We’re currently hosting a great variety of projects. There’s something for everyone to get involved in – whether you study mechanical, electrical engineering or even a humanity!
Precious Plastics
The main goal of the precious plastic project is to make a series of machines which recycle and repurpose plastics into useful and creative objects.
Once the project is complete, 4 machines will have been built including a shredder, an extrusion machine, an injection moulder, and a compression moulder. To build the machines, plans from the Precious Plastic organisation will be used. Recycled plastic will then be collected, shredded, and formed into objects which can be donated to charitable causes.
This year we plan to finish manufacture of the plastic shredder, extruder and compressor, in addition to beginning the exciting community aspect of the project.
This is a brilliant opportunity for students of all disciplines and expertise (including non-engineers) as there are a range of tasks which will need doing. Early stages will especially include a lot of manufacture and assembly within the workshop/iForge in addition to design and logistics planning.
This exciting project is led by Sejal Rahman.
Contact at srahman7@sheffield.ac.uk if you’re interested in joining the project or go to https://preciousplastic.com for info on the Precious Plastics initiative.
Whirlow Wind Turbine
We are following a design book created by Hugh Piggott, a DIY off-grid proponent. It focuses on creating small, cheap, community-led wind turbines. The idea is to enable a small group of people to benefit from decentralised, people-led power that they can use to accomplish day-to-day tasks like heating water and charging a phone. Our Wind Turbine will specifically hopefully be used at Whirlow Farm to power some lighting at one of their animal sheds/barns!
Our aim is to test the 2.4m diameter, 700W turbine design proposed in the design book and then to innovate upon it. This could lead to the creation of our own open-source wind turbine design manual.
The project is midway through and comprises 30 students from across the university, working together and getting involved in an activity that will enable them to learn practical and interpersonal skills. It’s an opportunity to add to your university experience and to create opportunities that are otherwise unavailable on some University courses.
The project is also a good demonstration of the theoretical knowledge taught in some modules. Applying knowledge enables students to ‘learn by doing’ and help to transition into the working world.
This project is run by Michael Thompson, you can contact him at
mhthompson2@sheffield.ac.uk.
Vaccine Storage
The Vaccine Storage Project is a relatively new project for EWB Sheffield, started in 2021. Our ultimate goal is to design and build a vaccine storage container that meets the standards set out by WHO which will allow vaccines to be transported through the supply chain.
In the previous academic year, we went through the WHO criteria and developed understanding of the current vaccine transportation issues. In this academic year, we will be setting the scope for our project and start designing and modelling the vaccine storage. Our end of year goal is to finalise a design in preparation for building it in the following academic year.
The Vaccine Storage Project will require a wide range of skill sets, including but not limited to: engineering design, modelling and marketing. We welcome members from every department and faculty. As this project is in its early stages, we are open to new ideas on the direction we, as a team, would like to head towards.
If you are interested in joining our team or would like to know more about the project, please email the project leader Arnav Timmapur at atimmapur1@sheffield.ac.uk.
Outreach
Our outreach project runs volunteering sessions to deliver fun hands-on Engineering activities to local primary schools. We currently run a Wind Turbine and a Water Filter session and new opportunities are regularly posted on our group chat.
This project is led by Harry KH Ong, you can contact him at hkhong1@sheffield.ac.uk.
Let’s build something together.
If you want to get involved with any of the awesome projects listed here, please email us using the form on our homepage or message EWB Sheffield on Instagram for any ideas for events!
Engineers Without Borders Sheffield 