Five young engineers from Oakham School have won a Most Innovative Award for their work on an Industrial Cadets Gold Project.
Industrial Cadets is an industry-led quality benchmark for STEM outreach and education programmes. The Gold Project scheme gives teams of pupils the opportunity to work on real-life engineering projects in partnership with companies.
Oakham School’s 2023 team, comprising Matthew, Carson, Oliver, Harry and Hiro, partnered with Oakham engineering company CBS Products, a renowned specialist in cable installation equipment.
The challenge set for the Oakham team was to redesign an existing pneumatic junction box that allows new fibre optic cables to be fed into existing fibre optic channels below ground. The desirable outcomes were to make the product lighter and easier to use in confined spaces.
The team, led by Teacher of Design & Technology Chris Edwards, came up with a design using 3D printed carbon fibre filament, allowing for a reduction in size of nearly 40% and a reduction in weight of nearly 50%.
Other innovations incorporated into design included a reduction in the number of clamps used, the introduction of quick release clamps, and the addition of a polycarbonate window to aid operation.
The pupils’ innovation was recognised by the award, which was presented at a ceremony celebrating the achievements of the East Midlands’ teams.
