HBHS Old Boys make their mark in Engineering

HBHS Old Boys Aidan Davey (pictured left on the far left) and James Hussey (pictured right on the right) graduate this Wednesday from the University of Canterbury Mechanical Engineering Department after having completed cutting edge final year projects which were sponsored by some of New Zealand's most important companies.  Courtesy of the University of Canterbury, we present an outline of what these students have accomplished, and we congratulate them on their achievements.

James was tasked with redesigning Methanex’s remote measurement ‘Mole’ device. Stainless steel reformer tubes are used to chemically convert natural gas from New Zealand’s gas fields into methanol for export. Several years ago the first Canterbury Methanex Mole team invented a device that could be lowered down the tubes which are several stories high to measure the tube
diameter and detect if a tube was starting to fail

Since then Methanex has used these devices to maintain their operations, but they have encountered new challenges. James’ Economole Team updated the Mole, this time designing for lower cost, and so that it could could crawl horizontally up to 15 meters along tubes and measure the roughness of the surface finish.

The University of Canterbury has received a grant of over 2 million dollars over the next several years to research a way to convert low temperature geothermal and industrial waste heat into electricity. Aidan Davey and his team advanced this research aimed at developing the “Organic Rankine Cycle” (ORC) Converter by designing and building a prototype unit. His team designed then built a small ORC converter designed to generate 1 kW of power from the exhaust heat of a
gas turbine generator. This small-scale system helped the research group and the industrial sponsor gain experience with the technology. Page Macrae Engineering, the industrial sponsor, will now continue with the research and development. If the research is successful, New Zealand could have a unique technology that could be sold internationally for green power generation.

“James and Aidan are graduating with considerable high-tech experience for undergraduate engineering students.” said the Head of Mechanical Engineering, Professor Milo Kral. “This year’s graduates have dealt with the unprecedented situation of multiple earthquakes and disruptions throughout their studies, and we appreciate their positive attitude and resilience.”