Engineering Design Competition

Canterbury Christ Church University provides its engineering students with a higher education experience that equips them for success with their aspirations and in making a wider contribution to society, beyond graduation. This year, as part of the Introduction to Engineering Design module, the School of Engineering, Technology and Design, in collaboration with a real industrial partner, provided inspiration for students to conceive, design, implement and operate an innovative lock mechanism for the automotive industry.

Slam Lock Design Project Winners

Project:

Harry Solly, Joe Shepperson, Adam Bayliss-Field and Ope Olaleye (not pictured), BEng (Hons) Product Design Engineering Programme – the team won a £3,000 Engineers in Business Prize. The first year students are pictured to the left alongisde Dr Abdullahi Ahmed, Director of Engineering and Built Environment; Dr Salman Saeidlou, Project Lead (centre) and Stuart Lambert, Senior Lecturer in Product Design.

The students were set a brief to design a high-security lock for commercial vehicles which works on both sliding and rear-hinged slam doors. These types of products are commonly added post-production as a theft deterrent measure to make van contents more secure and less susceptible to attack.

The project was a great example of the CDIO pedagogy (Conceive Design Implement and Operate) with students having to solve a real engineering problem and prove that it worked by prototyping. Door locks might seem a basic product but it had to work on multiple models of commercial vehicle; on rear slam locks and side opening sliding doors making it particularly challenging as a student project. Additionally, the moving locking parts had to perfectly integrate with the standard euro lock module and not have breakable/penetrable options for the thieves.

The winning group came up with a set of moving lock parts which differed from their fellow students with a re-imagined slide bolt component which was counter sprung and re-designed to be significantly stronger than existing products. This is what gave them the edge and led to the £3,000 Engineers in Business award.

Awarded: £3,000

Positive feedback

Canterbury Christchurch University is proud to work with Engineers in Business Fellowship (EIBF) and acknowledges its importance in encouraging graduates to work closely with industry to gain crucial commercial experience and the reward of outstanding work.

By funding the prize award, EIBF provided us with an opportunity to evaluate the efficiency and depth of our deliverables, based on the performance of our engineering graduates within a real-world industry project. Participants of the project were inspired to develop their engineering technical skills with respect to their prospective career goals.

Dr Salman Saeidlou
Senior Lecturer in Mechanical/Material Engineering
Programme Director of Manufacturing Degree Apprenticeship
Canterbury Christ Church University