OST students develop concepts for Stadler and Beyond Gravity

(CONNECT) Students in the Bachelor’s degree program in Mechanical Engineering/Innovation at OST – Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences were tasked with solving specific problems posed by industry partners Beyond Gravity and Stadler Rail. Over two semesters, they worked to develop innovative solutions, starting by defining the problem and thereafter focusing on developing theoretical approaches to designing and validating functional prototypes. “This is in line with our commitment to providing extremely practical training”, comments Stefan Grätzer in a statement released by OST. Alongside other lecturers, he supervised a total of 62 budding mechanical engineers split into 12 teams. The projects were presented to the public on May 29 in Rapperswil-Jona in the Swiss canton of St.Gallen.

For the rail car manufacturer from Bussnang in the canton of Thurgau, the teams were looking for ways to reduce squealing on curved tracks and the associated costly wear and tear in relation to rails and wheels in rail transport. “The students impressed us with a wealth of ideas and solutions, some of which our specialists can now pursue either individually or in combination for the development of future rail vehicles”, comments Christoph Leiterer, Head of the Engineering Tailor Made department at Stadler.

In a development project with the Zurich-based firm Beyond Gravity, 32 students working in seven teams focused on ways to automate the handling of aluminum honeycomb panels. These lightweight components are used in modern payload fairings but due to their delicate structure must be handled with the utmost care. “Our initial expectations were for a gripper concept that would allow the aluminum honeycomb panels used in the production of rocket nosecones to be moved automatically through the production process”, as Marco Deffner, production engineer at Beyond Gravity explains. “What we actually got were fully developed concepts and working prototypes”. ce/mm