openME 52.2

April 2021

April 2021 - “Through Space and Time”

“Through Space and Time”

TECH: HYBRID ACTUATOR

EDUCATION: CAMILA GOMEZ

ASSOCIATION: LOCKDOWN LEISURE

AME is an independent developer and manufacturer of high quality electronic products located in the top technological region of the world (Brainport Eindhoven). Our goal is to create innovative products that exceed customer expectations. We accomplish this by integrating product development and manufacturing and keeping a clear focus on the product and its function. Driven by technology, we strive for the best solution combining the disciplines of electrical, mechanical, software and industrial engineering. Through creativity, passion, ambition, motivation and a highly educated level of our employees AME secures its goal of being a profitable company.

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Sensing & Actuating

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FOREWORD Dear reader,

I welcome you to another and also my final edition of openME for this academic year. I have enjoyed my time as the Editorin-Chief of this fantastic departmental paper. I have learned many things, but what I enjoyed most was to give people the opportunity to share their stories, beliefs, experiences, and hard work through this paper.

This edition has been built around the theme “Through Space and Time”, where we not only go back in time or look into the future, but also take a moment to look around us to see what is happening right now.

As the time passes by, the endurance we all possess becomes all the more visible. We all long for things to return to normal, which is understandable. But you have to be careful you don’t go down a downward spiral by just looking at what could be. Instead, I advise to look what is, and what you can make happen. In the series “Lockdown Leisure”, I have approached certain people that have seen and taken opportunity in the lockdown and restrictions to see what is possible and how to improve their own wellbeing. The message I want to give you, is that even the simplest things can give you joy, you just have to give it a chance.

I want to thank everyone involved; writer, creator or reader; and I wish you a very happy final semester!

Kind regards,

COLOFON

Jankatiri Boon Montoya Editor-in-Chief

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openME April 2021, volume 52, issue 2 The ‘openME’ is a publication by the study association for Mechanical Engineering Simon Stevin of the Technical University of Eindhoven.

Editor-in-Chief Jankatiri Boon Montoya Design Maartje Borst, Rik Lubbers, Roelof Mestriner, Joel Peeters, Lex Verberne

Layout Jankatiri Boon Montoya, Sandor Habets, Freek Jansen, Kim van Loon, Alma Meijssen, Lianne Tuin, Jules Vaes, Lex Verberne, Nicky Verheijen

Circulation 1000 pieces

Editorial committee Jankatiri Boon Montoya, Sandor Habets, Freek Jansen, Kim van Loon, Remco Martin Lizandara, Alma Meijssen, Lianne Tuin, Jules Vaes, Nicky Verheijen

Contact Eindhoven University of Technology Gemini-Noord 1.61 Den Dolech 2 5612AZ Eindhoven Post office box 513 E-mail: redactie@simonstevin.tue.nl homepage: simonstev.in

Illustrations and Pictures Editorial committee, Photo committee, Bart van Overbeeke or source stated otherwise

Printing office Drukkerij Snep

FEATURED

HYBRID ACTUATOR

INTERVIEW

CAMILA GOMEZ

8 FEATURED

TECH

8

HYBRID ACTUATOR

6

Smile of science

What is the perfect compromise between Lorentz- and reluctance based actuation?

8

Hybrid actuator

17

Quantum teleportation

25

Fact vs Fiction

32

Test track

40

Mayan technology

46

Leonardo Da Vinci

61

James Bond cars

68

Team Solid

76

Team CORE

92

From 20.000 to 0 km/h

22 INTERVIEW

CAMILA GOMEZ

An interview with the very first woman to receive a Mechanical Engineering PhD that was awarded a cum laude grade at the TU/e!

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84

FACT VS FICTION

The scienc behind cloning in Jurassic Park pitched versus reality!

LOCKDOWN LEISURE

The lockdown does not mean that we are limited in our hobbys!

Find out what awesome projects people have tackled during the lockdown.

22 EDUCATION 14

BFP: Nature inspired terrestrial robot

22

Interview Camila Gomez

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Interview Elia Beks

36

Interview Diletta Giuntini

54

BFP: Hydrogen as fuel for domestic boilers

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MT: Microvasculature- on-a-chip platform

80

How's life in: Zürich

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Quality ME

LOCK DOWN LESIURE

FACT VS FICTION JURASSIC PARK

25 CAREER

ASSOCIATION

2 AME

30

BAColumn: Tiki-Taki

12 NTS-Group

49

Lockdown Leisure: Carbid Cannon

20 ASML 29 Shell 43 Thales 52 Unipartners 64 Vanderlande 74

Career Academy

83 Evoke

58 Hephtig: Analog photography 67

Lockdown Leisure: Home decorator

77 Sταυt: Revolution of Kenya 86

Lockdown Leisure: Joe de Peugeot

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Lockdown Leisure: Grinder restoration

E 86

SPONSORED BY

TU/e Mechanical Engineering Vanderlande ASML Evoke

NTS-Group Thales Shell AME

Tech

Smile of science WRITTEN BY SANDOR HABETS

Communicating with plants Plants emit electrical signals to sense and respond to their environment. These signals, however, tend to be very weak and not observable for humans. Scientists have developed a device to communicate with plants comprising an electrode and a type of hydrogel. The device can detect these weak signals. The electrode was attached to the surface of a Venus flytrap in lab tests. Using a smartphone, electric pulses were transmitted to the device telling the plant to close its leaves on demand. The flytrap’s leaves were then used in combination with a robotic arm to pick up a thin hair.

The 3-millimetre device is completely harmless to the plant and does not affect its ability to perform photosynthesis. By monitoring the electrical signals that plants emit, the device has the potential to be used for plant health monitoring.

By looking at abnormal signals, farmers could find out if a disease is afflicting their crops even before the symptoms show up. This means that this technology can be used for enhancing food security around the world.

Smarter exercising While the gyms have been closed for quite a while during the pandemic, a lot of students have been struggling with the ‘studentenkilos’ that come along. This makes it all the more important to exercise efficiently when the gyms reopen again.

Exercising for weight loss could be enhanced with a new, lowcost device that measures how the human body metabolises fat. As breath holds the key to monitoring fat burning, this device uses an ultraviolet lamp to determine the acetone gas concentration which is produced in your blood as a reaction to the burning of fat. The UV-light is absorbed by the acetone gas, because of its extremely short wavelength. Exhaled air is trapped in a hollow optical fibre (small volume gas cell) that has been exposed to vacuum ultraviolet light. To ascertain the acetone gas concentration, the degree to which the light is weakened due to acetone absorption is measured. The device is much more compact than the large mass spectrometer that was required to monitor fat metabolisation until now. Besides, we can use it to develop exercise methods for efficient fat burning, so we can all say goodbye to the ‘coronakilos’!

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Tech

Self-cleaning metal

Wildlife tracking from space Even though the international ivory trade is banned, thousands of elephants are killed each year for their valuable tusks. To keep aware of the current elephant population, researchers have used satellite cameras and artificial intelligence to count the elephants travelling through Africa. High-resolution imagery is processed with an algorithm that allows vast areas of land to be scanned in a couple of minutes. This is much more efficient than the current method of using low-flying aircraft with human observers. This is the first time that this technique is applied to a heterogeneous landscape in which animals are much harder to track. Next to being an endangered species, the elephant has also been chosen since, obviously, their size allows them to be spotted easier. Therefore, the next step is to make it possible to detect smaller animals as well, even in heterogeneous environments.

A new laser system is currently being developed to create a selfcleaning metal. This technology aims to create fluid-repellent surfaces inside your home appliance such as dishwashers and refrigerators. A high-powered laser system will be used to treat the metal. The surface of the metal will consist of minuscule spikes and ridges that prevent any dirt or liquids to attach themselves to the material. It creates an amphiphobic surface meaning water or oil will just roll off the surface. This reduces the build-up of bacteria so your fridge will stay clean for a longer time! This particular laser technique is also being tested to see if it would work on materials such as plastic and glass. If this proves successful, then the technique can be used for a lot of relevant applications in which hygiene is crucial such as the medical industry or the food processing sector.

Modelling mosquito flight behaviour Most students can probably recognize the situation in which you were trying to sleep peacefully and all of a sudden you hear a buzzing sound next to your ear. When you try the catch the responsible mosquito, you have no clue where it went. A group of researchers will now use large field-of-view digital holography for accurate 3D tracking of mosquito flight in an elongated flight chamber. The effects of a range of chemicals on the flight path will be quantified and also some devices to eliminate them can be successfully tested. By capturing the diffraction pattern of mosquitoes in a telecentric volume, the position of the mosquito in the z-axis can be found mathematically and a pattern of accurate 3D coordinates for tracking and analyzing can be seen. The research group is currently busy with speeding up the development of new vector control products and hopes that this technology can contribute a lot in the fight against the Malaria virus.

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Tech

HYBRID RELUCTANCE ACTUATION

THE PERFECT COMPROMISE BETWEEN LORENTZ- AND RELUCTANCE-BASED ACTUATION?

WRITTEN BY KEVIN LOOMAN

Most of us have been introduced to the Lorentz actuator at high school already. Run current through a piece of wire that is inside a magnetic field, and a Lorentz force will be exerted on that piece of wire according to the infamous left-hand-rule. Actuators based on this Lorentz force have found widespread use over the past decades in for example audio speakers and precision positioning systems.

However, the design of a Lorentz actuator is a careful balance between force output, power dissipation and moving mass. As the requirements on actuators become increasingly strict, reluctance-based actuators start to become interesting. These reluctance-based actuators can achieve high force levels at low power outputs and low moving mass, which sounds like a perfect actuator! There is a catch, however: reluctance-based actuators show a high degree of non-linear behavior and are therefore complex to implement and control.

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Tech

Figure 1: A voice-coil Lorentz based actuator

Let’s start by examining the first interesting question: why do Lorentz-actuators have an inherent performance limitation?

The answer to this question can be found when inspecting the equations of a Lorentz actuator. As an example, the axissymmetric voice coil setup is examined.

The force that can be produced by this voice coil actuator is given by:

With the magnetic field strength in the airgap Bm [T], coil radius R [m], coil area Ac [m2] given by wc · tc and the current density J [A/m2]. So far this equation does not show many constraints, simply increase the current density and one can increase the force output of any design. To include the effects of power dissipation, the performance of an actuator is often expressed in terms of steepness. This figure of merit tells us something about the force an actuator can produce for a given power dissipation.

For the voice coil actuator, the steepness is given by: Where ρc is the specific electrical resistance of the coil material.

The equation for the steepness of a Lorentz actuator shows the inherent limitations of a Lorentz actuator. Increasing the steepness could be achieved by increasing the magnetic field

strength Bm by decreasing the air gap (g). However, a decreased airgap will leave less space for a coil and therefore decrease the available coil area (Ac). The only viable option is to increase the coil radius (R) or the coil width (wc), both of which will lead to a bulky design and a higher moving mass.

But what if there is no space to increase the actuator radius (R), but one still desires high force levels, low moving mass and low power dissipation? Reluctance actuation is needed! For this type of actuator, the c-core actuator is examined.

Note that a reluctance actuator can only pull, and cannot create bi-directional force like the Lorentz-based actuator. The force

of this reluctance based actuator is given by: Where the pole area Ap [m2] is given by wp · D, µ0 is the magnetic permeability of vacuum, the coil area Ac [m2] is given by wc · tc , J [A/m2] is the current density in the coil and g [m] is the magnetic gap. For this actuator, one can again derive the steepness as a figure of merit:

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Tech

Figure 2: A pure reluctance actuator

This equation shows that the steepness of a reluctance-based actuator can be increased in many ways. Decreasing the gap, increasing the current density, increasing the coil area and increasing the pole area; none of these changes interfere with each other. Therefore combining all of these factors will lead to an actuator with an extremely high steepness!

Sounds like a perfect actuator, but a reluctance actuator also has significant downsides. As the force equation already shows, the force is dependent on both the gap and the current. As this gap exists in the direction of actuation, it is most definitely not constant. This makes it difficult to control the force output of a

reluctance actuator. Besides the non-constant gap, the force is also non-linear with the current (see the J2 term) and reversing the current will not reverse the force (the actuator can only pull).

This means complicated models, controllers and extra sensors are needed in order to achieve force control.

Now you are wondering: is there no other option besides Lorentz or reluctance actuation? Of course, there is! The title of this article might have already spoiled the surprise, but one of the alternatives is hybrid reluctance actuation. This actuator is shown in figure (3) and it is a reluctance-based actuator with two sources of magnetic flux: a permanent magnet and a coil.

Figure 3: A hybrid reluctance actuator

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Tech

The two sources of magnetic flux interact to create a net force on the moving iron. For the flux lines as drawn in figure (3) the actuator will create an upward force on the moving iron since the coil flux cancels part of the bias flux in the bottom airgap and amplifies the bias flux in the top airgap. The force of the actuator is given by the equation on the next page.

Again we can calculate the actuator steepness, given in the equation below:

Note that in this equation the total gap (g) that the coil “sees” is constant. The force is therefore once again proportional to the current! This actuator can therefore be controlled in exactly the same manner as a Lorentz actuator, with one big advantage: a hybrid actuator has a low moving mass. In a Lorentz actuator, one must choose between a moving magnet type and a moving coil type of actuator. In a hybrid actuator, both components remain stationary, meaning one can increase both the magnet mass and coil mass without increasing the moving mass.

This equation again shows the steepness can be increased by increasing the coil area (Ac) and/or the bias flux (increasing the magnet strength). Since both the coil and the magnet are stationary, no careful balance needs to be maintained in this area. The steepness can therefore be increased easily and without severe consequences.

The ease with which the steepness of a hybrid actuator can be increased, together with its low moving mass and linear current-force relationship, makes it the perfect contender for application in future motion systems!

The LA05-30-001Z rectangular linear voice coil actuator

The VCS20-020-CR-01-MC-F3K voice coil positioning stage

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Career

NTS - GROUP ‘High-tech system development is not all about technology’ Rens van den Braber has been working as a System Architect at the NTS Campus in Eindhoven for over five years. He leads the development of cutting-edge modules and systems. Typically, this requires orchestrating multidisciplinary fields such as precision mechanics, mechatronics, dynamics and control, electronics, optics, cleanliness design, software and manufacturability/DfX. He is working with multiple customers to translate their sometimes conflicting or even unknown requirements in functionality, timing, and budget into agreed specifications to realize concept, design and prototype, before moving on to pilot and volume production.

NTS is a strongly vertically integrated first tier high-tech supplier with a global presence. It is a one-stop-shop for development and engineering, component manufacturing and assembly for leading international machine builders.

NTS typically works in high complexity, low volume and high mix markets. Rens: ‘As a system architect I focus on new systems development; the conversion of functionality, technical requirements and interfaces in a concrete and verifiable design. Next to that I am involved in translating this design into qualitative and cost efficient production.’

As an important part of its service, NTS takes the lead in introducing the new design into the manufacturing organization. For the most complex new modules, a system architect supports this introduction by reviewing the

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translation of the module’s functions to requirements and the development of the tooling required for the product qualificatin. Smaller companies however - who typically have a new technology and idea, but not the means nor expertise to rapidly create a machine - usually also use our capabilities and experiences that are needed to develop a new system from scratch into a system with critical industrial quality.

‘In my job you have to be able to understand the complex physics and designs of the products of customers, discuss requirements (which are sometimes conflicting or even unknown at the start), and come up with pragmatic solutions and alternatives. Simultaneously, there is an importance in balancing the technical risks, the time to market and

Career

commercial goals. Next to that, my work for example entails proposing a system architecture that enables the integration of technological, market and business strategy of customers, but also interfaces to the customer’s current core technology.

At the same time it is not all about technology. To make codevelopment across business boundaries a success, mutual understanding and a high level of trust is required. In practice, that means working closely together with customers, with project and sales managers, and playing my part in manufacturing teams to drive products into series production.

And all those dimensions makes working at NTS very rewarding for me, especially when I see an idea being transformed in concrete and successful product, and subsequent customer’s success!

Our colleagues play a pivotal role in the success of NTS. They truly make the difference for our customers with tremendous expertise and knowledge, passion for technology, ambition and pride. Both during and after your studies, you are able to work on projects which contribute to the technology of the future.

If you are interested to learn about working at NTS, scan this QR

NTS: Accelerating the future NTS develops, produces, assembles and tests complex (opto-)mechatronic systems and mechanical modules, which helps accelerating her customers’ innovations and hence contributes to a more sustainable, healthy and future-proof world.

As a first-tier system supplier, NTS provides just that extra bit of know-how on production that enables cost-effective manufacturing. NTS is the partner of choice for modules and systems in which precise motion and positioning are key. NTS has extensive knowledge and know-how of systems and modules for the handling, transfer and positioning in machines that are deployed in the semiconductor, life sciences & analytical and digital printing markets.

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Bachelor Final Project

Designing a new DBL project: Nature inspired terrestrial robot

BFP BY SJOERD NARINX WRITTEN BY JANKATIRI BOON

Education

Introduction

Iterative design

For this Bachelor Final Project interview, I spoke with Sjoerd Narinx, who is a 5th year student. He has recently completed his BFP at Microsystems, under supervision of Ye Wang, where he got the opportunity to review and come up with a new challenge for the DBL Peristaltic pump. This BFP was awarded with a 7.5.

Sjoerd already had an interest in micro actuators, so doing a BFP revolving around those would be ideal. Another factor for him was the current limited access of most workplaces and laboratories at the University. He did prefer to physically work on something and not have it be very theoretical. In the end, a list of interesting projects was presented and this is the one he chose. The goal of this BFP, was to come up with a new case for the DBL which currently revolves around the peristaltic pump and create a working prototype. The case should change, but the general manufacturing process and materials should remain the same however. The goal behind it though, which is to introduce freshmen to the Microsystems research group and create a general feel for engineering, should not change. This DBL is currently given to freshmen in the third quartile, and it has been part of the curriculum for the past 4 years. It was a replacement for the then Propellor DBL.

Pretty quickly, Sjoerd started to work in Siemens NX to create a digital drawing of what the robot should look like. He also needed to make a drawing so the components themselves could be lasercut. As advised by his supervisor, Sjoerd created many iterations of the robot. This is useful for data comparison, which would better fundament your conclusion. Every time you create a new version, you find new challenges which you need to overcome, which also keeps you busy. At first, for example, it was becoming obvious that the robot could not walk really straight, because he drilled certain holes by hand. For the following designs the holes were also lasercut, which drastically improved the performance, even though it was a simple problem with a simple solution.

Figure 1: The first design

The first steps At Microsystems, they work a lot with cilia. Which are small slender appendages, found naturally but also made synthetically.

These cilia are also used a lot within pumps, so an obvious first step was to investigate how these can be integrated in a new case.

Being limited to around the same materials that are used with the regular peristaltic pump DBL, Sjoerd started by collecting said materials and brainstorming about how he could transform these raw materials into something fun and functional, keeping the main goal still in mind. It started really simple, but from one idea came another and eventually this also reflected in how the idea came to realization. It would be fun to create a robot, so we need at least a couple legs, so those should be able to move, etc.

Figure 2: The upgraded appendage

Creative freedom The background knowledge that you need for a project like this is already really complete within the research section. Since the new case for the DBL had to be created, it was not clear if the project would end up working in the end, but to make sure that the robot would be able to walk the way it was intended, Sjoerd had to keep looking for improvements in the design of the robot to make sure that every iteration would add something to the end result. What Sjoerd really liked was the freedom he got during this BFP. If he needed a simple tool or a screw, he just got it. He was really let loose and could just do his own thing, which he really felt impacted the process of this BFP very positively.

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Education

Figure 3: Comparison between the first and final design

The final design At first the robot had four legs, since in the DBL you also got four servos. Sadly, this resulted in the robot simply tipping over during movement, which needed to be resolved. The final robot ended up with six legs. This improved the maneuverability, but it was mostly important for the stability. The only drawback was that you needed an extra power supply, but that had only very little impact on the maneuverability and stability.

Conclusion At first Sjoerd thought that a BFP would be really theoretical, but the opposite turned out to be true. At some point it even

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became kind of a hobby for him. During the Christmas break he returned home and started working on the project with a very enthusiastic dad that wanted to help him where he could.

In the end, Sjoerd is not sure if his actual design will make it to the next version of this DBL, but the final design will definitely be based on his prototype. A slight problem is that you don’t want to spoon feed the freshmen with final designs, so something that is for certain is that it will not be presented in the first case supporting lecture. Sjoerd does think that this current case is more fun than the previous, while still keeping the initial fun elements of the previous case, where you basically get presented with a bag of components and the option to lasercut and they then wish you good luck.

Tech

QUANTUM ENTANGLEMENT One of the main rules of physics that we learn is that the maximum speed of an object is c, the speed of light, at 299.792.458 m/s. We don’t usually question this, and the exact reason why this is, would be a whole other article on its own.

WRITTEN BY ROEL HAZELHOF

From this constant, we are able to calculate things such as the wavelength of light, radiation, and much more – it is an absolute necessity when calculating and measuring things on the scale of the universe. It serves as proof that everything we can see and observe that carries weight, takes time to travel – just as light itself. This includes the waves, signals and radiation that carry information, which we use for almost everything on a daily basis. From your phone to a cell tower, to a satellite, and to a phone on the other side of the globe. On earth, these travel times are as good as negligible.

However, if we zoom out to a more astronomical scope,

these distances, and thus travel times, become immensely large. A message to the moon and back takes 2.5 seconds to travel, to the sun 16 minutes already and to Jupiter 90 minutes on average (depending on its orbit compared to ours). As you might imagine, this can cause communication problems in our future, when spaceflight becomes more prevalent. That is where quantum teleportation comes in.

What if we could send information instantly, without delay?

This is precisely what is on the forefront of physics research these days.

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Tech

Beginnings of Quantum teleportation How does this work? Well, the word ‘quantum’ may already spoil it a little bit: we are not dealing with regular physics. Quantum physics describes the physics that occur on an atomic level; on the level of the very building blocks of the world around us.

This means that instead of looking at the physics of billions of small particles attached to each other, we look at how a single particle reacts to its surroundings – more fragile and prone to influences.

An important aspect of quantum physics is the form in which a particle possesses energy; known as ‘spin’. This describes the rotation of a particle around its own axis, like an impulse moment. We theorize that the spin of a particle is not simply defined by a positive or negative spin (spin up or spin down), but that in reality it is in both states simultaneously

law of thermodynamics (conservation of energy) – stating that the total amount of energy in the world cannot change. If this fundamental law would not hold, it would lead to the instability of the entire universe. This can also be seen in Newton’s third law; that for every action, there must be an equal and opposite reaction. This remains true on the atomic scale.

Now take the two subjects described in the previous paragraphs and apply them to this concept: if you have an electron and put a certain amount of energy in it, the electron reaches a higher energy state and becomes unstable. To get back to its initial ground state, the electron wants to release a photon that carries the added energy. However, we can also force the electron to keep the energy and add even more, causing it to reach an even higher energy state. Consequently, it will have to release two photons to be able to release the extra energy.

With carefully chosen conditions and enough attempts, an electron can be forced to release these two photons just close enough to each other for the release to be considered ‘at the same time’.

The paradox

This is much like the wave-particle, which can display properties of a wave as well as a particle at the same time. We know that particles ‘dance’ between these states and can show different properties with new measurements. (superposition). As soon as we measure it however, it takes either the value of a spin up or a spin down. Consequently, there is a 50/50 chance for a particle to display one of the two states.

This superposition is one of the famous confusing aspects of quantum mechanics, but we will now hold it as true and clear. Particles contain weight and can spin. Therefore, they carry energy and have the possibility to influence the world and be influenced themselves. Some of the ‘traditional’ laws of physics still very much hold true in quantum mechanics.

The most important and relevant one for this subject is the 1st

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As you might imagine, these two new particles originate from a single particle. Following from the 1st law of thermodynamics and Newton’s third law, these two particles should then have an equal and opposite energy.

This makes us able to more accurately predict what state a particle will be in when measured. When measuring two particles that are entangled at the same time, the second particle will have the opposite spin of the first particle around 75% of the time, unlike the 50% that should normally be the case.

Imagine it like this: you buy a new pair of shoes at the store, but somehow the clerk didn’t put one of the shoes in the box.

You know this, because you can feel only one shoe bouncing around, when shaking the box. You do not know which one you have (left or right) until you open the box, which puts the shoe in the box in a theoretical superposition - Schrödinger’s cat; the cat is both dead and alive, until you open the box.

At home, you open the shoe box and find the left shoe in it.

Within an instant, without there being any communication from the shoe left at the store, you know that the shoe at the store is the right shoe. The shoes are in an inter-dependent system and thus entangled.

Tech

Obstacles As you might imagine, this entanglement and its result of instant knowledge about an entangled system, could theoretically allow for instant communication. However, we are not quite there yet.

We are able to reliably produce (quantum) entangled photon pairs and test them over long distances, with the longest so far being more than 100 kilometres apart (from a Chinese satellite to the earth’s surface!). But there is a giant obstacle between communication through this quantum teleportation and reality.

Entanglements are extremely fragile and as soon as we measure a particle (forcing it into a certain state), the entanglement is broken. This means that in essence, we cannot encode information within a set of particles that are entangled with other particles in a different location.

Aside from this problem, there are a lot of other problems as well: an example of this is that the accuracy of correctly predicting the state of quantum entangled particles, is a little bit more than 75%. Even if we were able to raise this percentage, these inaccuracies can ruin an entire batch of coded information and we wouldn’t be able to find out if a batch of information is corrupt. To find out if a batch is corrupt, we would have to use conventional methods of communication to compare the two quantum sets. And this would defeat the purpose of this new form of communication.

The future

Another example of entangling particles.

Right now, research is focused on addressing the problematic areas: researchers at the TU Delft (QuTech) are working on ways to more reliably and quickly produce quantum entangled particles, improve the stability of these particles and the accuracy of predicting the state of the particles. Researchers in China are also working on the stabilization of entanglements, focusing on spanning the distance between earth and space.

Hopefully this research will gain a lot of ground, so that we can experience a revolutionary way of communication in our lifetimes.

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Career

When opportunity knocks, dare to open the door Experienced people know that careers are founded on as much luck as judgement and skill, as Arnela Masic discovered during her engineering studies in 2015. One lucky moment put her on a path to the career she enjoys today: she forgot her lunch. “A friend suggested I could get a free lunch at an ASML-hosted lunch meeting on campus that day. It was there I learned about the ASML scholarship. I applied and was eventually selected – it felt pretty special as only 25 scholarships are on offer in the Netherlands each year.” Through the scholarship, ASML supported Arnela through a Master in Systems and Control, which then led to her joining the company in 2017.

Nothing “grey-haired” about it “Everybody at my university had heard of ASML – the logo is everywhere. But what they did there was more of a mystery.

For me personally, ‘lithography’ did not sound as interesting as other technical industries like aerospace or automotive. I was picturing grey-haired guys doing boring experiments. It wasn’t until I got to know them through the scholarship that I realized there’s nothing ‘grey-haired’ about it. There are so many different careers here, with such diverse, super-smart people.

It was nothing like I expected.”

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Engineering and so much more “I was looking for more than just a ‘technical’ job. After learning about the many different careers on offer, the role of Customer Support Applications Engineer really appealed to me. I get to travel to customer sites around the world – the US, Korea, Japan, China and Taiwan - and work on projects to improve the performance of our lithography systems. I get to use my engineering knowledge – not in terms of always knowing the answers, but in terms of applying logic, troubleshooting, analysis and identifying which experts can help – and I combine it with communications, project management and implementation.

There’s great team spirit; I’m supported by a wide network of experienced colleagues who all help each other.”

Career to discover, and I’m really enjoying the journey – it was worth stepping into the unknown to start it.”

Are you interested to learn more about ASML? Visit www.asml. com/students for more information about our events, internships and scholarship program.

An idea worth millions “And I receive lots of training, both technical and non-technical – soft skills like customer focus and influencing without power.”

Arnela quickly found out how useful her newly acquired skills are. “There was a project at a customer where it was important to get a certain output from a machine in order to make the sale.

However, at that moment, there was an issue with one of the machine parts that would not have helped my demo testing. My training helped me convince people to make this issue a priority over their own projects, resulting not only in a permanent solution, but also in the sale of the system, worth millions!”

“My advice is if something about a job sounds interesting then don’t overthink it” Arnela’s advice – ‘go for it’ My advice is if something about a job sounds interesting then don’t overthink it, just try it, because you never know exactly what you will be doing on a day to day basis. That’s ok, nobody does when they start. But at companies like ASML, you will have excellent training, support and inspiring colleagues, so there’s no need to be afraid to go for it. When opportunity knocks, dare to open the door. For me, there has literally been a whole world

ASML provides chipmakers with hardware, software and services to mass produce patterns on silicon. Our lithography machines are essential in the process of building the electronic devices that keep us informed, entertained, connected and safe.

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Curious to learn how you can be a part of progress? Contact our campus promoter Roelof Mestriner at your university at roelof@ workingatasml.com with all of your questions about ASML or visit www.asml.com/students.

21

Education

Interview Camila Gomez Last year Camila Gomez became the first woman to receive a mechanical engineering PhD with a cum laude grade in TU/Eindhoven.

She is also nominated for the TU/e PhD thesis award 2021. We had the chance to sit down with her for an interview.

Tell us something about yourself.

Where are you from and where did you go to university?

I was born in Argentina and moved to Spain when I was ten. I went to high school in Spain and studied Chemical Engineering at the University of Alicante. My study was focussed on modelling and design of chemical processes.

I researched the production of graphene oxide in Alicante and went to the University of Kentucky in US for an internship working on production of thermoelectric polymer films.

How did you end up in Eindhoven?

I came to Eindhoven to follow a PDEng program. We did not have that at my university.

When I came here, I knew immediately that I wanted to stay. The Netherlands is a relaxed and organised country and I like that a lot.

What is a PDEng?

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I did my PDEng in Process and Product Design at the department of Chemical Engineering.

The purpose of the PDEng is to teach you how to apply your knowledge and then enter the Dutch labour market. Every week we had a course on a different aspect together with people from the industry. In the second year I

did a project at DSM on the Camelot campus about modelling polymerisation kinetics for high temperature polyamides. There I met my boyfriend, who is now my husband, Miguel.

And why did you like it?

Up until that point my education was mostly theoretical, but these projects were applied. I quickly learned how to apply my knowledge.

There were also a lot of international people at the program, which was also very cool. I love being part of a team that is looking for a solution to a problem. But the projects are all very short. So just when you are comfortable you have to put everything in the report and move on. I wanted to do a longer research project. That is how I decided to do a PhD.

How did you end up at Mechanical Engineering?

What I did, and I think that is generally good advice, is look for guidance when you are doubting. I went to the then director of the PDEng, Cees van der Geld, and told him I was looking for a longer project and maybe a PhD somewhere. He told me about a cool position opening at ME. At first, I was not sure but I started talking with him about the project topic

Education

and that convinced me. He knew a lot about the project and ended up being my promoter.

The topic was boiling heat transfer. Heat transfer and transport phenomena are shared topics between CE an ME so I was not scared of changing fields. I liked that the project was in collaboration with Tata Steel. For me, motivation comes from seeing a clear application in my mind and someone that needs your results in practice. It helps you keep your feet on the ground and stay focused.

I also really liked the setup. At first, I was a little scared of the TFE labs because it was very different than the labs I was used to. I had never used tools or been in that kind of environment before.

What was your PhD about?

The PhD was in the Power and Flow group at the TU/e in collaboration with Tata Steel, NWO-I and M2i. My supervisors were Bart van Esch, Cees van der Geld and Hans Kuerten.

The project was about the quench cooling of steel. During production, hot steel needs to be cooled in a controlled manner so you can get the desired microstructure that leads to the mechanical properties that the customers need. This is done using water jets. You want to predict the heat flux and how the boiling regimes are going to change process conditions.

The objective during the PhD was to study how this heat transfer happens when the water impinges on the red-hot steel. Both from the heat flux point of view to help control of the process, but also understanding the boiling regimes. The research objectives were there but also very flexible so if I found something interesting or that I didn’t understand I was encouraged to study it.

One of the first things they told me was that I had to modify the existing stationary setup to a moving one to simulate the situation in the

factory, where the steel strips can reach a speed up to 80 km/h under the water jet. I had never used any kind of machines. I am very grateful to the technicians in the lab, that helped me with the design of the setup and taught me how to use the necessary tools (drilling, welding, using cranes…).

Would you like to tell us more about the results?

Having a working setup at the start allowed me to get unique results early in the process.

Because of this I already knew a lot when the moving setup was ready. I was also lucky that when everybody was sent home because of the pandemic, I had to write my thesis. I could do that from home. I have now published three papers and am working on another one. I was also nominated for the TU/e PhD thesis award 2021 and I received the PhD title cum laude after my defense.

And what was it like to do the defense?

I was very nervous, but I think everybody is. You worked on it so long and know all the weak points, but you must accept them and be honest about them. A PhD project will always give some answers but also open new questions and presenting your project in a way that is complete and holds value is not trivial.

I was also worried because my family had to come from Spain, and we were unsure is they could travel. But they all came. I was also lucky to have people in the audience physically and more that could follow it online. The minutes before the defense started, I felt I would pass out and I almost couldn’t get up from the nerves. But the moment you start talking, the hour flies by and it was really fun!

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And what happened after the defense?

Some people were already expecting something special because the committee took a very long time to come back from the discussion where they determine your grade. When my supervisor, Bart, started talking, he had to do it in Dutch first, I heard him say cum laude and I almost fainted. I could hear my mother crying.

I knew I was finishing on time and I was proud of my results, but I never expected this. I also didn’t know I would be the first woman until Bart said it in his speech. I think it’s a big honour and I will always have that. I don’t think you can achieve these things on your own. There were a lot of students that helped me with their projects. I also have to thank my supervisors for their help and support. The title is only for the PhD students, but it is teamwork with your family and your colleagues and supervisors.

You also got married that day, I heard?

Yes! We never wanted a big party, but my family was in the country that day so we thought we might as well just do it then. With the pandemic we were unsure when they would be able to come here again. We just walked to city hall and we got married that evening. The pandemic has a small positive side. Now that lot of things are online, a lot of people connected to the defense that could not be here if it was live. And that was the same for the wedding.

Do you have any advise for students?

I think that believing in what you are doing and giving yourself a break when you need one are the most important. And looking for help and guidance when you need it. We always doubt ourselves and because we work in science and engineering, we have a lot of responsibility. We demand a lot from ourselves. Sometimes you come further when you are understanding for yourself and take a break. And sometimes this is not enough. I had a hard time during my PhD, and I think what really helped me was to seek help from your supervisor, colleagues, family and partner.

What will you be doing now?

I was happy to be in ME but my background was in CE. I wanted to do more with that after my PhD. I once again took the chance to look for guidance. I talked to John van der Schaaf to see if there were any research opportunities. I started a postdoc working with him and Niels Deen in EIRES, about hydrogen production by alkaline water electrolysis. An important factor in the efficiency of this process is bubble behaviour. This was also a big part of my PhD so I can use a lot of knowledge from that. Originally, my plan was to go back to the industry, but this research topic is really interesting and now I am happy to stay at the university!

WRITTEN BY ALMA MEIJSSEN

Tech

FACT VS FICTION 25

Tech WRITTEN BY JANKATIRI BOON

Cloning probably sounds familiar for most people, probably because it sometimes plays a pivotal plot point in certain TV shows or games. We all know the classic standoff between a real person and an imposter who look exactly alike. You would be surprised how much this trope actually gets used in series. But how did cloning even come into existence? Was it a fictional idea first, or based on science? Here, we will take a closer look to cloning in one of the most famous movies ever: Jurassic Park, and see how it holds up to the real world.

The material Let’s look into further details at the cloning examples made in the movie Jurassic Park. In the movie, the process to create functioning dinosaur DNA revolved around acquiring genetic material from three sources.

First, fossils were discovered, and the material was taken from these bones to attempt to clone a dinosaur. Fossils were not enough, however, so another vital source was needed. DNA was extracted from mosquitos that sucked blood from dinosaurs. The mosquitoes were trapped in amber and therefore well preserved.

This DNA was then extracted from the dinosaur blood that was present in the mosquitos, which would be enough to serve in combination with the fossil material as the blueprint for recreating a dinosaur. Lastly, some crucial genes were missing, so many empty gene slots were replaced by genes of modern-day animals, to create a complete DNA sequence. The replacement by certain genes also explains specific properties shown by for example the Indominus Rex in Jurassic world, which had genes from cephalopods, frogs and other animals. The first step to clone the DNA is to place these nuclei of Dino DNA in an unfertilized ostrich or emu egg cell. The actual eggs would then be incubated and would eventually hatch, after which you would be the proud owner of a dinosaur. According to the movie, 1 out of every 1000 eggs would successfully hatch.

Origin of cloning Technically, you can argue that cloning has existed for millennia, namely in the asexual reproduction of certain plants and vegetables, but also other organisms. This is the most boring story though. In the context of cloning, usually, the process of the exact replication of an organism is meant. One of the most famous fictional examples is Jurassic Park, where cloning was achieved by inserting dinosaur chromosomes in an egg cell of a non-extinct species. Other approaches depend on which show you are watching.

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In reality, the first and most famous actual cloning procedure was Dolly the sheep. Dolly (named after the singer Dolly Parton), was formed from utter cells that were inserted in a sheep ovum, which was only successful acter 434 tries. What was revolutionary about this process, was that Dolly was cloned from a specific set of cells (the utter cells) and was redesigned to grow into other subsets of cells. This showed that cells could be formed to any cell, could be formed to any other cell, limited by the genetic material inside the cells.

Tech

Fact vs Fiction

Conclusion

Now how would this work out in practice? First of all, let’s talk about the mosquitos that were preserved in amber.

These insects play a vital role in acquiring DNA. Unfortunately, DNA decays as time passes on. Even though the mosquitoes were supposed to be preserved, in reality, this would not actually happen to the genetic material at all. With the time that has passed since the era of the dinosaurs, it will be impossible for DNA to have been preserved this long.

So, unfortunately, it seems that having your own pet triceratops will probably not happen any time soon. There is a reason why certain things stay fictional. But the entertainment provided and the concepts to think about by shows and movies are already sufficient, even though certain concepts are not as scientifically just as they might be presented. Certain things you just have to take with a grain of salt. If we would think rationally about certain things and step away from creative freedom, we would not be able to enjoy Godzilla vs Space Godzilla. Who doesn’t want to see Godzilla fight a space clone of himself?

Secondly, in the movie DNA of dinosaurs were combined with egg cells of existing animals. In practice it is already difficult to have the DNA and egg cells of the same species match, let alone a different genus, order or family.

In reality, it has been possible with certain animals that are not identical but closely related, like a cow and a yak.

Where the process mostly fails is at the stage where the early form of the embryo fails to adhere to the uterus wall.

To assume that dinosaur DNA would mix well with species that have been evolved further for millions of years is very optimistic.

In all seriousness, cloning could be useful if the procedure gets perfected more in the future, for example, to grow organs for people that need them. Obviously, when cloning gets to a level where it would become an easy and accessible process, you need to start to wonder if it is worth it and if it is really ethical what you are doing. As an endnote, I would like to give you some advice, provided by Dr. Ian Malcolm in Jurassic Park.

“Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.”

- Dr. Ian Malcolm

27

Education

ACADEMIC ADVISOR Elia Beks

It’s been a few months now, but I’m happy to introduce myself as a new academic advisor for all students in our bachelor.

Some of you may already know me; I started in 2018 at the department as a general education coordinator and organizer of the selection (now study choice check).

During my previous work as BEP coordinator I really enjoyed the personal contact with students and I realized I wanted to help students more like this in the future. Since November I was able to make the switch to academic advisor, so I’m excited to make my wish a reality now.

As you might’ve guessed it’s not too long ago since I was a student myself, and I really enjoyed it. I lived in a student house with 10 house mates, went abroad for my studies and took multiple small jobs at my university (Nijmegen). Your time as a student

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is special, but not without obstacles – especially in these times of COVID-19.

In my free time I like to get creative (drawing) and I’ve started learning Chinese since a year ago as a hobby. I planned to take an extensive course in the summer of 2020 in China itself, but well, we all know how that turned out. I also enjoy reading, gaming on my Switch, music and going for walks. I also love snowboarding; hopefully I can do so again in Austria or France next year!

For now it is unfortunately not possible to meet you on campus, but I definitely hope to meet many of you in person. Or as my colleague Karen said before me: I hope we can have a drink together at one of the activities of Simon Stevin soon!

Elia Beks

Technical Professional

Engineering THE FUTURE. YOURS TO MAKE.

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Engineering

You will be embarking on a two to three-year structured training programme designed to propel your technical career. As well as giving you an insight into the inner workings of Shell, the Programme focuses on developing you as an individual, helping you make the transition from recent graduate to skilled professional.

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The Programme is focused on developing the industry’s best performers. Through a rigorous framework of specific competencies and businesscritical capabilities you will gain the skills needed throughout your technical professional career.

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Association

‘High-tech system development is not all about technology’

BACOLUMN THE (RE-)DISCOVERY OF THE TIKI-TAKI WRITTEN BY FLORIAN COX A long time ago, before we had the Sgt. Peppers as our regular pub, we had another local. This bar was called ‘De Roze Koek’. For some reason, however, it closed. For around 1.5 years, we didn’t have a fixed place to go to in Stratumseind, so we went from place to place as Simon Stevin. This was also the case in 2013, when the 57th Board led the Association.

This board wanted some change in that, so they searched for a new place. At first they wanted to do it as any other Board would do: “Wouldn’t it be smart to choose our new bar to have house number 57?” they thought. When looking at that bar, it was discovered that this bar was no normal bar: it was a snack bar.

After thinking and discussing it for a while, it was decided that this place wouldn’t be the ideal favourite pub. But which one would be? Which bar would be perfect for us?

This was unknown, and therefore the board searched. Many pubs were tested, and many pubs were rejected. Even De Spijker’s attempted ‘bribery’ with beer coins did not work.

At some point the board sat at another bar: it was the

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Peppers. As you all know, this bar became our local. It just fit well and Bram, the publican, is a great guy. Bram quite often gave drinks on the house to the board. One of these drinks was… quite hot. But in some way, it was also refreshing.

When you were tired when going out, a few beers and this drink could give you enough energy to stay awake the coming hour(s). It was called a ‘Tiki-Taki’.

When asking Bram what this drink exactly consisted of, he wasn’t really clear about it. What the reason behind this was is unknown. Bas Straatman, the Commissioner of Extraordinary Activities of the 57th Board wasn’t satisfied with this, however. Together with the Extraordinary Activites committee of that time, he tried to recreate it. And after some time of trial and error, it was a success: the TikiTaki was rediscovered.

The Tiki-Taki from then wasn’t exactly the same as it is now, though. Now it is one part tabasco with three times one part liquor of choice. In the past, this recipe was more strict. For the real Tiki-Taki, you put one part brown rum,

Association

Source: stratumseind-eindhoven.nl one part yellow tequila, one part white vodka and onefourth part tabasco together. At some after-drink, it was decided to include this shot in the menu and the Tiki-Taki gained popularity.

But why the name ‘Tiki-Taki’? To answer that question we have to go back a long time, when even Simon didn’t exist, to around 4000 B.C. At that time the Sumerians lived on this planet in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia, which is now known as Iraq. The Sumerians lived in one of the first civilizations called the Sumer. The existence of this civilization allowed the Sumerians to do other things than just collecting and hunting for food. They were able to do research, to do art and to trade. They for example used wheels, irrigation systems, glue and saws. They also came up with the sexagesimal counting system, a numerical system with 60 as its base. This system is still used on the compasses and clocks used today.

Apart from all this art, research and trade, there was

another thing they were able to do: they could practice religion. There was an extensive number of different gods.

According to their tradition, there were two main gods: a man and a woman. These two gods were married and in this way connected. This connectedness was where every Sumerian strived for. This connectedness was called ‘TikiTaki’. Tiki-Taki was the highest you could achieve in this civilization.

Tiki-Taki, the state of connectedness. It’s a metaphor for this shot. After all, this drink creates a bond between the drinkers. When drinking this together with other people you may struggle for a short time. But being in this more difficult condition together strengthens your bond. This also means that the use of the shot as a ‘punishment’ is actually against the original principles of ‘Tiki-Taki’.

So next time you’re in De Weeghconst, don’t only order a beer. Order a few Tiki-Takis and drink them together with your friends.

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Tech

GO SHARING VS FELYX

Shared electric scooters Test track

WRITTEN BY JANKATIRI BOON AND SANDOR HABETS

In 2019, Eindhoven got a little greener with the addition of 200 GO Sharing scooters. These scooters are placed all around the city and are 100% electric. Anyone can rent a scooter, as long as you have verified your account and added funds to you wallet. A year later, some competition was brought to Eindhoven with the addition 200 more slighty darker green Felyx scooters. In the meantime, we have now all seen and perhaps used these scooters.

But how do they compare to each other? Is there one true king of electric shared scooters?

In this edition of test track, these brands will be put to the test.

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Tech

Performance First, we will look at the hardware of the scooters and how well they perform. Given that electric vehicles have a certain battery capacity, you don’t want to be left stranded with an empty battery after just a short ride.

Go Green The GO Sharing scooter has a top speed of 26 km/h. The engine does not supply much more than that, since you notice the speed already dropping as soon as you go slightly uphill. The battery capacity of the scooter is over 70 kilometres, which means that if you start with a full battery, you can travel more than 70 kilometres before you run out of juice.

Felyx The Felyx scooter has a higher top speed, capping out at around 31 km/h, so if you are in a hurry, make sure to first check whether one of these scooters is around. This scooter also does its job uphill as you can easily catch up with many envious cyclists.

The action radius, however, is smaller for the Felyx Scooter in comparison with the Go Green scooter. On a full battery, you are able to travel around 60 km/h which is a little less than the Go Green Scooter.

Functionality and ergonomics If you have to choose between two brands, you obviously also have to consider how well it drives and any luxuries that are included. Some times, even if you have a choice, you also have to be lucky. Sometimes you may rent a scooter that has been damaged by a previous user, where it Go Green The GO Sharing scooter has a sufficiently wide enough seat, which can fit two people. It has two footrests on the side, where the passenger can put their feet. Under the Dashboard, there is an open compartment, where you can store a small bag or water bottle for example. The dashboard of the scooter is very sleek, with all wires encased in a housing. There are some instructions placed on the dashboard that lists how to turn on the scooter and contains a QR code to scan with the app. The dashboard itself has a clear design, where you can easily view the battery percentage, travel velocity, and some other minor statistics. The scooter itself handles very well. You are able to make fairly sharp turns, and the steering does not feel clunky. Lastly, it also has some nice suspension, combined with a well-cushioned seat.

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Tech

Felyx The seat of the Felyx scooter is relatively large and quite suitable for a trip with two persons. A large advantage of this scooter is that it is equipped with a cover for the seat that prevents it from getting wet. This means that you do not have to worry about getting your pants wet if your predecessor was nice enough to use this cover. Overall, the seat is quite comfortable and convenient for longer trips. The scooter is relatively heavy which you only notice when parking it or sudden brakes. Besides that, it drives well and is easily controllable, also in bends. The dashboard design is rather simplistic, but the relevant information such as speed and battery percentage is visible. The Felyx scooter is equipped with a safety switch that does not allow you to drive before you have pressed this button, so you don’t have to worry about accidentally pushing the throttle while parking it.

Price

All in all, this sounds nice. But you are not going to rent these scooters if they are pretty and work well but cost a fortune.

Both scooters offer their services at around the same price, even charging the same fee of 10 cents per minute if you park the vehicle. There are some subtle differences in the base price though.

Go Green The Go Sharing scooter has a base price of 29 cents per minute, but the company offers also certain packages that come with a discounted price. They range from upgrading your balance with the Go Basic new package with € 9,95 up to the GO Crazy package

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which upgrades your balance with €99.95. With the largest package, you will effectively drive for 25 cents per kilometre. All packages offer a balance that will not expire.

Felyx Renting a felyx scooter costs € 0.30 per minute in Dutch cities.

You can park a felyx everywhere both inside and outside the service area for € 0.10 per minute min. At the moment felyx is applying dynamic pricing in the Hague. To get the e-scooters in the right place, the price is adjusted per minute based on time and location. For just a few cents less or more per minute, supply and demand are rebalanced.

App Go Green The app that comes with the service is very sleek, but it does have its drawbacks. It is rather slow and often experiences bugs connecting to the scooter. It has happened some times that the scooter would disconnect, while your ride was still running, or that the scooter refuses to disconnect. Coincidentally, this also happened during the photoshoot of this article. Luckily you can easily contact customer support and they will fix these issues very quickly, easily and remotely.

Felyx In general, Felyx has developed an excellent app, Despite the occasional bug that can display a wrong location, the scooters are generally easy to find because the app displays it clearly.

Tech

The service area is also clearly marked on the map. Customer service is also easily accessible via the app and responds quickly to questions asked in the chat.

Conclusion

Both scooters are pretty much the same. The prices are almost identical. GO Sharing does win in the action radius department and having a lower minimum driving age could be beneficial.

It depends on how much lesser experienced driver damage scooters when they take them for a ride. What could be the main Specifications

decisive factor for some people, could be the top speed and acceleration, where Felyx easily wins.

All in all, both scooters are pretty similar and choosing which scooter you use will probably depend on which one is the closest or which shade of green you prefer. But both companies should probably be careful since a new contender is already on its way...

GO Sharing

Felyx

26 km/h

31 km/h

70 km

60 km

Base driving costs

29 cent per minute

30 cent per minute

Parking costs

10 cent per minute

10 cent per minute

200

200

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18 (plus 1 year owner of a drivers license)

Top speed Action radius

Amount of scooters Minimum driving age

35

Education

Interview

Diletta Giuntini

Diletta Giuntini is an Assistant Professor in the Mechanics of Materials section of the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Her research focuses on advanced processing of ceramics and ceramicbased materials.

What and where did you study?

I studied Aerospace Engineering at the University of Pisa, in Italy. Since the first year, I liked especially materials science, so I specialized in Structures and Materials. I then took a bit of an unconventional path, moving for a PhD at UCSD and SDSU (in San Diego, United States) while my Masters in Italy was still ongoing – the US system allows this. Moving to San Diego was in a way a jump in the blue for me, but I felt like I had nothing to lose, and I had always wanted to experience studying, working and living in different countries. My grandmother knew it all along: she always said I had chosen Aerospace Engineering because it would have given me many opportunities to travel. She was right, and I never regretted it.

What did you learn from your time in the US? My time in the United States was a great experience from both a professional and personal viewpoint. I got to work with a wonderful diversity of people in San Diego, and I made friends from all over the world. And I quickly learnt to become more independent and self-confident. The American system pushes young people to take ownership for their actions, and the mistakes one makes are seen as part of the growth process. In Italy I had been given a solid theoretical preparation, and the US system, with its flexibility and

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competitiveness, then gave me more handson experience, and a different kind of empowerment. I liked this combo.

What did you do after you got your PhD? I moved to Hamburg, Germany, for a postdoc, which then became a Humboldt Fellowship and then a Project Leader position, so I stayed there almost 4 years. I was working in a Collaborative Research Center there (called SFB 986), where people with different backgrounds worked together towards the goal of developing new multiscale materials, for many different applications. I chose to join that center because it gave me the opportunity of working side by side with engineers, chemists and physicists, and I believe we all learnt a lot from each other.

What did you learn from your time in Germany?

In Germany my job gradually shifted towards the managing side of a research group. The person I was reporting to was also the leader of the entire research center and he gave me and my colleagues our own responsibilities.

I learned to work in a structured and highly cooperative organization, plus to use a lot of techniques to which I didn’t have access before.

Many new ideas came up.

How did you end up at the TU/e and what projects are you working on here?

The opportunity to work in the Netherlands came up from a Dutch professor, who mentioned that there was an ongoing hiring campaign for faculty members in many Dutch universities. This was of course an interesting opportunity, especially since I had always been quite attracted to the Netherlands. I find that there is a very dynamic and openminded atmosphere here. The country is very focused on innovation and internationalization, a stimulating combination. And I had also received very positive feedback from friends who have been living here for years, which was an extra drive.

What do you like about your job as an assistant professor?

I like how diverse and intellectually stimulating the job is. You never get bored. I like doing research, digging deep into a topic until I fully understand it, engineering something new. But I also really like gathering ideas with other people and then organizing them into a project. I also really like collaborating with different experts, and the teaching part of the job. All these different aspects feed into each other. When you teach about your research, you get new ideas, and you question your assumptions. While doing research makes your teaching constantly update itself with the latest innovations.

What are you working on as an assistant professor at the TU/e?

I work on advanced processing of ceramic materials. Ceramic materials are everywhere, because they feature a very unique set of properties: they are very strong and hard, they resist to chemically aggressive environments, to high temperatures, and they also have many functionalities that make them useful for optics, electronics, magnetic devices, energy conversion and storage, and more. This is why you can find them everywhere, from your smartphone to space shuttles.

be able to densify of very hard-to-process ceramics (and in a very efficient way), and on additive manufacturing, to implement complex shapes. Both these techniques have a lot of potential for further development.

And there is more: these days we have many techniques that allow us to manipulate materials at the smallest scales, micro or nano. By creating specific small-scale architectures inside a material, we can foster previously unimaginable properties at the macroscale. Implementing these tiny architectures in combination with additive manufacturing and material densification is the kind of engineering I like to do these days. A fascinating aspect here is that a lot of inspiration comes from biomaterials. Nature has developed amazing multiscale material designs, and with very few ingredients after all. It’s a beautiful source of ideas.

Do you have a specific goal in mind when working on ceramic materials?

Our process is application-driven. Developing fabrication techniques for ceramics (or ceramic-based composites) able to bridge scales in the way I have just described is our current goal, because it will enable a whole lot of exciting applications, ranging the fields of biomedics, energy, electronics and aerospace.

But there is one aspect on which we are focusing at the moment, and that is enhancing the mechanical behavior of ceramics. Even if they are typically very strong, stiff and hard, ceramics tend to be very brittle, which means that they fail suddenly and catastrophically.

This is unacceptable for most engineering applications. But creating special nano or microstructures inside them is a very promising strategy to make them more tough and ductile. There is a lot to explore there, and I am convinced exciting discoveries of new material concepts lay ahead.

They are not easy to machine, so usually ceramic components are made starting from a powder, which is heated up to get the desired bulk result. This process is called sintering. It does not work smoothly for all materials and shapes though, which is where my research comes in. I work with technologies such as ultra-fast electrically-assisted sintering, to

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What projects you have worked on are you most proud of?

I can think of two projects I’m most proud of. One dates back to my time in San Diego, when I was working with Eugene Olevsky, one of the fathers of the theory of sintering, a model that can predict material deformation during densification. I was in charge of expanding this theory to nanomaterials. It was rewarding, I gained a deep understanding of the topic, and at the same time we developed a tool that helped improving the production of many components: cathodes for fuel cells, multilayer capacitors, nitrides for engine components and cutting tools.

More recently, there is the field of nanoarchitected composite materials, which is very fertile right now. I’m happy to be tackling the development of these materials from the mechanical engineering point of view. There is a gap in knowledge between the synthesis of the material at the nanoscale, which relies on chemistry and physics, and then its usage into engineering devices. In our group, we provide the connection by designing nano- or microstructures that will enable the material to withstand mechanical loads while in service.

In both cases, what I find especially rewarding is to exploit the basic understanding of a phenomenon to develop a whole set of solutions for materials engineering.

How do you experience working during a global pandemic?

It’s very challenging, especially for students or someone in their early career stages.

You would have all this energy to go out and explore and not being able to do this can be very frustrating. However, it is a global situation, so at least we can find solidarity from the rest of our planet. If we all play our part and are careful, we will have less and fewer restrictions. I think it’s important that we are smart about it and see the silver lining in all of this. We can reflect, we can plan, we can learn online and we can orchestrate collective efforts towards a common goal. Still, I have joined the TU/e in October, and I had very limited chances to meet students and staff members in person – so I can’t wait to meet people in 3D again.

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Giuntini chaired the 2018 Gordon Research Seminar on Solid State Studies in Ceramics, where she contributed to organizing a Power Hour for the inclusion and professional development of women and underrepresented minorities in ceramic research. Therefore, I asked her a couple of questions about this topic.

What is the current situation regarding the underrepresentation of women in your field and what would you like to change?

Well, that’s a broad, and very important, topic. We are living in a time of muchneeded change towards inclusion. There is an underrepresentation of a lot of minorities (not only women), in a lot of fields. I like that there are collective international efforts to create a shift in the mindset that led to these issues, and that we are proactively fighting against our preconceptions. And I look forward to when inclusion policies won’t be needed anymore, when we will all have equal opportunities and diversity will simply be normal. We know that diversity only brings advantages too. Research shows that it makes a group more creative, productive and welcoming. I experienced this firsthand in the US, and I hope everybody gets to experience it.

Where does the imbalanced distribution in engineering studies come from?

I think it’s largely cultural. For example, when it comes to women, a lack of female role models in the technical fields (engineers, teachers) is very likely playing a role. This can lead to an unconscious bias, and I’m glad to see that the TU/e takes this topic seriously, and acts upon it. It’s important that every member of a community feels that she/he can go for whatever study or career path she/he likes.

What do you think of the positive discrimination of women policy of the TU/e?

I think that it is a brave move and that it was well motivated. I see where it comes from (this issue of unconscious bias), and I see why it’s useful. It can help accelerate the process towards a new normal of no preconceptions and equal opportunities. And in any case,

people to hire are selected by their future peers, so one’s capabilities stay the main selection criterion. I would not want to hire someone I think I cannot work with.

What sort, of course, are you going to teach?

We will be offering a new course in the next academic year about advanced and additive manufacturing, a master’s course. We will give an overview of the current technologies, for a very diverse set of materials, and we will discuss case studies. I look forward to a vibrant interaction and exchange of ideas.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years from now?

Well, I have learnt that the plans one makes tend to change constantly – and that’s the fun part. But I have just moved here, and I like it.

I can see myself at the TU/e at a more senior

faculty level then, with a group of students from all sorts of backgrounds, working on a set of exciting projects on new material concepts and their testing with all sorts of advanced techniques. The ME’s Multiscale Lab is ideal for this.

What is your life/study advice to students (during these times)?

To explore your interests, without being afraid of trying things out. It’s important to be humble of course, but also to have the boldness to run ideas by people and find a way to transform them into reality. If anything fails, you will have learnt something useful.

This is an especially challenging time, and it is important not to get too frustrated. Let’s avoid commuting from bed to laptop to bed, and get creative about finding new ways to work and communication channels. It’s an opportunity to learn cooperation on a truly global scale, and it’s a transient.

WRITTEN BY JULES VAES

Tech

Source: britannica.com

BACK IN TIME: THE MAYA’S

The ancient Maya civilization, a giant part of Mesoamerican culture until the Spanish conquistadors came. Nowadays, there are not many Mayans alive, but still they leave an impact on the world. With amazing architecture, they still stun the world. Their old language is still in use today and of course they predicted the end of the world with their incredible calendar. How technologically advanced was this mythic civilization?

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WRITTEN BY REMCO MARTIN LIZANDARA History The Maya founded their first settlements around 2600 B.C. in modern-day Belize. From there they spread through the whole of Central America; south-eastern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador were all part of the Mayan culture. Even though these were never a unified country, most people lived in the same way. Unlike the Aztecs and the Inca’s, where descendants are still alive but don’t use their heritage anymore, Mayan culture is still alive. In Guatemala there are still approximately six million Mayans that speak the language and reside in nearly the same area as their ancestors.

The architectural structures that the Mayans built, are proof that this society was very specialised in various crafts and that they had a large, organized workforce. A classical city like Tikal was spread over 20 square kilometres. This is comparable to a small modern-day city. The effort for building such cities must have been immense and it is estimated that building this city cost many millions of man-days to complete. Thanks to the vast array of hieroglyphic texts, we can conclude that their masonry capabilities and their willingness to experiment were on parr with the Egyptians when building the legendary pyramids.

Writing and Mathematics All civilizations that want to progress and organize themselves, eventually need a writing system. Otherwise, it is nearly impossible to introduce any kind of structure in your society.

Developing a writing system is widely regarded as one of the key steppingstones towards a modern-day society like our own. The Mayan script was the first writing system in Mesoamerica, and we can date the earliest inscriptions back to the 3rd century B.C. in San Bartolo Guatemala. The Mayan writing was continuously used throughout the whole of Mesoamerica, until the Spanish conquistadores came in the 16th and 17th century.

Mayan writing used logograms, characters that make up words and combine to form longer words, and syllabic glyphs, aiding in pronunciation. The Mayan script is most similar in function as the Japanese writing system. Nowadays, the Mayan language is still spoken, but it uses the Latin alphabet rather than the Mayan script.

The other gigantic advancement the Mayan civilization made, was the development of a sophisticated mathematical system.

The Mayans made their own counting system in an elegant base 20 system, rather than the western base 10 counting system.

Another huge development was the concept of zero. Due to the visualization of the value of zero, they could do simple arithmetic, and even do much more complicated maths. The calculations they did to construct the Mayan calendar, were correct for thousands of years, for example.

Mayan numbers were written from bottom to top, rather than the more traditional horizontal notation. Only 3 symbols were used for most of the numbers. This allowed uneducated people to add or subtract numbers for the purpose of trade and commerce, even though they possibly didn’t fully understand the symbols.

Here you can see an example of how the symbols worked.

Mathematics was such an important discipline among the Mayans, that it appears in wall paintings, in which the mathematicians were painted and can be recognized by their numbered scrolls. The first mathematician identified on glyphs was a female figure, which leads us to believe mathematics was a unisex matter.

Astronomy The study of the unknown is done by many different cultures and civilizations. The night sky and the celestial bodies were, and still are, fascinating parts of everyday life. The Mayans developed some of the most accurate pre-telescope astronomy in the world, partly due to the fully developed writing system and their positional numerical system. The Mayans understood many astronomical phenomena: they calculated the full length of a tropical solar year, for example. Their calculations were more accurate than those of the Spanish when they arrived in Mesoamerica.

The most famous piece of Mayan culture is probably the Mayan calendar. Many people believed that this calendar had prophesised the end of the world in the year 2012. However, now in 2021, we know this wasn’t true. But it still begs the question: why did so many people believe it?

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The calendar consists of thirteen periods of 20 days. After these 260 days, the calendar repeats itself. So, the calendar did not follow the solar years, even though it was known by the Mayans how long a solar year was. The longest cycle was the baktun and this also consisted of 13 periods. The baktun was approximately 400 years long and ended on the 21st of December 2012. The Mayans did not think it would be necessary to carve the next circle, because that cycle would end on October 12th 4772. It is pretty reasonable to assume that by then a better way to store their calendar would be invented than a giant rock.

Inventions The Mayans have invented way more then only mathematics, writing and astronomy: chocolate, for example. The cacao bean was first used around 250 A.D. The Mayans mixed the bean with peppers to make a fiery hot chocolate drink. Other uses for cacao beans were discovered, one of which is glue, which you obtain when you boil different mixtures.

Chocolate wasn’t the only feel good nutrient. The Mayans have used hallucinogenic drugs throughout their whole history.

These drugs were mainly used to communicate with the gods, but a number of these substances have been used as painkillers in modern medicine.

The last main invention of the Mayans, that is still used to this day, is rubber. Even though the patent for the invention of

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rubber went to Charles Goodyear in 1844, rubber was invented way earlier. The Mayans have invented rubber around 1600 B.C. They did not have the same uses for it as we have today, but rubber was used for their favourite pastime; a rubber ballgame that is little bit like baseball. In short, the Mayans were ahead of their time!

Career

Interview Wessel Wits Hardware Architect WRITTEN BY LEX VERBERNE On the Wednesday after carnival, which you may know better as the weekend we could all go ice-skating, I met online with Wessel Wits, a Hardware Architect at Thales. I had the opportunity to ask him some questions about what working at Thales is like and how he experiences it. You may know Thales from their location in Eindhoven where they produce cryogenic coolers, but there are many more projects this multinational company works on. However, before we dive in deep, let’s start with some general background.

Who is Wessel?

As mentioned before, Wessel is an engineer at Thales. But before you end up with such a specialized job, he was a student like all of us. He began his study Mechanical Engineering in 1997 at the University of Twente, after which he did his Master in

the specialization of mechatronics. During his study, he had the opportunity to do his internship in Queensland (Australia) and his graduation project was about combining different engineering design disciplines into one design tool. This part of engineering has always fascinated him and so he continued in this field of expertise later on.

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Career

How did you end up at Thales?

After graduating at the UT, Wessel surely wasn’t done there yet. He was asked for a PhD project in which he could work on optimizing antenna designs to enable cost benefits of mass production. As you might have guessed, this assignment was supported by Thales, so that’s when he first got in touch with the company. During his PhD, he already worked in the head office in Hengelo for a few days a week. This even resulted in him being the first Dutch engineer to receive the Thales PhD price in 2010 for the best PhD research within the Thales organization worldwide!

After his PhD, Wessel decided to remain at the UT, where he could work on his research and teach Mechanical Engineering students courses on engineering design. While being Assistant Professor, he set up his own research line not surprisingly with topics close to Thales’ interests, such as thermal management.

This included research on how new technologies, like 3D printing, could be used in this field of engineering. While doing so, he mentored quite some students for their graduation project, many of them doing projects at Thales.

After almost 15 years of working for the UT, Wessel decided it was time for something new. After a 6-months sabbatical at NLR (Netherlands Aerospace Center), he was invited by Thales to work as a Hardware Architect. They were looking for an outsider however with experience and knowledge of the company, which made him the perfect candidate. So, finally after being in close contact with Thales for a long time already, as of 2018 Wessel became an official employee.

Could you give a general description of your function?

As Hardware Architect, Wessel holds an interesting position. He

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works at the Mechanical and Electrical Engineering department, where he has two roles. On the one hand, he is hardware architect for several projects, which means he is responsible for the design of new products, how they can be fabricated and how they meet customer requirements.. Some examples can be seen later in the interview. On the other hand, Wessel is responsible for implementing new technologies and processes into the department: an interesting challenge! Take for instance hot topics like Industry 4.0, artificial intelligence or 3D-printing.

These techniques have been hyped for the last couple of years in academia and industry, but how can they be implemented effectively? Wessel tries to find way to supplement their existing design tools, develop new working methods, and find potential new employees through his academic contacts.

What is the working environment within Thales like?

Wessel experiences a relaxed, yet energizing environment at his department. He notices that colleagues are very cooperative when someone needs something and always like to help out.

Since the products they develop are rather expensive, budget for full-scale prototyping is limited. Hence, they follow the so called ‘first time right’ principle, in which the first produced product needs to be fully functioning and error free . As you can imagine, this requires comprehensive modelling, testing and simulation beforehand. Also expertise is of crucial importance in order to succeed with this way of working. This expertise is passed on from colleague to colleague smoothly, as they work in multidisciplinary project teams and due to the approachable working culture.

What are the projects you are currently working on?

Currently, Wessel is working on two projects, both in the area of radar systems and antennas.

Career

R&D, this is no surprise. This results in high-tech systems and developing products that are the best of the best. Furthermore, all fields and disciplines within Mechanical Engineering are applied in Thales projects, from heat and flow to mechatronics and structural analysis, and from design to production and logistics. Since everyone has their own kind of expertise, you learn a lot from other colleagues on the job while deepening your own area of expertise.

Because Thales is a multinational company that has facilities worldwide, there are possibilities to work abroad as well.

Although Wessel mainly talked about radar systems they develop in Hengelo, Thales has many other fields of expertise as well. In the Netherlands alone, you can also find departments for cybersecurity, communication systems or cryogenic coolers for instance.

Would you mind to share some final advice?

The MMR during operation The MMR (Multi Mission Radar) The hardware design for this project is almost finished. The launching customer is the Dutch Armed Forces. For this project, a radar system needs to be developed that is suitable for fast and flexible deployment on land. Typically, our radar systems are integrated on a naval vessel, but for this application the system needs to work on a moving truck. This was a challenging design task, since the vessel normally houses essential services to the system like climate control, power and a stable basis. Now this needed to be implemented in a movable platform. Furthermore, during deployment the radar must be raised from a horizontal transport position to a vertical operating position quickly. This is in order to deploy, operate and transport the system as fast as possible. So, in short, a challenge that requires innovative solutions. Currently, the MMR is being produced so Wessel remains in contact with the production floor to resolve potential assembly and production hick-ups.

Wessel remembered that during his studies, he was asked if he saw himself as a specialist, designer or organizer. This distinction had nothing to do with his technical field of interest, but he has noticed that these three distinctions are also typical for industry work. In the end, all three are needed to make a project a success and all three complement each other.

“Thales is a good fit between in-depth research and industry development”

The NS50 The other project is a new radar system (the NS50) which has been recently contracted for the new Mine Counter Measures Vessels (MCMV) of the Belgium and Netherlands navies.

Challenges of this new system are related to the strategic choice of offering both search and fire control capabilities for small to mid-size vessels. For larger vessels Thales already has high-tech radar systems in their portfolio. For smaller ships weight and size requirements are naturally different, but still a high quality solution must be developed first time right. By working together as mechanical and electrical engineers in the department, they are working efficiently on the release of the first product.

Why would someone want to work at Thales?

With all the research experience Wessel already has, he found that Thales is a good fit between in-depth research and industry development. With about 30% reinvestment of annual sales into

Impression of the NS50 Are you curious what Thales could offer you? There are many internships, graduation projects and vacancies which you can find at https://jobs.thalesgroup.com/

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Tech

LEONARDO DA VINCI A man far ahead of his time

WRITTEN BY KIM VAN LOON

“The earth is not in the centre of the sun’s orbit nor at the centre of the universe, but in the centre of its companion elements, and united with them. And anyone standing on the moon, when it and the sun are both beneath us, would see this our earth and the element of water upon it just as we see the moon, and the earth would light it as it lights us.”

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~Leonardo Da Vinci~

Tech

Leonardo Da Vinci, a name that should ring a bell for everybody.

Codex Atlanticus

Born as the illegitimate child of a nobleman and a peasant in the 16th century, he was unable to receive a formal education. He did receive some informal education in Latin, Geometry, and Mathematics.

In his teenage years, he started working as a studio boy where he gradually learned arts. As we all know Leonardo became a well-known artist with his most famous piece being the Mona Lisa. A little less known is the influence Leonardo had as an engineer.

Because of his art studies, Leonardo was a great observant and maybe that is the reason he was also a great engineer and inventor. But what is it exactly what Da Vinci contributed as an engineer?

The Codex Atlanticus, as said above is huge and it would be impossible to go over everything in it. The full Codex can be found by scanning this QR code.

As said before the Codex Atlanticus contains almost all notes of Leonardo between 1478 and 1519, also a lot of inventions done by Leonardo are in there.

Most of these inventions were not recognized at the time because Leonardo was not seen as a real scholar. Things that he worked on were devices for manufacturing, transportation, and war. The last two came together when he designed movable barricades to protect the city of Milan in an attack when he was employed as an engineer there.

During his life, Leonardo kept notes on everything he thought about from the perspective of an engineer.

Two of his most important works are the ‘Codex on the Flight of Birds’ and the ‘Codex Atlanticus’. The last one got its name by the massive size of it. Because it was so massive, the paper that was used for atlases was used for it. The Codex Atlanticus consists of 2238 pages and is divided into twelve volumes. It consists of a lot of notes made by Leonardo in his lifetime with the oldest from 1478 and the newest from 1519.

Codex Leicester

Codex on the Flight of Birds In the Codex on the Flight of Birds Leonardo analyses the way birds fly. Special in this analysis is that a biomechanical approach was taken in answering the question ‘how can birds fly?’ Also, the answer to that question was translated into a way to reproduce the flight of birds. A technical, greatly simplified approach of flight is given with, for example, pulleys and strings. An example of this can be seen in the picture with on the right the original by Leonardo and on the left the translated version. Even an actual flying machine is proposed here, to be followed by more flying machines later in his life.

The full codex on the Flight of Birds is translated and can be read by scanning the QR code. It is not very big and if you are interested in the mind of Da Vinci it is great to read it.

Codex on the Flight of Birds

Codex Atlanticus

Leonardo wrote the Codex Leicester between 1504 and 1508. The codex is a mixture of all of Leonardo’s observations and theories on astronomy. In this codex he states that he believes plate tectonics are the only reason sea fossiles can be found on mountaintops.

This was far before that theory was widely accepted.

Da Vinci also wrote down his thoughts on the luminosity of the moon. He believed the moon was coverd in water, which reflected the light of the sun.

Also he stated that the dark part of the moon is still slightly visible because sunlight reflected from the earth shines on it. This phenomenum later got the name planetshine as Johannes Kepler proved the theory.

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Influence of Da Vinci today?

Unfortunately, because Leonardo was not taken seriously by other scholars, he did not have any real influence in the work of others and the only influence he left was the work he personally worked on like the defences of Milan. What also did not help his case was how he was always doing a lot of things at the same time. This caused him to not finish a lot of his projects.

Much of his ideas were unfortunately never used anywhere although they were ground-breaking discoveries later on, by someone else. Yes, you read that correctly, many of Leonardo’s ideas were later re-discovered by people who had no idea Leonardo was the first to come with the idea. Take for instance the steam engine. Quite an impressive invention by James Watt, only it was not Watt who designed the first steam engine… As you might guess, Da Vinci designed the first steam engine. It was even simpler than the one Watt designed as Watt used complicated transmissions because it was feared that a simple crank-and-rod would not work. Unknown to Watt, Da Vinci had proposed an idea more than a century before him that did work quite like that. Da Vinci had used a crank and something that would now be called a flywheel in his much simpler design.

Another example is the worm gear. Leonardo had invented this ‘endless screw’ in his time, only he never got the credit for it because two centuries later it was rediscovered by an English clockmaker who had no idea he was not the first to discover it.

A lasting mark on the work Fortunately, Da Vinci did get some record for his great mind, even if it came 500 years later. In his time, Leonardo designed a bridge for the sultan of the Ottoman empire where the ships with sails would be able to pass underneath. At that time the sultan thought it was impossible to build that bridge and it was therefore never built. Half a millennium later, however, a Swiss scientist concluded his plans were technically feasible, and in 2001 his bridge, although scaled-down in size, was built over a Norwegian highway.

Leonardo also worked on a way to provide Florence with a waterway. The only way to do this was to use sluice gates, Leonardo was the one to think of this and to design the gated canal. He designed the technique that is still used in for instance the Panama canal these days.

Did you know?

•Leonardo was left-handed and wrote everything mirrored.

•Da Vinci is not Leonardo’s official last name. Because he was a bastard he had no official last name. ‘Da Vinci’ simply indicated he was from Vinci. Leonardo’s full name, with his father’s last name, was: Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci.

•Leonardo was at some point under the protection of the pope.

•Because Leonardo was not trained to be a scholar, his work was largely ignored by other scholars of his time. Appreciation for his work only started 150 years ago. Because of this it is believed that about 75% of his work is lost.

•A documentary ‘Leonardo’s dream machines’ build and tested some of his machines. A giant crossbow and a hang glider are made.

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LOCKDOWN LEISURE

CARBIDE CANNON Looking a few months back, New Years’ eve was not as exciting as previous years. Not only weren’t you allowed to visit more than one friend, you were also not allowed to light or possess fireworks. To get over this disappointment, me and my brother decided to go ‘carbidschieten’ and to build a cannon ourselves.

Having decided how to build the canon, I suggested to put it on our Suzuki Vo’tara (vitara), which is exactly what we did.

WRITTEN BY RICK KAPELLE

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Tech

REACH FOR THE STARS

The Dyson sphere is a theoretical colossal space structure, which completely encompasses a star. It has the goal to harvest as much energy from the star as possible. Given that stars are basically giant fusion reactors, with our sun radiating as much as 3.83 × 1026 Watt and only a miniscule fraction reaching any orbiting planets, you can only imagine the amount of energy that can be harvested creating a structure this close to the star. Just to cover the surface of the sun you need 6.07 x 1018 m2 of material. This equals to over a quadrillion football fields of surface area! To even consider tackling such a project would mean that we would almost have exhausted all of earth resources and can’t meet the power demand. Instead of making this megastructure reality, maybe we should focus on limiting the use of earthly resources…

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Career

UNIPARTNERS

WRITTEN BY THIJS GHERING

It is not unlikely that you, the reader, has at least once seen a container that is used for shipping products across the world with a cargo ship or train. Chances are that this would have been a so-called 20ftcontainer, as this is the most used variant worldwide. However, there is another type of container that is used extensively around the globe, the tank container. In 2019, a total of 604,700 tank containers were used worldwide, which is a 10.8% increase compared to 2018. This significant growth is one of several reasons that constant innovation is key in the competitive world of bulk transport.

Because that is what tank containers are mostly used for, bulk transport. The transportation of all the (semi)-raw materials you can think of, like oil, corn, chalk, cacao, chocolate, flour, milk, rice and many, many more. It is important to mention that every time such a container is to be filled with product, the truck driver has to climb on top of the container in order to open the manhole covers. And it is exactly this action that, in the twentyfirst century, could be automated to increase the safety of the truck drivers and the efficiency of the loading operation. At least that is what they thought at Van Den Bosch, a top-10 European bulk transport company that leads through constant innovation.

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Van den Bosch Ever since it was founded in 1964, Van den Bosch has been driven by the will to do things differently. To challenge everything that is standard, traditional, and customary. Among other things, they innovate with the ground-level controlled manhole cover.

“These kinds of innovations fuel our business and enable us to positively change supply chains. Because of that we see ourselves as the Supply Changer in Bulk.”As mentioned, the goal of Van Den Bosch was to come up with a manhole cover that can be opened and closed by the truck driver without having to climb on top of the tank container. At the start of this project,

Career

Van Den Bosch was already in a first stage collaboration with a possible manufacturer. Unfortunately, there was no technical data at this initial stage, so everything had to be started from scratch. The research focused on the design of the cover, the costs of production and materials, and on meeting the requirements set by Van Den Bosch. The two most significant requirements by Van Den Bosch were that the cover should be able to withstand an internal pressure of 4 bar and it should be operated pneumatically instead of hydraulically due to food transport regulations.

methods were tested to close the lid with sufficient force. The initial method, putting pressure on the lid with a spring-loaded mechanism, was disregarded as it took too much additional moving parts to operate it from ground level. It turned out that the best method yielded a seal that would inflate and seal the lid in all directions as it expanded. The principle of this seal is visualized by the figure below.

Design

When all necessary parts are known and detailed CAD-designs are available, the total production cost per unit can be assessed.

In order to estimate these costs, multiple manufacturers and suppliers are consulted for every required part. The two most valuable components are the machined aluminum cover and the inflatable seal. All the actuators that are necessary for operation also contribute significantly to the total cost. Remaining costs are for wearing friction parts, additional assembly accessories and the rotational hinge. The estimated cost per automated cover is calculated for orders of at least 20 pieces. Exact prices can unfortunately not be given in this article due to confidentiality agreements.

The most crucial part of the automated cover design is, of course, the cover itself. The cover, which is made of aluminum for weight reduction, pivots around the base structure. This base structure is designed such that it can easily be mounted to the original tank container without any additional modifications.

The rotation of the cover on and off the manhole is actuated and can be controlled by a terminal at the bottom of the tank container. The power needed to actuate the cover is provided by the truck itself. Once the cover is rotated exactly above the manhole, it should also be closed tightly with at least 4 bar as required by Van Den Bosch. In order to do this, a special seal is used, which is explained in the next paragraph.

Cost analysis

Figure 2: Inflatable seal

Further research

Figure 1: Original manhole cover design

Seal The manhole cover is equipped with a seal that can close the cover airtight. In order to withstand the 4 bar internal pressure of the tank, the cover should be pressed on the tank with a pressure higher than 4 bar. In that case, the cover will remain closed due to the greater force acting on the cover from the outside. Several

With this analysis, a feasibility research on the automated lid is completed and presented to Van Den Bosch. Consequently, Van Den Bosch has new insights regarding one of many innovations that could potentially be beneficial for the transport industry in the future. The specific investigation with respect to the construction, materials and costs involved allows the company to request the right activities from the actual manufacturer of the lid. Additional advice is given in an elaborate report that consists of possible design alterations for reduced costs, models for in-house production of the automated lid and a discussion on possible complications when used on different types of tank containers. These points of optimization are not considered in the feasibility study as they require extensive research that was not accounted for in the project specification.

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Bachelor Final Project

Hydrogen as fuel for domestic boilers

Hello, my name is Derk de Jong. I am a fourth-year Mechanical Engineering student. Last semester I did my final bachelor project at the Power & Flow research group under the supervision of Yuriy Shoshyn. In this project I did research on the combustion behaviour of premixed hydrogen-air flames in a perforated plate burner. This project was done in collaboration with Bosch TT Deventer, who work on an application of hydrogen as fuel in domestic boilers.

Written by Derk de Jong

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Introduction With a growing world population resulting in an increasing energy demand, we must look for alternative energy sources and carriers in order to make the world less dependent on fossil fuels. One of those alternative energy carriers could be hydrogen. Hydrogen can be produced using clean energy sources like solar or wind energy. It could then be used in domestic boilers instead of natural gas. Unfortunately, it is not possible to safely run a normal domestic boiler, designed for natural gas, on hydrogen. To use hydrogen in domestic boilers, more research needs to be done about its combustion behaviour to be able to design a boiler that can safely and efficiently run on hydrogen. In this project, the combustion behaviour of premixed hydrogen-air flames is investigated on a perforated plate burner. For a burner to work in a boiler application there are multiple important requirements; it needs to be fuel-efficient and silent. The flame length can not be too high or it will damage the heat exchanger. Furthermore, they need to have a high turndown ratio. That is the ratio between the minimal power and maximum power at which the flames in the burner are stable. The goal of this project is to find the effects of flow rate, equivalence ratio (ratio between the air-fuel ratio and the stochiometric air-fuel ratio), and burner plate layout on flame stability, flame length, radiative power, burner plate temperature and NOx emissions. This is done using a set of experiments.

Setup An existing setup was modified for usage in this project.The setup consists of a burner that is fed a mixture of hydrogen and air which is controlled by a set of mass flow controllers. A ball valve is added before the burner to quickly shut off the gas supply in case of flashback (when the mixture underneath the burner plate is ignited).

Next to this, there is an extra air hose connected to the burner to cool the burner housing. To measure the temperature of the burner plate, a pyrometer is used. Furthermore, a camera equipped with a UV-lens and two optical filters is used to

take UV-images to determine the flame length and radiative power. To measure NOx emissions, a gas analyser is used in combination with a water-cooled probe. A thermostat is used to keep the cooling water around 40°C to protect the probe from overheating, while preventing the forming of condensation on the probe.

The burner can be fitted with different burner plates. In this project 5 different burner plates with different slit width and pitch where installed to investigate the effects of the burner plate layout.

Experiments and analysis

During the experiments the flow rate and equivalence ratio were varied, the burner plate temperature and NOx emissions were measured and pictures were taken to determine the length and radiative power of the flames.

Furthermore, the stability limits where determined. This is very important, because if a burner gets unstable, this can lead to very dangerous situations, when not acted upon immediately. There are two ways a burner can get unstable.

The first one is called ‘blow off’ and this happens when the flame is blown off the burner deck. This typically happens at very high flow rates and low equivalence ratios. The second cause of instability is ‘flashback’, which is when the mixture

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below the burner plate is ignited. Flashback can occur by either the flame shooting through one of the holes in the burner plate or the plate getting so hot that it ignites the mixture below.

Flashback is the main problem with using hydrogen instead of natural gas. This is caused by the higher burning velocity of hydrogen, which results in shorter flames and thus more heat production close to the burner plate.

Next to the experimentally determined flame length, a theoretical flame length is calculated. This is done in order to compare it with the experimental results and see if preferential diffusion and flame stretch have a significant impact on the flame length.

In this simple calculation diffusion and flame stretch effects have been neglected and a few assumptions have been made: there is a uniform cold mixture velocity profile across the slit, which does not change with the height above the burner plate.

The flame front is infinitely thin and all mixture that flows through the slit burns at the flame front. The burning velocity is equal to the laminar burning velocity (which is known form literature and dependent on the equivalence ratio) for each front location. In this assumption the cross section of the flame shape will be an isosceles triangle with a base equal to the slit width.

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This all results in the following formula:

Shown in the figures below, experimental and theoretical data show approximately the same shape, but the absolute value differs significantly. This indicates a significant impact of flame stretch and preferential diffusion on the flame length.

Furthermore, a higher flow rate will result in a higher flame length and a higher equivalence ratio will result in a shorter flame length.

Education

The radiative flame power is calculated in arbitrary unit by integrating the image intensity over the projected flame area.

These relative values can be converted to absolute values to, for instance, compare these experimental results with simulations.

This can be done by determining a few calibration factors by taking pictures (with the same camera and filters) of a known radiation source, like a tungsten ribbon lamp. While finishing this project, someone at Bosch TT was still working on these calibration factors.

While analysing the measured burner plate temperature, an interesting trend was found: at low equivalence ratios, a higher flow rate results in a higher temperature, while at higher ratios, a higher flow rate results in a lower temperature. An explanation for this phenomenon has not been found in this project, but would be interesting to investigate in further research.

After analysing the NOx emission data, it could be concluded that, within the measurement range, the NOx emission increases exponentially with the equivalence ratio and does not depend on the flow rate very much.

The colored figures below show the stability limits of the burner with the different burner plates. On the horizontal axis the flow rate is shown and on the vertical axis the equivalence ratio. In the green area the burner behaviour is stable, in the red area flashback occurs. The yellow area is the area where it transitions from stable to instable. The width of this area is determined by the step size used in the experiments. As can be seen, in the measured range only flashback occurs and no blow off.

The top two figures have the same slit width and an increasing slit pitch. As can be seen, a bigger pitch results in a more stable burner behaviour. Looking at the bottom two figures with both different slit width and pitch and by taking the previous in mind, it can be concluded that wider slits will result in less stable burner behaviour.

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Hephtig: Analog Photography The signs of a true hipster: man-bun, beard, a MacBook, a Starbucks cup with their misspelt name on it and an old-timey looking camera hanging around their neck.

It’s this last part of the outfit that I want to discuss today because some interesting processes make it possible to transfer something you see in the world onto a piece of film.

WRITTEN BY CAS DIJKSTRA

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The basics To start off, let’s give a little bit of an introduction to the general workings of a camera for those of you who are less familiar with them. A camera takes an image by capturing the light reflecting from an object through a lens and projecting it onto a light-sensitive surface. In modern cameras, this surface consists of a digital sensor which is made up of many pixels. In an analog camera, this function is fulfilled by a roll of film which contains photo-sensitive crystals that react to the light falling on them.

When trying to understand photography, 3 technical terms are important to understand: Aperture is the size of the opening in the lens through which light enters the camera. A larger opening results in more light. Shutter speed is the time for which light is allowed to fall on the film or sensor. Finally, ISO is the sensitivity of the film or sensor. For a digital sensor, the ISO can be set for each individual picture. When working with an analog medium, the ISO is set by the film and cannot be altered halfway through.

In order to preview the image before you take it, many cameras use a prism/mirror system to reflect the image coming through the lens onto your eye. When taking a photo, the mirror flips up to allow the light to pass, the shutter opens for a short amount of time and the light is allowed to fall onto the film.

The film This is really where the magic happens. There are many brands and variants of photographic film and they can produce wildly different looks. The film determines whether you shoot in black & white or colour. It also determines the contrast, colour profile, and quite importantly, the light sensitivity. Some films are more sensitive to light than others which means you can produce lighter

images while keeping shutter speed or aperture low. There is also a difference between a film that produces negatives that can be printed or scanned and a film that produces slides (NL: dia’s). For this article, I will only discuss the photographic process and development of the negative film.

The photographic film consists of a coating of a gelatin emulsion that contains light-sensitive silver halide crystals. Silver halide is the common name given to silver salts that combine the element silver with a halogen element. For photographic film silver bromide is most commonly used. When a photon is absorbed by such a crystal, they cause a so-called free-carrier to be formed. An electron that can move through the crystal lattice structure.

When one of these migrating electrons encounters a crystalline defect such as a dislocation or a small cluster of a trace element it can be trapped and combined with a silver ion to form metallic silver.

Film manufacturers can add these trace elements or dislocations to the crystalline structure to increase the film’s sensitivity. They can also increase the size of the crystals on the film to the same effect. Important to note is that all the areas in the scene that are light will darken, whilst the dark areas will appear light. This is called a negative image. Through further processing or (in modern times) scanning, the image is converted to a (normal) positive.

The short exposure when taking the photo is not enough to produce a visible image. In the figure below, you can see a film that was exposed for 2 days, which produces a barely visible result. Here you can also see how the bright sky is black, while the shadowy scene is light.

In order to produce a visible image, the film must be developed. I will get to the development process later, but for now, it suffices to say that the more light a crystal has absorbed the stronger it will come through after development.

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Colour film Naturally, silver halide crystals are only susceptible to blue light. Colour photography became possible when certain dyes were discovered that could be adsorbed onto the crystals making them respond to other colours as well. In practice, this film is composed of at least three layers that capture the different primary colours. The blue-sensitive crystals usually make up the top layer of film, after that, a filter layer is applied to stop any blue light from interfering with the layers below.

After the development bath, the film is bathed in a stopper that halts the development process. The following fixer dissolves all remaining silver halide, making the film no longer sensitive to light. Up until this step, it is imperative that the film is not exposed to any light. Finally, clean water is used to rinse off any remaining fixer. The figure on the right shows all the stages of taking and developing the photo: First, the crystal is exposed, creating a small speck of metallic silver. During development, the exposed crystal is completely turned into metallic silver. The remaining silver halide is washed out by the fixer, leaving only the exposed crystals.

Colour processing

The different layers of colour film can be seen in the figure above: (1) Film base; (2) Subbing layer, mostly an adhesive; (3) red-sensitive layer; (4) Green sensitive layer; (5) Filter; (6) Blue sensitive layer; (7) UV filter; (8) Protective layer. This is the minimum amount of layers, but different films can have as many as 12 emulsion layers containing all sorts of different chemicals to create a distinctive-looking image.

Developing film As mentioned earlier, the exposure itself is not sufficient to produce a visible image. This is why the development process is necessary.

During this process, the silver halide crystals that were exposed are fully converted to silver. To do this the film is soaked in a developer.

This is a chemical solution that provides electrons to the crystals.

The more light a crystal absorbed during the initial exposure, the faster this process will take place.

This process has to be timed pretty precisely, if the film remains in the solution for too long all crystals will fully convert and the image will be blank. It is however possible to play around with the development time a little to purposely darken or lighten the image. This technique can also be used to compensate if the film was improperly exposed while taking the shot.

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As explained earlier, the colour film uses certain dyes to retrieve colour information from the picture. During the development process, a few extra steps are necessary to produce the colours on the final negative. First of all, a different type of developer is used. When the electrons are donated to convert the crystals to metallic silver, this oxidizes the developer which in turn activates socalled “dye couplers” which produce colour dyes in each emulsion layer.

Next, the metallic silver is rehalogenized into silver halide, which can be removed by the fixer, leaving only the dyes.

The result It really is quite a process to produce a single image and it is all much more complex compared to digital alternatives.

Nonetheless, analog photography is on the rise.

Photographers have different reasons for choosing film over digital. The fact is that film images have a different “look” to them. They are often a little more grainy and have not as much contrast as digital photos tend to have. This grain can be seen as a defect but for most this adds to the nostalgic feel of the picture.

JAMES BOND CARS WRITTEN BY ROEL VAN DER VELDE

Bond. James Bond. You probably have heard that phrase a dozen of times before. It’s from MI6’s special agent 007. Associated with Bond are the beautiful Bond girls, high-tech gadgets, guns and of course, very fast cars. Let’s look at the cars of the most iconic British sports car manufacturer: Aston Martin!

The most iconic car of all must be the silver Aston Martin DB5 with all of its gadgets. The car had its first appearance in the third movie, Goldfinger (1964). Some of the gadgets this car has are the flipping license plate, machine guns behind the indicators, the pop-up bullet proof shield and, of course, the passenger ejection seat. The DB5 would return later in multiple movies and

will return in No Time to Die, the upcoming 25th Bond movie. The car was powered by a 4.0-litre six-in-line engine providing for around 282 bhp and 390 Nm of torque. Its top speed is (only) 233 km/h and it takes 8(!) seconds to go from 0-100 km/h. For the time, these figures were amazing, but nowadays, a passenger car can do this.

The console with the buttons for all of the gadgets in the DB5

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Sean Connery with the famous DB5

The next Aston was the DBS, another beautiful Grand Tourer (GT). This car also had a 4.0 inline-six engine, generating 282 bhp and 543 Nm of torque. The car first appeared in the movie On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969). The DBS did not have the fancy gadgets the DB5 had, it only had a weapons compartment.

After the DB5 and the DBS, there were quite a few movies without Aston Martins. But in the movie The Living Daylights (1987), Aston returned with the Aston Martin V8. This is the successor to the DBS. Contrary to the cars before, this Aston had a V8 engine, as the name suggests. Specifically, a 5.3-litre V8 capable of 310 bhp and a torque of 490 Nm, enough to go from 0 to 100 km/h in 5.7 seconds!

In the movies after The Living Daylight, the DB5 makes its appearance twice more before again a new Aston Martin can be seen in Die Another Day (2002). In this movie, you can see the V12 Vanquish (banner). Aston Martin is not really original with names, as this car has a 6.0 L V12 engine. This engine allows for 466 bhp and 542 Nm of torque and has an

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astonishing top speed of 306 km/h. A fun fact, the automatic gear box can shift in only 250 milliseconds!

In the movie, the car has the nickname ‘Vanish’, as it had special adaptive camouflage. To make things even better, the car had a cloaking device making the car invisible with the push of a button. The car had even more gadgets, like guns and missiles in the grille, a device that can put the car back on its wheels when it has been flipped over, spikes, bullet proof windows and other high-tech gadgets. Aston was back with a high-tech car!

The next Aston we find in the movies is the DBS V12. It appeared in Casino Royale (2006) and Quantum of Solace (2008). It has the same name as the earlier car, but is the successor to the V12 Vanquish. This car also has the 6.0 V12, but this time it provides for 517 bhp and 570 Nm of torque.

The 0-100 time has dropped even further to 4.3 seconds.

In Casino Royale, the car’s only gadgets are a defibrillator and a spare gun in the dashboard. The car also has a reinforced chassis to withstand the violent car chases in the movies.

The Aston Martin DBS

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The Aston Martin V8

In the most recent movie, Spectre (2015) the DB10 makes its appearance. This car was solely produced

by Aston for the fifty-year partnership with the James Bond franchise. Only ten were manufactured, of which eight were used for the movie. As a result, the car is not street legal in any way and probably never will be. The DB10 has a 4.7-litre V8 engine producing 430 bhp and 490 Nm of torque.

The car takes much inspiration from the DB5 when it comes to 007-gadgets. Rear flame throwers, machine guns, ejector seats with parachutes and many more high-tech gadgets. Sadly for Bond, when being chased by Mr. Hinx (in an equally stunning Jaguar C-X75) through Rome, the machine guns were not loaded.

In the upcoming movie, No Time to Die, the Aston Martin Valhalla will make an appearance, next to the DB5, V8 and the newest DBS Superleggera. We only have to wait a while until the movie drops is released to know which gadgets these cars will have.

Daniel Craig and the DB10

Prince Charles en Daniel Craig with the V8 and the DB5

The V12 Vanquish with all of its weapons

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VANDERLANDE

WRITTEN BY SANDOR HABETS

Vanderlande is the global market leader for future-proof logistic process automation which almost every Mechanical Engineering student would know from their large role in airport logistics. This is, of course, an important part of Vanderlande, but not every student tends to be aware of all of their activities and what this company has to offer. Therefore, I was glad to get the opportunity to interview Joep Michels about his experiences within Vanderlande.

Vanderlande Vanderlande started as a family business in the Dutch town of Veghel active in the refurbishing and production of machines for the textile industry. Nowadays, it is present in each of the world’s expanding markets. It has continued to grow and is now a reliable partner for future proof logistic process automation.

The activities of Vanderlande can be subdivided into three branches: airports, parcels and warehousing.

• Airports: You might be familiar with the conveyer belts of Vanderlande, but this company can actually be responsible for the entire passenger experience at an airport, from bag drop and passenger security checks to the storage, sortation, flight make-up and the eventual baggage reclaim.

Their systems are active in around 600 airports across the

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globe. A challenge that this company is currently working on is the use of automated vehicles for baggage transportation.

Warehousing: This is an enormously growing market.

Warehousing deals with very complex logistics that require high-quality algorithms. Ideally, the entire warehouse should be fully automatized and this requires a lot of flexibility in handling the levels of orders. All variables need to be taken into account, from how many orders can be stored in a trolley or truck, to the ductility, shape and layout of a single product.

Parcels: Especially at this time, the parcel industry is extremely important with increasingly more demands from its customers. This means that meeting service level demands are becoming increasingly tough. Every day, the systems of Vanderlande sort more than 48 million parcels.

Career

Role within the company Joep is not an unfamiliar face within our association. He studied Mechanical Engineering here in Eindhoven and graduated in Systems Engineering in 2012. He ended up at Vandelande by visiting one of the open days at the company that was organized via the TU/e. He was looking for a job in which he could combine his interest in technology with his organizational skills. When he applied for the job of integration engineer, it was instantly a

great match.

He started as an integration engineer within the airport business on relatively smaller projects comparable in size to the airport of Eindhoven. His role wasto integrate different products (multidisciplinary) into one working system and making sure the system works as specified. When a project was sold, it was his task to ‘translate’ the customers’ demands for the engineers who will eventually develop it. Next, he monitored the different developments and made sure that all developments were delivered on time with the right level of quality. When certain parts have been delivered and integrated he executes test plans to make sure the system works as expected and all defects are fixed before the system is taken into operations. The testing of the system is always done in two different phases. Firstly, software development is always tested in-house in Veghel. A model is made of all physical equipment to which the controlling software is applied. In this way, a lot of tests can be performed in a relatively short period of time. Besides, it is important to identify potential risks as quickly as possible in the process and by doing so, increasing the efficiency and reducing the costs.

The earlier issues are discovered the cheaper it is to fix them. For example, correcting a requirement before it has been developed is much cheaper than finding out with a test that the software is not working as expected because of a wrong requirement. If thetests in Veghel have been executed successfully the software can be deployed on site. During the second phase, tests on site with real equipment can be executed. . You can imagine that the possible risks need to be as small as possible before performing a test on the final location with thousands of suitcases. Al functions which require on-site equipment will still be tested on site. Due to the on-site tests, he visited a lot of different locations in the

first three years at Vanderlande from ranging from our own Schiphol or Vietnam to slightly less familiar holiday destinations such as Turkmenistan and Saudi-Arabia where he would stay for a couple of months each time.

After being an integration engineer for two years, he continued his career as an integration manager where he was allowed to lead his own projects. With this new position, he became responsible for coordinatiion with the customer, the planning, managing budgets and execution of the tests. This also includes support during the sales phase in which it is important to try sell as many standards as possible. Over the years, the company has developed an extensive portfolio of products that are guaranteed to work and can therefore be delivered faster and cheaper. It is essential to know exactly what the customer wants in order to see whether most of their requirements can already be met with the standards.

For every project there is a certain amount of time and a budget available. It is the responsibility of the integration manager to create a test strategy which allows Vanderlande to deliver a project on time within the budgets with the right quality. In comparison to his time as an integration engineer, Joep is currently less concerned with the technology itself and more focused on organizing. It has, however, been very beneficial for his current position to have focused on the technology for a few years first.

Projects For most of his career, Joep has worked on projects within the airport sector with only one exception. For two years, he worked on a project centered around a very large warehouse of the Woolworths company in Australia. This was a unique challenge as this was the first project of its kind for Vanderlande and almost every single part of the process had to be developed from scratch. The goal was to create an almost fully automatized order picking process for the delivery of goods. The process starts with the arrival of goods packaged on pallets which are stored in the high bay storage. Certain characteristics such as weight, shape and ductility of a product are all stored in the software. All pallets are unpiled automatically and stored separately in the second

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part of the system. When Woolworths orders a pack of goods, the goods are sent to a robot that stacks and wraps the package automatically. The ‘tetris’ software uses characteristics such as weight and shape to find the optimal way to stack the goods. If the pallets are finished, they are picked up by automated guided vehicles who deliver them to the right lorry. Even factors such as equal division of weight inside the truck are taken into account in the software. You can imagine that a system like this is very complex. Joeps role in this project was to manage the factory test phase were he directed a group of 7 test engineers. His team was constantly testing new products and functionalities. All the defects were fed back to the software engineers. With this information the software engineers fixed the defects, created new versions which were tested again... If the quality level was sufficient the software was sent to site were certain parts were tested again before the system was taken into production by the customer.

Working for Vanderlande Vanderlande offers a wide variety of positions and roles for Mechanical Engineers. There are a lot of projects in diverse sectors where you can work in different ways, depending on whether you prefer programming, R&D, organizing, etc. So almost every student should be able to find a role that suits you (unless you are looking for a very specific specialization such a fluid mechanics etc.)

Joep really enjoys working for Vandelande. When he started working for this company, it was still more of a family business.

Over the years, the growth of this company has been very noticeable in the way of working within the company. The company aims to do a lot for each individual, i.e. the facilitation of leisure/sports activities for their employees. Despite the growth, it remains a warm company with a pleasant work atmosphere.

Joep indicated that he likes that there is also an entrepreneurial aspect to his job. You can run your own project from beginning to end and have a lot of freedom in how you manage and complete it. Being able to eventually deliver a final product to a customer gives a great feeling of accomplishment.

Joep advises students to make good use of their student time for self-development, enjoying it and figuring out what you really like to do. When he was still a student, he did a board-year within our Association. He learned a lot of valuable skills that year from which he greatly benefitted in the early years of his career.

Furthermore, try to orientate yourself within the labour market as soon as possible and visit different companies to find out what is suits you best!

After the Woolworths project, he returned to the airport sector when given the opportunity to work as an integration manager again in a large project concerning the automation of a terminal of Stockholm-Arlanda Airport.. Unfortunately, this project will not go beyond the design phase, since the extension of the airport has been postponed due to the current pandemic.

Hopefully, other ongoing projects such as the airport of Oslo will continue as normal.

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Interested?

Are you intrigued by all the complex projects that Vanderlande works on and by what this company has to offer? For more information about this company and the possibilities for you within Vanderlande, visit the website www.vanderlande.com/ about-vanderlande/. If you are interested to be an intern/ graduate in this dynamic company, visit the website careers. vanderlande.com/students-and-interns/ or send a mail to internship@vanderlande.com.

Association

LOCKDOWN LEISURE

HOME DECORATOR

Long before the COVID-19 lockdown, my girlfriend and I went to a restaurant where they had a lamp doubling as a planter which we thought was really cool. Ever since I have had the vague plan to build one myself to put above the dining table to replace my old lamp which gives off rather dim light. And now, having to work and study at home we became tired of the lack of light and decided to get to it and build one ourselves!

We kept the design rather simple and chose to use mainly wood because it is a lot easier to work with without access to ‘De Werf’. So, apart from using wood we chose to put the pieces together using metal corner pieces and bolts. In theory this should be easy, putting the bolt through the holes and done. Reality was a tad more challenging, requiring some conviction but it worked.

This resulted in a rectangular box in which three holes were cut to accommodate the spots we chose to use. After giving the entire planter a layer of varnish, the planter was mainly finished. After adding the spots, which were installed in parallel using screwless terminals, the lamp was finished!

WRITTEN BY ARDIN CORBIJN VAN WILLENSWAARD

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A COMPACT AND CLEAN FUEL WRITTEN BY DAAN DE WAARD EN MARIE-ELIANE MUYLKENS Enabling access to clean and renewable energy for anyone at any time is the aim of SOLID, one of the largest student teams of the TU/e. Each year a new group of students forms an interdisciplinary team that builds towards this goal. Their recipe for success: Iron fuel.

It is quite clear that due to the adverse effects of climate change & resource depletion, the world requires a transition towards sustainable energy sources. However, three main bottlenecks make this transition a difficult challenge. These are the (seasonal) storage of energy, long-distance transport of energy, and finding CO2-neutral alternatives for heat-intensive process industries.

According to SOLID, iron fuel can be deployed to confute these bottlenecks.

Iron fuel cycle Iron finely ground to a powder is combustible and yields a lot of heat energy during combustion. This energy can facilitate heat-intensive industries and drive steam turbines for electricity production. The only residual product that is formed during combustion is iron oxide, also known as rust. This rust powder can easily be captured and, with sustainable energy, be regenerated into iron fuel closing the so-called iron fuel cycle.

Iron fuel contains a high energy density, is easy and safe to store and transport, and consists of one of the most abundant resources on earth, making it a promising energy carrier for a carbon-neutral energy system.

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Interdisciplinary team The development of the iron-fuel cycle requires interdisciplinary cooperation. Therefore, SOLID works in 5 sub-teams. Of course, the largest team is the technical team that primarily focuses on developing the two parts of the cycle: combustion and regeneration. Combustion aims to retrieve the largest amount of energy per mass unit of iron fuel and simultaneously capture all the combusted rust particles ready for the regeneration process. At the current moment, SOLID is designing its second iron fuel combustion plant with a capacity of 1 megawatt together with its partners in the living lab project. Regeneration aims to reduce iron oxide to iron fuel to complete the cycle in the most energy-efficient manner. At the current moment, the technical team, together with partners, work on the design of the first iron oxide regeneration installation to close the iron fuel cycle using hydrogen as energy source in their MEC project.

On top of that, SOLID just launched a new project in which they test electrochemical reduction as a possible pathway for the regeneration process.

Besides the technical team responsible for iron fuel’s technical advancements, SOLID contains four more sub-teams. The business, financial, marketing, and HR team facilitate the required support necessary for technological developments besides the engineering advancements.

The business team is responsible for establishing partnerships, obtaining subsidies, executing market analysis and technoeconomic feasibility studies of the iron fuel cycle. Marketeers of SOLID organize and visit events, communicate with the press, and execute a social media strategy. To keep track of the cash flows, a financial manager takes care of financial matters.

Finally, the HR team organizes team evenings and weekends to reward the team’s accomplishments and maintain space for fun besides the hard work during the journey!

Our journey The journey of SOLID started as professor Philip the Goey initiated an honors Academy program in the field of metal fuels back in 2016. Three motivated students from the TU/e successfully executed the program focusing on iron fuel. Their enthusiasm encouraged them to work on the development one more year with a small group of students called team solid. The small team of 11 students realized the first continuous iron fuel flame halfway through 2018, proving that iron fuel can serve as a sustainable energy carrier. In September 2018, SOLID officially became a student team of the TU/e and has its aims on their first big project: the metal power project.

Metal power project To convince the world Iron fuel is suitable for facilitating heat energy to industrial processes, the metal power project was launched at the start of 2019. By receiving a grant of 2.4 million euros, the construction of the world’s first iron fuel combustion installation of 100 kW named ‘metal power 100’ (MP-100) could be started. After a year of hard work, the first iron fuel industrial combustion plant was finished in January 2020, reaching a TRL level of 4. On October 29th 2020, a successful online demonstration at Bavaria showed the world that iron fuel could be applied as fuel for heat-intensive industries expanding the recognition of the iron fuel concept.

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Meet Rick from SOLID Rick is the only member who has been with SOLID from the proof of concept until now and can share his experiences through the years. Rick is a student of Mechanical Engineering, like many other SOLID members.

It all started when I heard two SOLID members discussing a challenge they were facing with mixing iron powder. After joining the conversation and learning more about SOLID, I realized this was the perfect place for me to apply my knowledge in a fun and practical way. I am already in my third year as a SOLID member, and during that time, I’ve really seen the team grow.

At first, every team member was focused on the proof of concept. I gained a lot of hands-on experience while working on the burner installation. I also worked on calculating, modelling, and designing the MP-100 installation. Nowadays, I am a part of the reduction team. Here I am responsible for the calculations involving the cooling system, the materials to be used in the reactor, and the iron powder collector’s design.

What I love most about SOLID is that there are so many driven students from many different backgrounds all working together on new ideas and concepts. When working there is a very nice atmosphere, such that you feel like you’re working on and learning new things together with a large group of friends.

SOLID has changed a great deal since the beginning. At first, a small group of people worked on the technical aspects of one project simultaneously, but nowadays, multiple sub-teams are

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working on many different aspects of much larger projects.

The increased complexity of the team comes with some new challenges. However, this is a perfect environment to learn from since this is what it will most likely be like for all of us in the future. I am very proud when I look at what SOLID has become and am very glad to have had the opportunity to be a part of it.

Hitch on our journey Right now, the main focus of SOLID is to upscale the combustion of iron fuel to 1 megawatt in the living lab project and complete the cycle by launching the first regeneration installation in the MEC project. Do you also sympathize with the vision to enable access to clean and renewable energy for anyone at any time?

SOLID may has a spot for you upcoming college year. Sign up for a case evening or online coffee call on our website, www. teamsolid.org, and we can answer all your questions.

Education

Master Thesis: DESIGN AND FABRICATION OF A MICROVASCULATURE-ON-A-CHIP PLATFORM WRITTEN BY ESTHER VAN DER AA

During my master thesis I designed and fabricated a Microvasculature-on-a-Chip Platform, which was a project in the Microsystems group. This means that we’ve made a model capable of mimicking the blood vessels, which can be used to investigate flow and distribution of particles inside the vasculature. The vascular structures are made using sugar and a 3D printing machine and combining this with a flow through the channels and a cell lining on the channel wall, this is a simple representation of a blood vessel. This subject might not be the first thing you think about when you think about Mechanical Engineering, so I will try to tell you something more about this interesting application of Mechanical Engineering!

The vasculature plays a crucial role for humans, as blood vessels deliver oxygen and nutrients to every part of the body. However, the blood vessels are also used by tumors to spread cancer cells throughout the body which sustains or even worsens the disease.

Furthermore, blood vessels exist in and near tumors which are different from the blood vessels found in healthy tissue, mostly characterized by abnormal vessel growth. This means that the vessels form a disorganized network and the number of vessels is much higher. These blood vessels provide the tumor with

oxygen and nutrients, which helps the tumor to grow even further. As cancer is still the second leading cause of death in the world, it is essential to further expand our knowledge of blood vessel growth and behaviour associated with cancer. This can lead to a better understanding of the disease and even to earlier or better detection of tumors. To achieve this, we need a model that mimics the microvasculature, so that this platform can for example be used to investigate flow and distribution of particles inside the vasculature.

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Education

For this, we’ve designed a perfusion system that you can see below. The perfusion system allows for a flow of fluid through the channel. The gray parts (2, 3 and 5) are made from polycarbonate using a milling machine. To give you an idea of the scaling, the device is 25x75 mm with respectively 6, 2 and 3 mm polycarbonate slides. The top layer (2) has inlets to which the tubing for perfusion can be connected, and inlets which can later be used to fill the chambers in the bottom layer (5) with hydrogel. The middle layer (3) is used as a substrate for printing the sugar networks, such a sugar fiber is shown in green. The pink layer (4) is an adhesive sheet, which ensures a leak-tight sealing between the middle (3) and bottom (5) layer of the device. The adhesive sheet is cut to size using a laser cutter. The bottom consists of glass slides, because they are optically better for imaging the channel with a microscope.

speed. The actual printing speed while printing the fiber is 50 mm/min. The diameter of the printed fibers depends on the temperature of the barrel which holds the sugar and the nozzle translation speed. The travel moves of the nozzle can be programmed using G-code, which you might be familiar with if you’ve used a 3D printer before.

Sugar can be dissolved in water, which is ideal for us as we are able to create channels after casting the sugar fibers in hydrogel.

However, this also means that the sugar fiber will be dissolved in the hydrogel solution. Step 2 is thus to coat the sugar fibers with a PDLA in chloroform coating solution, which prevents the sugar fiber from dissolving immediately when it comes in contact with the hydrogel solution.

After fabrication of the device, multiple steps need to be taken which are shown schematically in the timeline below. These steps can be done multiple times with the same device. The first step is 3D printing using sugar, using a special 3D printer designed by Andreas Pollet (Pollet, et al., 3D Sugar Printing of Networks Mimicking the Vasculature, 2019). Sugar is stiff enough to be printed without support, which enables us to print a wide range of structures. A video of this can be seen by scanning the QR code on the next page, the video is shown at accelerated

The third step is to prepare the hydrogel which will be used as an extracellular matrix (ECM). In my project I’ve used a few different hydrogels, which have different properties. For example, the type of material was different, either synthetic, hybrid or natural. Also the stiffness of the final hydrogel differs, as the stiffness of the ECM is different throughout the body as well. Depending on the research question, the device can thus be used with a hydrogel that is interesting for that subject.

After preparation of the hydrogel, the device is sterilized and assembled in step 4.

(a) Structure printed with a 0.15 mm nozzle at a temperature of 110 °C. The resulting fiber diameter is 240 µm

(b) Structure printed with a 0.25 mm nozzle at a temperature of 100 °C. The resulting fiber diameter is 430 µm

400 μm channel perfused ink

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Education

We can then inject the hydrogel solution into the chambers, step 5, and polymerize the hydrogel in step 6. Depending on the type of hydrogel, polymerization can for example be induced by UV light, so that the hydrogel forms a casting around the sugar fiber. The sugar fiber can then be dissolved, so that perfusable channels remain. In the figures below the channels are perfused by ink, to show that only the channels are perfused and there is no leaking into the surrounding matrix.

The next step is to inject a cell suspension into the channel, so that the cells can form a tight cell layer on the wall lining. Once the lining is formed, the channel is perfused with medium. This

can be seen as a simple representation of a blood vessel in the human body.

This simple representation can then be further improved in the future, for example by incorporating cells in the surrounding matrix. It would also be very interesting to ‘grow’ blood vessels from a bigger channel, which is called guided angiogenesis. This way, we can create even smaller blood vessels than is possible with this technique, as now we can go down to 50 μm channels.

A schematic representation of this can be seen below.

Hopefully I’ve been able to show you something interesting about this maybe less known application of Mechanical Engineering!

Image by: Andreas Pollet

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Career

THE ‘PERFECT’ CV Tips from the TU/e career academy A Curriculum Vitae or CV is a document that everyone will have to make at some point in their life. Your CV is essentially a logbook of all your experiences. Most people will actually continue updating it over and over again. As you develop, the things that once seemed relevant may become trivial. In this article, the way should approach your CV will be discussed and some practical pointers and tips will be given.

The elements of a CV For such a compact document, a CV has an abundance of information. Creating a structure that works is therefore important. Some recruiters make a call on a CV in a matter of seconds. A clear subdivision of information will therefore help highlight the information they are looking for. Let’s go over the common elements.

• Heading: A CV starts with you, the most highlighted element is thus your name. Sometimes the abbreviation CV or a full ‘Curriculum Vitae’ is added, this is optional though. You could see this as the title of your document.

• Picture: Adding a picture is becoming more common but is fully optional. Check the pictures on the employee page of a company website if you want to check how you are dressed.

• Personal information: Aside a name, add a list of contact and general information. Always include an email or postal address as a means to send you a response, you can add a phone number as well. If you added your e-mail, you can simplify your address to your town of residence. Do not remove it, it is used as a travel time indication. Aside this, a date of birth and nationality are commonly added as well. Finally, a customized LinkedIn link is smart to add. If you sent your CV digitally, put in the effort to have a working link.

• Profile text: Some people add a text to introduce

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themselves in a more personal manner. If you decide to write something, try to answer these questions: Who are you, what are you good at and what do you want?

• Education: As a fresh graduate, your diploma is your most relevant experience. Other than for your high school education, try adding some text or bullet points giving more details. Some add the average grade, or the name and grade of their graduation projects (a 7.5 or more is advised for this).

Others describe which specialization was actually studied and others highlight some relevant courses.

• Work experience: After your first full-time job in your field, this section becomes more relevant than education.

However, as a fresh graduate it is smarter to list education first and adjust this order later on in life. With jobs you want to describe tasks and responsibilities in a telegram style matter.

It is also nice to highlight measurable achievements, such as a sales increase of 10% due to something you did.

• Extracurricular activities: This section is exclusive to students and contains things like committees, board years, student teams or voluntary work. Approach this like work and describe tasks and responsibilities. Add the hours per week activities took, this shows how much time you were able to spend aside your studies. It might actually be smart to add jobs under this section as well, leaving out ‘work experience’ entirely for now.

Career

WRITTEN BY KOEN VLOT

• Skills: This is section is split up into two categories: language skills and computer or hard skills. Either indicate your skill level with a term or something visual. For languages terms like ‘working efficiency’ or ‘mother tongue’ work well, for computer skills ‘intermediate’ or ‘expert’ are good. If you want to do something more visual, a percentage bar or a 5 point ranking system are a nice ways to change things up from plain text.

• Hobbies: Some people list a set of 3-5 hobbies to show some more of their personality, this is purely optional. If you decide to do add it, try to think of what you want to showcase.

Something like sports or culinary interests generally do well.

• References: This is a list of people that can confirm some of your experiences and tell about your strengths. It is not common for a graduate or student to add. People that do add it simply state: ‘Available upon request’.

Some practical insights A CV is a matter of preference but there are some handy tips to help you make smarter decisions.

• Keep it factual: A CV is based on facts, don’t add soft skills to your skills section like ‘teamwork’. Try to incorporate these things within experiences. For example, mention group projects in your education. Imply but don’t claim.

• Have a hierarchy: Think how you can add levels of importance to your lay-out. Differentiate elements like font, size and color between the main entry and a description or a highlighted certificate. This helps the reader understand what to expect.

• Stay consistent: Keep your styling consistent. Do you use bullet points or paragraphs of text? Did you add a grade for your master? Add it for you bachelor as well. Elsewise a reader will notice inconsistencies and maybe bring it up in an interview.

• 30 seconds, 1 minute, 5 minutes check: Ask someone to look at your CV for 30 seconds and tell you what pops out. Repeat this at different durations to understand what information is highlighted most and adjust the design where needed.

• Grayscale: Print your CV in grayscale to check the contrast, especially when you have a more creative design. Some recruiters still print CV’s and will not bother to print in color.

Perfect is the enemy of good

Have you ever talked about a good CV with others? After multiple conversations around the topic though my work at TU/e Career Academy, it was surprising to see that recruiters have different standards amongst each other. An engineer or manager will have an even more radically different view on the topic. The main reason for this, is what each of them wants from a CV. A recruiter will use it as a reference to go over a supplied checklist of requirements. They will want to read less and have clearly presented bullets to go over quickly. An engineer will look for relevant skills and knowledge, going for a more detailed look.

Aside the role of the reader, it is also a question of preference.

Some things just come down to personal taste. A CV is really personal, so dare to go with your gut when it comes to presentation and what elements make it into your CV. So, the ‘perfect’ CV does not exist. You have to think about how you want to present yourself to the reader and adjust. It takes time but adjust your CV for every application, just like a cover letter.

TU/e Career Academy

Hopefully, this article provided some new insights for you. We have a lot more reading material available on our website as well (tuecareeracademy.nl) and provide CV checks for all TU/e students.

Just send us an e-mail with your CV, cover letter and/or LinkedIn via careeracademy@tue.nl.

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Tech

TEAM CORE

Enabling the recycling of e-waste WRITTEN BY MATTHIJS SCHEERDER

Why recycling e-waste?

The planet is running out of rare, precious metals at an alarming pace. This trend can be attributed to the current mentality of consumerism where there is no care for reprocessing. Electronics especially are consumed in a cradle-to-grave fashion, partly by lacking awareness and legislation. At the moment only 15-20% of all the e-waste is being ‘recycled’, the rest ends up in landfills somewhere in Asia or Africa. At these landfills in distant places, it is in harmful and polluting conditions for both man and nature where the very poorest can make a living by going through our waste. For western countries, the dependence on China for its supply of rare earths makes it a threat to defence and security. The current expected growth rate of e-waste of 8% per year makes a further argument why recycling should be taken seriously. Closing this cycle should thus have the utmost priority, unfortunately, current processing techniques can’t provide satisfactory solutions yet.

How do we contribute to a 100% recycling rate?

We at Team CORE address the problem by actively developing and improving a technique based on the earth’s natural process itself: elementary retraction. Elementary retraction by the earth is the process of waste slowly descending through the earth’s crust, where it breaks down under high temperature and pressure when reaching the CORE. This process, however, takes several millions of years, time we don’t have. At Team CORE the same principle of applying pressure and heat is applied to the development of our own oven systems, shortening the process to just a few hours.

Being an ambitious, diverse team with people from all different technological backgrounds, we try to upscale this technology and make it commercially applicable aiming to reach a recycling rate of 100%.

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What does Team CORE do?

At the moment we have several ongoing projects, while the focus is on tackling the e-waste problem, we also look into other areas where we can apply our technology, like polluted soil and impregnated wood recycling. We are also not only focused on the oven technology itself. To improve its effectiveness, additional development is needed in the pretreatment of waste as well. One of these projects is the design and construction of a battery shredder installation, completely ground-breaking since no shredder of this kind exists yet. We not only aim for fully recycling metals, but we also investigate the possible useful applications for our side products basalt and obsidian, like the production of garden tiles and flower pots. We thus also seek to lower our own waste to zero, being a truly circular company in an increasingly circular economy.

What can you do?

First and foremost, everyone should be more aware of recycling in general, not just recycling e-waste. Just by doing small things, you can make a positive change every day. Furthermore, we are always looking for new enthusiastic people who want to help us in reaching our goals, especially hands-on mechanical engineers who have enough interesting projects to choose from! Joining Team CORE would not only provide you with the opportunity to apply your knowledge to an exciting and relevant area, but it will also give you the chance to deepen your knowledge by working in an interdisciplinary team. If you are interested in joining Team CORE and want to contribute to the transition to a circular economy or simply want to learn more about the current problem of e-waste, visit our website at corechemistry.com. If you want to stay up to date you can follow us on Instagram at @teamcoretue. Finally, you can contact us for questions through email at info@core-chemistry. com.

Association

Staut: The

of Kenya

independence

„Let the foreigner go back abroad, let the African regain independence”.

In the east of Africa, millions of years ago, the modern human came into existence.

Hunters trekked through the continent as nomads. Years later, small groups settle, and settlements arise, the dawn of modern society has taken place. Kenya is at the heart of this development. A good start is half the work, but does this also apply to the cradle of humanity?

WRITEN BY BAS BURCKSEN

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Association

To obtain the answer, this article makes a small leap in time to the Race for Africa, which takes place at the end of a tumultuous nineteenth century. This period is the peak of a European battle for rare raw materials

Council is established under pressure from the settlers, excluded for black persons.

A million Kenyans are subjugated at the expense of some thirty thousand settlers.

South of Lake Turkana, Kenya and trade routes. In the year 1885, the superpowers grabbed a ruler and divided the African continent. The United Kingdom acquires control of East Africa, but leaves the control to the Imperial British East Africa Company, the British variant of the VOC. Ten years later, the homeland government takes matters into its own hands and founds British East Africa, now known as Kenya.

Colonialism in Kenya

However, the British are anything but popular in their brand-new colony. There is a large influx of migrants smelling money and establishing coffee plantations. The Kenyan population is deployed in these plantations under appalling conditions, although slavery has already been abolished. Logically, there is a protest against the growing interference from Europe: the Kenyans have lost their authority over their own country.

Yet the UK is trying to modernize the country to keep up the appearance of helping locals.

A railroad is being built that runs all over the country. However, it is forgotten to mention that more than 30.000 migrant workers and European farmers are moving inland. In this way, the Kenyans are rapidly being driven out and oppressed. In 1907, a Legislative

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Independence

With increasing inequality, the unrest among the indigenous population grows. Nationalist movements emerge in the early 20th century.

They are fighting for more power in society.

The Kenyans come together to fight for equality and against colonialism. This is without success at first, but the First and Second World Wars also have major consequences in Africa. The hundreds of thousands of Kenyans who fought in the wars are beginning to form a middle class.

Kenyans are not only becoming more prosperous, but they are also taking their place in politics. Eventually, nationalism reaches its peak in the years 1952 to 1956.

The Mau Mau uprising unites many Kenyans in their dislike of the colonial government.

There is active pressure to equate the voice of a Kenyan with that of a white settler.

Violence is not avoided from both sides.

The insurgents carry out terrorist attacks, while the British government responds by dropping six million bombs in two years.

After the uprising, the government wants to regain the trust of the local people. Elections with fair representation of the Kenyans are called. At the first opportunity, the nationalist parties immediately take the majority. Three

Association

years later, Kenya’s independence is declared, and the settlers leave the country en masse.

After two million years, the Kenyan population is free and connected for the first time.

and Turkey on previous trips, this time the fraternity is moving into the wider world.

In Kenya, members will search for wild beasts on the vast savannahs. However, the country

Kenyans locked up in a penal camp during the Mau Mau Uprising

Modern Kenya

The Kenyan independence is being followed by a wave of change. The British colonizers return all land to indigenous farmers and the wealth is fairly distributed among the tribes. From the 1970s onwards, the country begins to turn into an urban society. The large population growth means that unemployment and poverty are also increasing. However, through cooperation with the West, the country remains peaceful in the following years. The close relationship with Europe also promotes a sharp increase in tourism in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1993, even a liberal wind came through the country with the support of big banks. The reforms help the economy grow and form modern Kenya, a country rich in culture and nature.

has far more faces than is known to many Europeans. For example, the beaches on the Indian Ocean, the hustle and bustle of the metropolis of Nairobi and the cheerfulness of the Kenyans will be investigated. The figurative and literal highlight is reached on an excursion to the Masai. For two nights, the thirty brave gentlemen will try to survive on top of a volcano with a remote tribe.

Of course, the blood-curdling adventures will not remain a secret from the curious reader.

Can everyone there run so fast, are the beaches really that white, does the Masai jump so high and do the women dance so beautifully in the pub? The members of Rhetoricadispuut Tau are never shy about answering your burning questions!

With a click of a button, modern Kenya can be seen in its full glory, although behind a collection of pixels on a square screen. A true Mechanical Engineer experiments, builds and stunts when possible. Sometimes, the work clothes have to be put on to experience what is really going on. Partly for this reason, Rhetoricadispuut Tau will travel to Kenya next summer with thirty members in honor of the fifth lustrum. After visiting Spain, Greece

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Education

HOW IS LIFE IN...

Zürich, Switzerland WRITTEN BY LISELOTTE VAN WISSEN After a long search for a suitable internship my advisor suggested an internship at the ETH in Zürich. I didn’t know much about the place or the university. And even though it wasn’t what I was originally looking for, it did suit my situation and sounded nice. So, I decided to just go for it.

In the end, it worked out well and I had an amazing time and experience, and I can look back on it with joy and with lots of great memories.

Project and University The project I worked on was executed by the ETH but commissioned by CERN. It focusses on reinforcing epoxies to be suitable for the impregnation of superconducting magnets. Superconducting magnets are very strong magnets which can reach a magnetic flux of 16 Tesla. Due to the large Lorenz forces acting on the coils local stresses and strains occur, which will result in energy release in the form of heat. Since the operating temperature of the magnet is around 10 Kelvin, this heat release will make it shut down. So In an attempt to counteract this effect, the coils are impregnated with epoxy to serve as a buffer to prevent local stress and strain.

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The epoxy used to impregnate the coil needs to be tough and strong enough to withstand the forces that are being put upon it. If this is not the case it can be that the epoxy starts fracturing which will lead to energy release in the form of heat, and thus defeating the initial purpose of the epoxy.

For my research I investigated the influence of certain fillers on the fracture toughness of different epoxies. With the ultimate goal of increasing the fracture toughness. This meant I spent most of my time in different laboratories mixing and preparing epoxies, making different types of samples and preforming a variety of tests to determine the fracture toughness and other important material properties.

Education

As said before I did my internship at the ETH. Which is one of the two main universities in Zürich, Switzerland. I did my research at the Material science faculty within the soft materials group. It was a very diverse group with regards to both the people and the projects. Which meant there was always enough to discuss during lunch and coffee breaks.

Besides working hard and discussing research topics and struggles, there was also time for fun group activities. From more officially organized activities like a 3-day ski-trip and a dinner. To the regular and spontaneous drinks in the faculty pub.

of delicious vegetarian and vegan meals. But on the other hand, the chocolate was cheaper, and more delicious than back home so that was a big plus. Furthermore, I expected to be able to practice my German a bit. But this turned out to not be the case. Since roughly 1/3 of citizens are expats and at Uni about half of the people were expats, I almost always spoke English. And even if native Swiss people spoke German, they spoke Swiss German which is about as close to German as Frisian is to Dutch. Which meant it was still mostly incomprehensible for me. Other than those two assumptions I went there completely blank as to what to expect. And one of the most positive things which I didn’t expect, since it is a big city, was how outdoor focussed it would be.

There are a lot of parks and forests and a few mountains around, all of them well maintained and with public campfire/ BBQ places and drinking fountains all scattered throughout.

Same goes for the lake which ends in the city centre. It has swimming areas all around with public changing rooms and showers free to use for everybody. And even though I was there during (the end of) winter and thus was not able to go swimming in the lake, I was still out hiking and exploring the city or the surroundings almost every weekend. As did most people. Especially on Sundays the parks and forests were crowded with families walking around or enjoying a picknick, or people running and mountain biking.

Life in Zürich Since this was my first experience with Zürich and Switzerland as a whole, I had very few expectations on how it was going to be to live there. I expected everything to be more expensive than what I was used to back home. Which was indeed true, most things were a bit more expensive, but nothing to crazy. The only thing that really caught me by surprise was how expensive it was to buy meat in the grocery store. Which lead to me trying out and learning to cook a lot

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Education

Another reason for the Sundays being extra busy in the woods, is probably because a lot of shops and cafés are closed on Sundays. Because, although it is a big city with lots of international citizens, there are still some cultural habits which shows the conservative and Christian history of the city.

I really loved the fact that this city was so versatile.

It was an old big European city with a lot of shops, landmarks and tiny cosy streets. But at the same time, it has a lot of beautiful nature and outdoor activities all in or near the city centre. Unfortunately I had to leave very promptly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but this city has surprised me in a positive way and I will definitely go back there in the future to explore and do the things I didn’t got a chance to do so this time around.

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Career

ENGINEER TIES: ABOUT LIFE AFTER M.E. “I knew we wouldn’t have a hard time finding a job after my studies, but that it took only four days after graduating, was something I didn’t expect either.” This was the case for Ties, alumnus of Simon Stevin and now a Designer/Constructor for agricultural machines at KUHN Geldrop. Read all about how he got there and what his working days look like now (probably not what you would expect!).

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Career

Ties van Loon (25) is someone who doesn’t get bored easily.

Not even during lockdown. “I can keep myself busy so well, we could write an article on that alone.” When he isn’t making music with his band Maassa (alternative hardrock) as a guitarist, or keeping busy with one of his other hobbies, he is working as a Designer/Constructor of agricultural machines, such as balers.

A job that teaches him new things every day, even after his Bachelors, Masters and almost a year of work experience.

Because the real work is quite a bit different than the theory of our study, he discovered…

There is a lot of work to be found in the high-tech in Eindhoven for example, but with this raw technology you can literally see what you are working on. On that farmer’s field I can literally see something that I made, drive around and doing the work.

That is pretty special.”

What you don’t learn in ME

Got a job, no diploma

What you learn during your studies ME is completely fine, Ties says. But there are aspects that you simply cannot learn in your books. The kind of things that only the real world can show you, in his experience.

Ties works at KUHN, an international firm specialized in agro, specifically in making machines for agriculture. He got there at the end of last year through recruitment agency Evoke, just after having graduated.

Ties: “You learn a lot about calculations and constructions and you learn to describe physical processes. But generating a practical design does not come up a lot. These are the type of things you have to learn after graduating.

Ties: “To be honest, I had never heard of KUHN, until Luuk from Evoke called me that a job opened up for which I would be a great fit. I was still in the middle of my final thesis – literally, while I was typing, I got the phone call – and didn’t really have time for it. But my curious attitude won over my shortage of time, so I went on a first, second, and finally third interview. We struck a good match from both sides and four days later, the contract was signed.

Like keeping in mind the amount of stock you have when you are deciding which parts should be included in your design.

You could theoretically be using golden bolts and nuts, but is that cost efficient, is something that you must think of. Does it deliver what you expect of it to the customer, without negatively influencing the costs?”

“I knew we wouldn’t have a hard time finding a job after our studies, but that it took only four days after graduating, was something I didn’t expect either.” And to end up in such a nice company... Without Evoke this would not have happened.”

He was pretty happy things went this way, Ties admits, because he could then hand in his final thesis, graduate and celebrate a carefree holiday, knowing that a job was waiting for him.

“The machine I made, is on that field right now” So now Ties is a Designer/Constructor for KUHN for almost a year. The best part about his job in Ties’ opinion is the fact that the machines he makes (with a.o. FEM calculations) and draws (in his 3D CAD program ‘Creo’) become reality right under his nose.

Right next to the R&D facility he works in, is the workshop where the machines are made. Ties: “To be walking into that workshop and see what you designed on your screen stand before you sky high, that is extra impressive. That is why I like the rawness of it; the big machines that we are working on.

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So in your job you will deal with thinking in a commercial sense, from the perspective of the client. How you do that exactly depends on your function, the market, the company and the client. Luckily you are not alone in this as a starter. There are always colleagues to help you think and help you learn. At least in Ties’ case.

Career

“For one project, for example, I had to improve bearings. I went to work with a calculation based on the best bearings. This type of bearing turned out to be fairly rare. This makes it more expensive or harder to ship to us. Someone for Sales then comes by to see if we can think of something different. Something more efficient. Together we found a good solution.”

Thé tip from Ties to you If he had to give students or colleagues one tip, from his insight in the job, now that he is a starting professional in Mechanical Engineering?

Ties: “Follow your interests into the real world, so that you not only stay at the theoretical side of your studies, but experience everything, to make your career choice on that.”

But how do you do this? Ties has a few ways, all possible during your study, as he experienced himself: • “There is for example the Wervingsdagen on the TU/e, an expo of companies from the region. Go there.”

• “But also go to companies on your own. Go talk to them, go see what you can do there and if you see yourself working

there.”

“Or go for a side-job in technology, instead of working in a supermarket. I have worked one day a week next to my masters. That is where you really learn the difference between your study and the real world. Maybe you are able to stay and grow there, maybe you’ll see that you fit better elsewhere.”

• “Take part in a student team. I made a care-robot drone this way. This brought us in direct contact with businesses.

That enlarged my technical knowledge, but also my personal development and professional network.”

• “By doing research, you also learn a lot aside from your study. In an empty quartile I helped a doctoral candidate with a test setup in the lab. Very educational!”

Well, boredom indeed is not written in Ties’ vocabulary. That much is clear. As enthusiastic and busy as he is, he now found exactly the job he likes and does what he loves to do.

•

Are you also looking to learn more about the workfield, to take a peak into your future and prepare to do what you love? Evoke can help you out, like they helped Ties out. Sounds good? Check them out at www.evokedetachering.nl/mechanical

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Association

LOCKDOWN LEISURE

JOE THE PEUGEOT

Wouter and Esther have both graduated last year. These fresh civilians have been beuning a lot the last few months . Here at OpenME we were wondering what they have been doing , why they did it and what the results were. it turned out to be a true ME worthy project. We asked them to tell us more: WRITTEN BY ESTHER VAN DER AA

Last year we were planning what to do after graduation. The original plan had always been to travel around the world, but we could all see that that wasn’t going to happen. As we still wanted to do something, we decided to buy a camper van and depending on the regulations we could always go somewhere, even if it was only the Netherlands.

So we bought Joe de Peugeot, a Peugeot J5 from 1982. As the van is pretty old, we had to repair and replace certain parts. But he wasn’t only old from the outside, but inside as well. Thus, the inside was stripped and we started rebuilding it from scratch. He is almost ready to travel Europe and we love the result so far!

Want to follow our adventures? You can find us on Instagram @daargaanze!

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Association

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Education

QUALITY ME 19%

Modeling of timedependent systems

Dynamics 5 ECTS

5 ECTS

25% *1

7.0 *2

26%

7.1

*3

Feedback: • Students like that you have the freedom to choose your own subject and have to find creative solutions.

• It would be beneficial to shift some of the information given in the closing lecture to the opening lecture.

Improvements: • The lectures are overall pleased with the results. They will include some more topics in the opening lecture.

Feedback: • Students recognize that the course is very well organized and that that makes it easy to stay on track with the course.

Improvements: • The lecturers are content with the course evaluations. They are happy the course is presived well despite of the changes due to corona.

• The lecturers hope to be able to give the on-campus lecturers next year, as students seem to prefer this.

Introduction to computational fluid dynamics 5 ECTS

32%

88

7.7

Feedback: • The combination between the theory and practice involving a CFD model in Matlab was appreciated by the students.

Improvements: • Students will get the opportunity to improve their assignments by implementing a peer review.

• Some of the practice tutorials will be updated with reallife applications.

Education

*1 = % of student who filled in the survey

Good

*2 = Average grade of the course

Okay

*3 = % of teaching sessions attended

Bad

Model-based systems engineering

System theory for control

5 ECTS

5 ECTS

20%

7.1

Feedback: • Students would like an introductory lecture about the process of modelbased systems engineering.

Improvements: • The lecturer will carefully study all the students’ comments and try to take them into account.

• The course will continue to implement the improvements from the BOOST project.

27% 20%

8.3

Feedback: • Students were pleased with the overall organization and communication of the course.

• The lectures were engaging and entertaining.

Improvements: • The lecturers are very happy with the good course results and will take some of the suggestions of the students into account for next year.

Experimentation for Mechanical Engineering 5 ECTS

33%

6.3

Feedback: • Students really missed the lab sessions due to the COVID restrictions.

• The course structure can be improved.

• Students think the open-book written exam fits the course very well, as the course is very broad and hinges mostly on understanding the concepts.

Improvements: • The course will continue parts which were positively evaluated.

• The lecturer will look into the connection between the assignment and the exam.

WRITTEN BY NICKY VERHEIJEN

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Association

LOCKDOWN LEISURE TOOL AND CUTTER GRINDER RESTORATION As for most Mechanical Engineers, I can’t help but love machines.

Therefore it always makes me sad if I encounter a machine that is neglected. Since a few years, I took restoring (and using) these machines as a hobby. My latest restoration was a tool and cutter grinder which had been standing still for twenty years. Since CNC machines are vastly more versatile, these old purpose build machines are not used anymore in professional setting but are still very handy in the home shop.

It seems like you would need a lot of specialized tools to be able to restore a machine. You can, however, already get started with basic tools like screwdrivers, wrenches, a wire brush, and a hammer for some percussive persuasion. A restoration always starts with taking the machine apart and cleaning all parts, while removing all rust with a wire brush.

This time the paint wasn’t in bad shape but I just did not like the color so I chose to remove it anyway and apply an old school machinery green.

Paint can be removed in a lot of ways; I chose to use an angle grinder with a wire wheel for convenience. When all grunt work was done, it was time to degrease and paint all parts. After drying, the machine can be assembled again with some new electric wires and fresh lubrication on the moving parts.

The nice thing about a restoration project is that the result is not only pretty but also makes future projects easier. The only downside is that I probably have to sharpen all my dad’s tools from now on…

WRITTEN BY JASPER ROSITO

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Association

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Tech

From 20.000 to 0 km/h On February 18th, the new Martian rover named Perseverance touched down on the Martian surface. The fully autonomaus landing made the responsible engineers sweat a little. During seven long minutes, the various phases of the landing sequence were executed. The ligth travel time from Mars to Earth of about five minutes means that two minutes in, the rover had already landed on the planet (or not).

WRITTEN BY FREEK JANSEN Had the mission failed by means of a crash, this article could have been featured in the recurring section of Trust ME, I am an Engineer. As approximately 40% of the attempts to land on Mars fail, this would not be that surprising. However, the expansive testing phase and long and considered engineering of the rover has paid off. The deceleration from a velocity three times that of a bullet, to zero, has been achieved. The Perseverance has landed on Mars.

After the Curiosity, this is NASA’s second large operation on the Martian surface since the beginning of the century. I myself always wonder how they would come up with these names.

Well, apparently, that is no rocket science. On the contrary, the naming is often done through simply asking the crowd what would be a great name, specifically targeted at the youth. Which makes sense, since for most missions these youth could very well be old when the data arrives. Then Mars might seem like just around the corner.

After the Curiosity, NASA has greatly improved their landing strategy. This resulted in the most accurate Mars landing yet. Initially, the rover was safely conceiled within the space probe. During the entry in the Martian atmosphere, the outer

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hull could heat up to 1200 degrees Celsius, whereas the cabin holding the rover is expected to stay at room temperature. After the initial transit, where the majority of deceleartion took place, the parachute was launched. After ejection of the heatshield and back-shield of the probe, the rover, guided by a powered kind of jet pack, was all that remained. After careful navigation, the unit was detached from the parachute and carefully brought to the ground by the coordinated thrusts of the jet pack. At that point the thrusters had to still make up for a velocity of almost 300 km/h, which is quite a lot in the thin atmosphere of Mars.

The main mission of the new Mars rover is to find life on Mars. As it has landed near a special kind of crater, which is presumed to have contained water in some point in history, its main purpose is to invesitgate the soil around it and send the information back to earth. This is done in an interesting way. The droid can extract pieces of the Martian soil, investigate them with its onboard systems and, finally, poop the sample out again in a contained cannister. During another mission to Mars somewhere in the future, these cannisters can be collected and sent back to Earth.

The Perseverance itself is of course not capable of putting things into orbit, so if NASA wants to inspect the samples from up close, they have to come and get their shit together

Tech The Parker Solar Probe, where is it now?

The Perseverance might have gone fast, but the fastest object that the humans have send into space remains the in 2018 launched Parker Solar Probe. After its initial departure in August on its way to our sun, it was featured on openME. Since then, it has already passed the sun seven (!) times, abtaining shots from the sun from unprecedented proximities. During its journey, it has already obtained images of the surface of Venus and is expected to fly near the orbit of Mercury as well. With each rotation, the probe will get closer to the sun, providing for increasingly detailed data, which should put the scientists here on Earth to work.

carefully hidden behind the heat shield where possible. The intent is to retrieve data from the outer solar winds at an angle, to prevent possible contamination of the imaging tech.

The yellow trajectory in the image to the right indicates the path that the solar probe follows. Due to the gravitational force of the sun and Venus, the ellipse trajectory. By the time it has made its 24th rotation, it will self-destruct by means of falling into the sun.

Unlike the fragile super-glued wings of the infamous Icarus, the Parker Solar probe is protected by an outer layer of highgrade Tungsten, which serves as the ideal heat-shield when approaching the star at such a close distance. The radiation intensity would be absolutely lethal for the onboard components, hence the necessity for small thrusters to make sure the probe stays perfectly aligned in order to protect its tech.

Seemlingly unexpected, but more likely according to plan, the probe has also sent back a picture of Venus, which can be seen below. While with the current camera technology one would have hoped for more comprehensible visuals, remember that this shot was taken at a high velocity. The various lines seem like small portions of space debris flying by. It should be noted that the imaging device onboard, the WISPR, is obviously optimized for the observation of the sun. The modules are all designed to sustain high loads of radiation and, as previously mentioned,

Switchback Science One relatively recent finding is what is called ‘switchback Science’. In 2018, when the probe made its first flyby of the sun, the acquired data showed something interesting. This involves the phenomenom where the magnetic field of the sun rapidly changes direction. Various theories point out at the change in the behaviours of the solar winds. Differences in the way slow and fast solar wind regions reconnect and collide might cause disruptions in the measured magnetic field. Still quite vague, but maybe the next rotation will bring clarity to our sun’s actual working.

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Association

LIGHT UP The goal of this game is to place light bulbs on the grid so that every cell is illuminated.

A cell is lit by a bulb if they are in the same row or column, and if there are no black cells between them. The light bulbs are not allowed to illuminate each other.

Some black cells contain numbers. A number in a black cell shows how many light bulbs are adjacent to that cell.

PUZZLES MADE BY WILLEMIJN MARKUS

94

Association

SPECIAL BINARY This binary puzzle consists out of a 14x14 puzzle containing another 8x8 puzzle.

The rules of the puzzle are rather simple. Firstly, a zero or one must be entered in each empty cell. Secondly, here should be no more than two identical numbers directly next to or directly below each other. Lastly, each row and column is unique and contains as many zeros as ones.

PUZZLES MADE BY WILLEMIJN MARKUS

95

Association

TETORON The goal of the tetoron puzzle is to divide the grid into regions of exactly four cells. Each of these regions should contain exactly two different symbols. On top of that, the regions that have the same shape must also contain the same symbols.

PUZZLES MADE BY WILLEMIJN MARKUS

96

Association

STERRENHOEKJES •

Jankatiri: “Dit is niet meer Exponentiele

Escalatie, dit onderhand Logaritmische

Lafheid”

•

Freek: “mijn favoriete fruit is Hertog Jan”

•

Nicky: ‘Ik ben dus wel goed in domme

dingen zeggen’

•

Alma: wie the fack is Roel van der

Velde? Is dat een of andere bn’er?

•

Terwijl we dichtgetikt spelen: Rik “De

koning van Nederland”, Hoff “Willem”,

Rik “Nee volledige naam”,

Hoff “Willemijn!”

•

Florian Cox: “Maar teamleider wat doet u

nu?”

97

Association

SOLUTIONS

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Association

CONTEST TIME Submit your answer and win a ergonimic laptop kit!

Previous online conest

Contest 52.2 November

During the reopening of the Simonkamer, the Secretary found a secret box in a closet. The box has some documents that the Commissioner of Extraordinairy Activities needs in order to prove that the mobile bar Jan! is property of the Association.

In order to unlock the box, a code existing of 19 digits has to be entered. A note was found by the Treasurer in her back pocket, which she had forgotten about after drinking a bottle of Bokma. The note contains the following hint:

This has been the final major edition of openME for the Editor-in-Chief. But, that is not his only function this year. He is also the Commissioner of Extraordinary Activities, which means that he is also involved with plenty activities and drinks. With drinks, you need a bar, Luckily we found out that our mobile bar Jan! is now full property of the Association. To succesfully setup Jan! however, the Commissioner of Extraordinary Activities needs his baco’s. Unfortunately, he lost them all!

Which 10 numbers from 1-1000 can make up any number from 1-1000 if added up without any 2 numbers being used twice?

The code is made up of the 10 numbers from this hint, sequenced in order of magnitude.

Solution

The correct answer is simply 1248163264128256512. It is comprised of the numbers 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256 and 512 from the binary system: a very exponential numeric system!

In this edition of openME, five baco’s have been hidden. Can you help the Commissioner of Extraordinary Activities and tell him where they are hidden? (This one does not count!)

Submit your answer in the Simonkamer (Gem-N 1.61) or via an e-mail to redactie@simonstevin.tue.nl with your name and the solution. The prize will be raffled from the correct submissions and the correct answer will be published in the next winning contest.

Make sure to submit your answer before the 1st of June!

The winner will be notified and announced in openME 53.1.

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