Student Michael Melly from Ballyshannon has won an award in ATU Galway’s annual Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Exhibition and Competition 2022.
Michael scooped the Energy Engineering award for “The Design, Manufacture and Testing of an Integrated Wave Energy Generator”.
He said: “In the Irish seas, there is a potential to capture 31.1 GW of wave energy. Wave energy hitting the shore can be converted into electricity using a Wave Energy Convertor. The aim of my project was to design, manufacture and test a model Wave Energy Convertor.”
Students won awards in several engineering categories – Agricultural, Biomedical, Energy Manufacturing Engineering Design and Mechanical Engineering specialisations.
Professor Graham Heaslip, Head of the Engineering School, says, “Engineering requires an ability to think outside the box and visualize several alternative solutions and scenarios. The exhibition demonstrates that innovation and enterprise engagement is core to ATU Engineering. The diversity of projects demonstrates creativity, knowledge, and ingenuity by each student. The success of the exhibition relies on our industry partners, who act as our judging panel and assess the talent being developed in ATU. Thank you to the academic staff who acted as mentors and provided encouragement to all the entries.”
Organised by the ATU Dept of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering in collaboration with the Innovation Hub (iHub), the competition was adjudicated by 22 industry representatives.