Engineering in Practice: Engineering Students share lessons from internships and real-world projects.
Over the long break, some of our engineering students took on real world projects; From installing fuel pumps to helping to set up Ashesi’s solar plant, to fabricating low-cost fruit grinders for underserved communities, here are some of their experiences, impact made and lessons learned.
Jenipher Panashe ‘18, Fueltec, Harare Zimbabwe
For three months, I was the assistant projects engineer at Fueltec, a Southern African firm that deals in the designing, installation and construction of gas pump installations on commercial scale. In my role, I assisted the Projects Engineer with research, development, test and actual design of Fueltec products and services. Primarily, I learnt how to design a service station, preparing Bill of Quantities(BOQ) and drafting quotations for customers.
I didn’t really face a lot of challenges; however, being the only female in my department was a prominent one, because it meant that I had to navigate a few stereotypes. For example, the technicians were usually the ones who did service jobs. However, I used to go for service jobs three days a week and then the other 2 days I would work on design and paper work like quotations; but when I visited, technicians were usually a bit hesitant to allow me to use spanners, do heavy work or for me to get my hands dirty since I was a woman. Therefore, I had to take the initiative and explain to them that I could do it also. Once they realised I was eager to learn and work, I got more practical work to do.
Through my experience, I found lessons from my Circuits and Electronics class especially helpful, in the installation and repairing of petrol pumps. Also, my SolidWorks (Introduction to Engineering Class) came in handy. In designing the service stations, we used AutoCAD, a similar tool to SolidWorks. In addition, the Career Services sessions I had throughout my 2 years were helpful. I had the ability to communicate and relate well with other employees on the team.
Having real industry experience is a necessity for all engineers. My internship has helped me to see my engineering learning in a whole new light. This semester, it’s amazing to realize that the lessons I learnt during my internship are what we are now addressing in class. Unlike the previous semesters, I am now excited to also learn the theory of engineering, since I have had a taste of what ‘real engineering’ is about.
Kofi Anweara ‘18, Burro, Koforidua, Ghana
Before senior high school, I joined the small-scale mining trade, popularly known as galamsey, to help my family survive. It was here that I started getting used to machines and how they worked. After senior high school, I worked for a water-bagging company, managing and fixing machinery in the factory. While these experiences were unconventional and risky, I built my experience in learning the mechanics of machinery. When I was accepted into Ashesi, I knew for sure that I wanted to study electrical engineering.
This long break, I spent three months in Koforidua working with Burro, to find solutions for underserved communities.
As a company, Burro’s mission is to serve underserved communities by providing them solutions to their everyday challenges. To do this, they usually go to villages to interact with the people, plug into their daily lives, understand the kinds of problems being faced and try to come up with solutions to fill those gaps. In one of such villages, we took on the oil palm stakeholders, identifying the pounding process as a pain point in palm oil processing.
My task was to design and build a machine that would address this pain point. So I built a prototype of what we called, a palm oil digester, a machine that helped “pound” the palm nuts. After building the prototype, we took it to our end-users for feedback.
I also got the opportunity to go to my hometown up North for the first time, where we explored similar pain points for the shea-nut industry there as well.
Finally we explored the cocoa industry, where we tried to find effective ways of drying the beans, trashing and also implementing security setups to protect the farmers.
Prior to the internship, I usually struggled to take my ideas from the abstract into reality, but during the period, I learnt to work in small steps, building small prototypes of my idea, and then scaling it up.
Working at Burro, I had the freedom to focus on work. Once the goal was set, you were allowed to decide how to work towards it. That sort of freedom gave me the chance to work precisely on what I was interested in.
While I’m an electrical engineering major, my internship experience largely focused on mechanical engineering, and for me it was a blessing.
Rather than focus on things I’m already familiar with, I try to learn something new in as many different fields as possible. In this way, I can build my experience in other areas beyond electrical engineering.
Jacob Nii Sackey Vanderpuye ‘18, Justice Valentine Essuman ‘18, Victor Hazel ‘18
The trio spent their long break working with Azimuth Power, who have partnered with Ashesi as part of the institution’s move to adopt more solar energy. As part of their work, the students helped installed inverters for the solar panels, performed string calculations for the panels, did cabling, calculating trusses for the roofs and covered the full spectrum of activities involved in the solar installation process.
The team also built a hoist to help lift the panels up onto the roof.
Jacob Nii Sackey Vanderpuye
This experience allowed me to discover a new passion in renewable energy. As a project of this scale is relatively novel in the country, I joined.
I came on-board this project seeing the potential it has to impact the entire energy structure in Ghana, and for me it’s a step in the right direction. We want future generations to come to Ashesi and experience a completely clean environment, and this project takes us a step closer to this goal.
When you’re an engineer, you look to a job being reliable, efficient and cost-effective, and this experience has these qualities.
Victor Hazel
It was very helpful to have hands-on experience, from making 3D model sketches for the inverters, to working on the field with the technicians. I realised that design models could end up totally different when executed on site.
I’m a risk taker, and I look for opportunities everywhere. So when I heard about this project, and realised I hadn’t had any industry experience yet, I figured it would be a good place to start.
Realising Azimuth is also new Ghana, I thought it would be great to learn from them, and be part of their growth. The experience, of course, has influenced the way I look at things now. I learned how to manage people and how , and these skills, I believe, will be useful moving forward.
Justice Essuman
The whole energy sector in Ghana, should probably be looking at this direction, where we can harness several of the free resources we have. While the move to solar sets Ashesi on a path to energy efficiency, it also sets a mark for other institutions to follow.
It makes sense for our continent to move into solar, if Africa looks to welcoming the future. With the skills I’ve acquired, I’ve been placed in the right position to think about starting a solar start-up soon.
Dzifa Hodey ‘19
Rounding-off their first year, the freshman Engineering class designed and built solar powered smart irrigation systems. The project was part of the six-week long Introduction to Engineering class, where the students are introduced to a breadth of tools and equipment to help break them into the Engineering field.
For Dzifa Hodey, this experience helped her understand better, what engineering entails.
“I knew I wanted to major in electrical engineering but I started having second thoughts. Since I was exposed to all the engineering fields during the summer course, I became clear in mind concerning my major,” she says.
“I realised that working alone may not be effective because you need knowledge from other people. It’s also important to have knowledge of several fields. For instance, we handled plumbing, electricals and mechanical parts even though I’m majoring in electrical and electronics engineering
In the end, I was motivated in the sense that I have the ability to take a stab at coming up with working solutions that can solve some of Africas problems.”
See video of the project here: https://www.facebook.com/Ashesi/videos/1540131156030067/