilisation of labour, and improvements in time and efficiency, by automating the process of transporting empty beer bottles on to a capping machine.
BottleBot has a low energy consumption of 24,5 kWh per year, and has been designed to be controlled by a smartphone or tablet device. The BottleBot can increase efficiency and accuracy through complete automation and elimination of human error and contamination. One cycle consists of picking up twelve bottles on one side of the production line and placing it onto the capping machine on the opposite side. The retail price of the system is significantly lower than the price of similar products available on the market. The capital expense of the BottleBot will be justified after two and a half years.
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