TRIESTE, Italy, July 26, 2017 – The ESTECO Academy Design Competition, organized in collaboration with Aprilia Racing and Gamma Technologies, challenged engineering students from all over the world to test their skills in numerical analysis, simulation and testing while aiming to design the perfect race engine. Over 500 students from more than 30 countries had expressed their interest to participate, while 233 qualified by satisfying all the criteria. Finally, 13 qualified projects were presented from 12 universities in nine countries (Croatia, Czech Republic, Italy, India, Germany, Malta, Spain, UK andthe USA). The challenge concluded with the Award Ceremony held last Friday at the Aprilia Racing HQs in Noale, Italy.
During their visit to the Aprilia laboratories, the winning teams had the occasion to watch the engineers at work on various assignments, from simulation to assembling, electronics, quality control and more.
Moreover, the winner will be able to take advantage of a 6-month internship at Aprilia Racing, while each member of the first and second-best team will also enjoy one year of free ESTECO Academy membership, including the ESTECO multidisciplinary optimization software, modeFRONTIER.
The winner,Michael Bambula(Kyle Beggs team) of the University of Florida, USA, presented a top-notch design project, managing to achieve significant performance improvements (64.2 hp @16500 rpm) while developing a complete model for a Moto3 bike and realistic simulations that also considered the specifics of the race track. The jury particularly appreciated the comprehensive approach and the rigorous methodology adopted by the team.
“ESTECO Academy Design Competition was a perfect exercise of a real-world engineering problem that is encountered everyday in the Powertrain Industry. The collaboration between ESTECO and the sponsors was great,” said Michael Bambula, the winner of the challenge, who participated in the Award ceremony via video-link.
“Utilizing modeFRONTIER saved literally weeks of manual design iteration and certainly helped me identify a better solution. Overall, the competition gave me the chance to enhance my knowledge in engine simulation as well as optimization and apply them to an interesting and challenging situation.”
All the members of the two teams awarded the shared second prize were present in Noale: the CTU Racing Team from the Prague Czech Technical University, and FESB Racing team from the University of Split,Croatia.
“We are truly impressed by the overall quality of the projects and by the variety of ideas presented. It is our honor to keep supporting the talented engineers of the future on their journey into the professional world through our ESTECO Academy program,” said Enrico Nobile, scientific advisor at ESTECO. “The competition offers engineering students from all over the world the unique opportunity to apply leading professional technology to develop real -world solutions. Thanks to the partnership with Aprilia, the winner will get to experience the ‘real world’ of motorcycle engineering. Our special thanks go to Aprilia Racing, which will allow the winner to enjoy an internship experience in the field of motorcycle racing design.”
The challenge consisted in the design of a 4 stroke single cylinder engine through multidisciplinary optimization, using modeFRONTIER and 1-D simulation of the engine system with GT- Suite, with the aim of determining the optimum engine performance while taking into account the restrictions and starting from a base configuration. The jury, composed of three experts (ESTECO, Aprilia Racing, Gamma Technologies) judged the projects based on the following criteria: creativity, innovation vs. traditional solutions, predicted performance, justified improvements and applied methodologies.
To learn more: academy.esteco.com/competition
About ESTECO Spa
ESTECO is a pioneer in numerical optimization solutions, specialized in the research and development of engineering software for all stages of the simulation-driven design process. Perfecting engineering and reducing complexity in the design process is our vision. Founded in 1999, the company is headquartered in Area Science Park in Trieste (Italy) and currently employs a variety of highly qualified professionals and serves more than 250 international clients including BMW, Daimler, Ferrari, FIAT, Ford Motor Company, Honda, Mazda, Toyota. modeFRONTIER, the company’s key product, is a multidisciplinary and multiobjective optimization platform capable of streamlining the engineering process through innovative algorithms and integration with leading simulation software. In numerous industries, modeFRONTIER has become essential to increasing the understanding of cost/performance factors and reducing product development time.
For more information, visit www.esteco.com.
About The ESTECO Academy Program
ESTECO Academy aims to empower new pathways in STEM education, providing students around the world with new, practical competencies and state-of-the-art technology leveraged by industrial professionals to design the most innovative and complex products. This membership program provides access to software, dedicated online and offline training sessions and materials, certification exams and complementary seminars and events.
For more information, visit http://academy.esteco.com/academy.