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  Straits Times 12 Jun 07
NTU's Bright Sparks: Extra power at home?
Two-way meter ready
By Tania Tan

Straits Times 12 Jun 07
Inventors' winning designs inspired by own experiences
By Eunice Quek

Channel NewsAsia 11 Jun 07
Students design products to help environment and disabled people

SINGAPORE: More students are being drawn to find commercially-viable solutions to help the community.

A mechanical innovation in five weeks, complete with a business plan to make sure it sells - that was the challenge to 600 Mechanical Engineering students at the Nanyang Technological University's (NTU) Engineering Innovation and Design Competition.

The competition, now into its eighth year, is seeing students turn into technopreneurs.

For one group, water-conservation is a Turnon - the name of their proposed company which invented 'Flowminator'. It automatically stops water from over-flowing in a bath tub.

Ernest Pang, second year mechanical engineering student, NTU, said: "We're looking to manufacture the product in China in a city called NingBoGe. We've contacted a firm in China, and the cost of production has worked out to be $7. We're looking to sell it [at a] retail price of around $35 in Japan.

"Japan has a rich tradition of having bathtubs in the household. In Japan, the tourism and resort industry is also booming, so we're expecting more hotels and resorts to be springing up.

"We're looking into the possibility of collaborating with hotels and resorts to actually use our product."

Asst Professor David Lee Butler, School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Singapore Institute of Manufacting Tech, said: "This goes back to 1999 when we decided to give our students a chance to become technopreneurs.

"So we set up the scheme with a business plan... [to] come up with an idea, and [commercialise] it. So really, to give them a hand, to give it a try."

Another environment-friendly solution - a mechanical system which circulates cool air in cars parked under the sun.

Safety is also an area of interest. A Follow-Me-Not device will force you to put a brake on the accelerator, once it senses that you are tailgating. It is one-up on a current Japanese innovation which only beeps but does not slow you down when you are too close to the car in front.

Students hope the Land Transport Authority can make the device a mandatory installation in every vehicle.

Among the winning designs in the category of Safety is the Rotational Window, which can clean outer window panes safely.

Assistive Technologies is seeing simple mechanical innovations meet design to improve the lives of the elderly and disabled. One example is a wheelchair to make it easier for them to use the toilet. Or a simple fixture to help elevate them to reach for things stored on higher shelves.

"Now it's in the eighth year and we've had 5,000 students on the scheme. This year the quality is quite good, I'm quite happy. Some amazing ideas such as the fish scaling device and the shuttlecock launcher," said Mr Butler.

There is no limit to innovation and creativity.

An automated shuttlecock launcher, which can adjust the launching angle of shuttlecocks, came in tops in terms of design. Currently there are no mechanical shuttlecock launchers in the market. But this launcher can not only be produced at a low cost, but also help beginners execute different strokes.

Another practical design is a retractable bamboo system that improves safety when drying laundry. It also comes with a plastic cover to keep out the rain.

The above are just a few examples of the 52 innovations that may just find their way into our homes and lives, once these young technopreneurs find the right investors. - CNA/yy

Straits Times 12 Jun 07
NTU's Bright Sparks: Extra power at home?
Two-way meter ready
By Tania Tan

NTU engineering students devise a meter to track power going in and out of homes even as EDB looks at compensating home owners who produce excess electricity and can channel it back into power grid

THE idea of homes generating excess electricity to feed back into the national grid is not far-fetched when one thinks of, say, solar panels. Plans are already afoot to allow such 'grid feedback'.

Anticipating this, engineering undergraduates from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) have come up with a two-way meter that accurately tracks power going in and out of homes. The unit is 'ready to go', said team leader Associate Professor Peng Wang. All it needs is the green light, and capital for commercialisation.

His team of fourth-year undergraduates from the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering developed the unit as part of their final-year project.

'Safety, security and accuracy' were some of the key challenges faced by the team. Singapore's system of variable pricing for electricity also posed another challenge. 'There are different prices for different times,' explained Prof Wang.

The prototype, which resembles the normal meters mounted outside homes, took less than $100 to make. Using computer software which the team also developed, the meter tracks two-way power flow, and relays the information back to the national grid directly via existing power lines. It could even go wireless later, said Prof Wang.

The invention comes on the heels of announcements by the Economic Development Board (EDB) on compensating home owners who feed electricity back into the grid. In April, the EDB said it was looking at compensating home owners for electricity which they produced and channelled back into the grid.

The move is a step towards making solar energy - one of the most feasible means of generating electricity at home - a popular choice here.

Grid feedback also lightens the burden on fossil fuels used to generate conventional electricity, making it a healthy alternative for the environment. Details of the policy are still being ironed out, said the EDB.

Producing solar power is an industry earmarked as one of the key economic drivers for sun-blessed Singapore, and is expected to add $1.7 billion a year to the gross domestic product and create 7,000 jobs by 2015.

The Straits Times understands that grid feedback is currently allowed but is very difficult, largely because there is no convenient way of tracking power movement. taniat@sph.com.sg

Straits Times 12 Jun 07
Inventors' winning designs inspired by own experiences
By Eunice Quek

A WIDE variety of cost-saving and user-friendly devices were on show at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) yesterday as 52 teams of second-year undergraduates vied for prizes in the university's annual competition for budding entrepreneurs.

Many of the 600 students who took part drew on their own experiences when coming up with new ideas or designs.

Seasoned badminton players, for example, came up with a cost-effective shuttlecock launcher. It won the first prize under the Design category.

Team leader Jonathan Lee, 23, explained that his group's product could retail at about $3,000 - while still being as effective as shuttlecock launchers sold in the United States for about US$10,000 (S$15,400). 'We designed something that even amateurs can use. Factors like distance, direction and angle have all been taken into consideration,' Mr Lee asserted.

Another student, Mr Azhar Leman, 23, suggested the idea of a portable fish-scaling device to his team mates when he saw the trouble his mother had. Team leader Satish Kumar, 23, said: 'Using the Eazy-Scale is more hygienic than letting others de-scale your fish for you. Housewives would rather do it themselves.'

Inventions under the category of Assistive Technology catered to the handicapped. Project 'Johnnie Walker' - crutches that can be dismantled - bagged the first prize.

Winning the Safety and Environment category was a 'mobile crowd control' device, a compact and collapsable barrier with inbuilt wheels.

A 'one-time post box' won the Automation category. The system involves a machine which automatically encodes payment on a letter after it is dropped into a post box. Judging was based on the potential market value, originality and cost of the product.

The top three teams for each category received cash prizes of $1,400, $800 and $400. All students received certificates of participation. The Engineering Innovation And Design 2007 (EID) competition was open to second-year undergraduates from NTU's School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE).

Dr Sivakumar, 50, chairman of the EID organising committee and Associate Professor of the MAE School, declared himself satisfied with the students' inventions.

'The main objective of this competition is to teach students technopreneurship. This testing ground is a culmination of what they have learnt,' he said.
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