School of Engineering Latest News

Engineering students collaborate in exciting GT racing project #R2bP

Tue, 05 Oct 2021 22:00:00 GMT

Reasons to be Proud - #R2bP: The Advanced Engineering Design Group’s (AEDG) engineering students are in an exciting collaborative project with well-known racing team, Scuderia Scribante.

Their project is to categorise the aero profile of their two Lamborghini Huracan GT racing cars, which compete in the newly established and internationally-compatible South African National GT Championship.

Mandela Uni opens dedicated Student Vaccination Centre

Tue, 05 Oct 2021 22:00:00 GMT

Nelson Mandela University has opened up a second vaccination site, specifically dedicated to its 29 000 students.

North Campus

The new site at the Student Health Services clinic on North Campus and close to the COVID-19 Vaccination Centre, which is presently serving both staff and the public, opens tomorrow (Monday, 19 July).

Using renewable energy in de-urbanising post-COVID Africa

Tue, 05 Oct 2021 22:00:00 GMT

In this professorial inaugural lecture Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Mandela University, Russell Phillips, unpacked the role of renewable energy in de-urbanising post-COVID Africa.

In his lecture, delivered virtually on 28 June 2021, Prof Phillips spoke of how the world is becoming increasingly urbanised with more than half of its population living in cities.

Solar Boat going solo soon in Nelson Mandela Bay

Tue, 05 Oct 2021 22:00:00 GMT

An Autonomous Solar Boat prototype that was designed in Nelson Mandela Bay will soon have its maiden voyage at sea.

The boat is a pilot project of the South African International Maritime Institute (SAIMI)-funded Marine Robotics Centre based at Nelson Mandela University. SAIMI promotes these and other innovative projects to increase technological advancements in the maritime sector through the support of the National Skills Fund (NSF).

First graduates in Marine Engineering

Tue, 05 Oct 2021 22:00:00 GMT

The first two graduates in BEngTech Marine Engineering graduated at Nelson Mandela University’s Autumn Graduation.

Matthew Nel and Aidan August are furthering their studies and have enrolled for the 4th year honours in Mechanical Engineering at the University, taking selective specialist modules in marine engineering focusing on ship and marine craft design.

Top engineering student's tough road to success

Tue, 05 Oct 2021 22:00:00 GMT

Amber Meyer was the South African Institute of Industrial Engineering’s Best Final Year NDip student in 2019, yet she never thought she would graduate, twice in a row or cum laude, having had to overcome educational and financial hurdles.

This year she is graduating with her BTech in Industrial Engineering also cum laude at the Autumn Graduation. "I cannot believe it".

Engineering student designs bespoke golf putter #R2bP

Sun, 15 Aug 2021 22:00:00 GMT

Mechanical Engineering student, Wian van Aswegen from Port Alfred, has designed and created a unique 3D metal printed golf putter.

Invitation from all India Rail Safety Council

Sun, 09 May 2021 22:00:00 GMT

Congratulations to Dr Mabila Mthebula who has been invited to the Advisory Body as a Hon'ble Advisory Committee Member of the council in India.

Mandela University engineers take their work to theatre

Mon, 23 Nov 2020 22:00:00 GMT

With the Covid-19 pandemic hitting South Africa and starting to take root in the Eastern Cape, medical staff at the local Livingstone Hospital are under enormous strain.

The Advanced Engineering Design Group (AEDG) at Nelson Mandela University received an urgent appeal from anaesthetist Dr Lorenzo Boretti through orthopaedic surgeon Dr Bryan Theunissen, regarding challenges faced by the in-theatre anaesthesia teams in their Covid theatre. In an effort to assist, the AEDG put together a project aimed at helping to protect healthcare workers at the frontline who rely heavily on Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

The challenge is to contain aerosolised droplets from patients with possible Covid-19 virus infection during procedures to ensure that the theatre staff assisting in the operation are minimally exposed to these droplets.

The AEDG team as well as multiple contributors from their network of both academic and private sector experts, immediately started an online process of working on a possible solution to the challenge.

Initial information was difficult to come by as the medical staff at Livingstone are constantly on call dealing with the crisis, so a basic set-up was ultimately agreed upon as a starting point which could be updated as more information came to hand. An initial conceptual idea was sent through by Dr Theunissen.

This work-in-progress is being updated continually and the team are now at a point where their initial design has gone into its 3rd version, with the previous version tested in-theatre last week. There has been some interest shown from hospitals in East London and Kwa Zulu-Natal via their network of contacts and it is anticipated that there will be further expansion.

This team effort is an excellent University collaboration example with the AEDG Team (Clive Hands, Dr William Rall, Zaahid Imran, Jode Fourie, Daniel Trask, Sthuthi Varghese, Blessed Tembo, Charl Rossouw and Zain Imran) working with colleagues from eNtSA (Prof Danie Hattingh, Riaan Opperman, Riaan Brown), the Faculty of Engineering; the Built Environment and Technology as a whole (Prof Ben van Wyk, Gideon Gouws, Prof Farouk Smith, Dr Anne Lourens, Prof Hannalie Lombard, Mervin Knoesen and Amish Lalla), the University’s Medical School (Philipp Hoelzer and Dr Elizabeth du Toit) and Innoventon’s Dr Shawn Gouws.

To view videos images of the project as well step-by-step processes and updates, visit the AEDG’s website at https://aedg.mandela.ac.za/Projects/Intubation-Box

Nelson Mandela Bay team develops low-cost automated bag mask ventilator

Mon, 23 Nov 2020 22:00:00 GMT

Seeing the need for devices to assist people suffering from Covid-19 and other diseases, a multi-disciplinary team of innovative young engineers based at the Propella Business Incubator in Port Elizabeth have dropped all their other projects to develop a low-cost bag mask ventilator.

The device fills the urgent need for a low-cost non-invasive ventilator for less serious cases, and frees the expensive units used in intensive care units for those in need of advanced care.

“I was impressed by the simplicity, yet effectivity of the design,” says Port Elizabeth anaesthetist specialist Dr Hennie Smit.

“It is meant to assist respiration and not full ventilation, and therefore only needs a tight-fitting face mask, and is suitable for use in general wards where it can be monitored by non-specialist nurses,” he said after evaluating the working prototype.

Propella incubator members and Nelson Mandela University engineering students Zain Imran and Neo Mabunda teamed up with Zain’s brother Zaahid and Kelvin Langwani to develop a working prototype within five days.

“In anticipation of the lockdown we moved our 3D printer and other necessary equipment and components such as motor and microcontroller from Propella to Zain’s home,” says Mabunda.

The team, which has complementary engineering skills, is now back at the Propella Business Incubator, with special permission.

At the heart of the unit is an inexpensive plastic pouch called a bag-valve resuscitator, or Ambu bag, which most hospitals already keep and, crucially, according to Zain Imran, already has the necessary medical certification.

“We set the standards based on WHO (World Health Organisation) requirements for ventilators and ticked all the boxes, such as the volume of air delivered to the lungs, the breaths per minute, Inspiration/Expiration Ratio (IE) and control/fail-safe capabilities,” says Imran.

“The result is a pre-intensive care ventilator that ticks many of the requirements of a high-end ventilator.”

The Salutaris (Latin for life-saving) device is powered by a servo motor that expands and contracts two arms. Rapid prototyping was possible thanks to the 3D printer.

It can be powered by mains or a car battery and durability testing is underway.

The Propella team is also linked to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US, which is working on a similar concept.

“A number of teams around the world have announced ventilators which appear to be functional, but where the Salutaris differs is that it is a highly engineered solution designed from the outset for manufacture with full production and cost optimisation in mind,” says Engeli Enterprise Development operations director Wayne Oosthuizen.

Engeli, which founded the Propella incubator together with NMU, is assisting with fundraising and commercialisation of the bag ventilator to ensure it is made available to hospitals and clinics as soon as possible.

“We are aiming to start production as soon as the tooling for the injection moulded parts is complete. All that is holding us back is the finalisation of the funding needed for the tooling and initial investment in components,” says Oosthuizen.

Another Propella member, Clifford Hamilton, is working on the moulds and helping with the design to make it as efficient as possible for manufacturing.

Final pricing is not yet available as some components will have to be imported, “but we are setting our pricing benchmark at R5,000 or less.

“This isn’t about maximising profits, but getting an operational and cost-effective ventilator into hospitals,” says Oosthuizen.

A production facility is being designed with the help of Grant Minnie of Propella, who is an industrial engineer.

“We have the factory space and are sourcing certified reusable face masks, which will both bring down the operating costs of the machines and speed up delivery.

“The plan is to produce up to 20,000 units a month, if the market demands this,” he says.

“This fast-track rollout from concept to production shows the power of the Propella ecosystem which we have crafted over the past few years,” says Propella manager Anita Palmer.

Left to right) Mandela Uni students Kelvin Langwani, Neo Mabunda, Zain Imran and Zaahid Imran with the ventilator.

This article appeared in The Herald of 8 April 2020

https://www.heraldlive.co.za/news/2020-04-08-bay-team-develops-low-cost-automated-bag-mask-ventilator/