Issue 2
Vibrant@FENG - Issue 2 (December 2021)
Aeronautical and Aviation Engineering and Mechanical Engineering Student Teams won Outstanding Award in ASM Technology Award 2021
The ASM Technology Award is launched by ASM Pacific Technology Limited (ASMPT) in 2015 for final year students in Hong Kong. It promotes technological innovation, and honours the best and brightest students with their outstanding final year projects on technology and innovation. Student teams from the Department of Aeronautical and Aviation Engineering and Department of Mechanical Engineering won the Outstanding Awards in the ASM Technology Award 2021.
The ME team members, KHALID Farhan, SAFIULLAH Saad Bin and TAHIR Abdullah, supervised by Dr An Liang, competed with other local universities by a project "Design and Development of an Electrochemical Flow Cell for Green Ammonia Production from Renewable Energy". Throughout the implementation of this project, our postdoc fellow Dr Pan Zhefei gave inspiring guidance and zealous support.
The project is concerned with the development of an emerging ammonia production technology – electrochemical cells, which can utilize renewable power (from solar or wind energy) to drive the conversion from nitrogen to ammonia under ambient condition, achieving energy, environmental and economic sustainability. By utilizing the flow cell design concept, the results have shown that the flow cell structure dramatically upgraded the ammonia production rate. Hence, this significant advance opens a window of opportunity for breakthroughs in the development of ammonia production technology, making the technology to be closer to reality.
The AAE team members include CHU Yau Hei, HO Chun Leung and LEE Yoon Jo, supervised by Dr Li Boyang. The title of their project is "Development of a Solar-Powered Unmanned Aerial Vehicle for Sustainable Flight".
To promote technological innovation in Hong Kong, ASM Technology Award proposes encouraging the growth of potential young engineers. Each year, five established local institutions, including The Chinese University of Hong Kong, The City University of Hong Kong, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and The University of Hong Kong, are invited to join the Competition by nominating two outstanding engineering Final Year Projects (FYP). This year, the nominated teams have made their impressive presentations on 30 June 2021. AAE team got the Outstanding award and HK$5,000 as a scholarship.
During the final year project, the team has successfully modified a model glider into a solar-powered unmanned air vehicle with autonomous flight capability. After the field flight tests at Hong Kong Model Engineering Club (HKMEC), they showed that the solar-power system could provide 20% extended endurance. The team also published their work at the MDPI Drones journal. Our Department is proud of the outstanding performance of the PolyU AAE student team.
