The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : “Students going in for core engineering subjects”

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Tuesday, Mar 10, 2009
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“Students going in for core engineering subjects”

Staff Reporter

— Photo: M. Vedhan

At their Innovative best: R. Radhakrishnan, Vice-Chancellor, Anna University-Coimbatore, distributes prizes to the winners of ‘Designace’ 09’ in Chennai.

CHENNAI: Core engineering subjects have become the prime choice of the students after the information technology companies started feeling the heat of the slowdown, and the trend is here to stay, R.Radhakrishnan, Vice-Chancellor of Anna University-Coimbatore, said on Saturday.

He was addressing the participants of ‘Designace’09,’ a State-level engineering design contest for students.

Organised by Barry-Wehmiller International Resources, the competition assessed the problem-solving and designing skills of mechanical engineering students to fabricate a ‘holding mechanism.’

The first-prize winning model—a spiral groove disc with a four jaws that converged when the disc spinned, acting as a holder—was designed by V. Vignesh and N. Keerthivasan of the GKM College of Engineering and Technology. The cost-effective mechanism and detailed presentation of its principle made them outshine 14 other finalists. They have also designed a piston-ring holder that could withstand high stress.

On similar lines was the design of B. Manoj and K. Ramkumar of P.S.G. College of Technology, Coimbatore, who won the first runner-up. Their second project was a robotic arm, which could carry out commands with precision and could be used in robotic applications.

K.Y.Balaji and S.Suganesh of Sona College of Engineering, which won the second runner-up, fabricated a holding-mechanism using a lever and presented a spring-shoe as its second project.

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