The Innovation Network Award for early stage collaboration of up to one year's duration can result from many types of interaction between business and the University. Often, it is this type of arrangement, ranging from student or graduate placements in companies to consultancy by academic staff to contract research projects, that provides the foundation on which longer-term collaboration is built.
The 2003 Innovation Network Award for Early Stage Collaboration is awarded to a company specialising in environmental technology, International Technology Traders Ltd, for their work with Cardiff University's School of Engineering. The project was carried out by the Centre for Sustainable Energy and Process Management, one of the 20 WDA accredited Centres of Excellence for Technology and Industrial Collaboration in Wales, of which 7 are based at Cardiff University.
The project involved the design of a heat exchanger for use with a food waste disposal machine. The radical approach adopted led to the development of a machine which dries food waste and grinds it to a powder. The powder, which has a comparative calorific value to wood, can then be burnt with the resulting gasses emitted being recycled through a heat exchanger to process the next batch of food waste. This technology has created an attractive solution to food waste disposal by reducing dependency on electrical heaters and has the further benefit of cutting the amount of waste disposed of in landfill sites.
In addition to the consultancy aspect of this collaboration, a PhD student from Cardiff University was given the valuable opportunity of undertaking practical work with industry. The student used computer modelling techniques to determine heat transfer characteristics and the model produced enabled the necessary modifications to be made in order to optimise the design and ensure that no costly re-design was necessary once the product had been manufactured.
The Judging Panel was especially impressed by the way in which the collaboration highlighted and solved several problems which could have affected the successful outcome of the project and also by the way in which the original requirements set out were exceeded. Congratulations also to the members of staff from the Centre for Sustainable Energy and Process Management for their involvement in this project - Mr Steve Morris, Dr Tim O'Doherty and Mr Tom Fraser.
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