A team comprising of five young Chinese aeronautics students grabbed this year’s Airbus’ Fly Your Ideas 2011 competition, which challenges students worldwide to develop new ideas to deliver a more eco-efficient aviation industry for the future.
The prize was awarded at a ceremony held at the International Paris Air Show – Le Bourget on June 23.
According to a press release, Team Wings of Phoenix won for their suggestion of a ground-based wind power generation system that exploits the wakes of aircraft generated during takeoff and landing.
With this win, the winning Team Wings of Phoenix from Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics pocketed $42,000 in prize money. The team members, along with all the finalists, will also be offered an internship at Airbus.
The winning team is comprised of: Xinyuan Zheng, Lijun Pan, Xianmei Wu, Xuesong Liu and Kai Xu. The winning team explained that their idea involves the placement of a series of leaf-shaped devices along the sides of airport runways that are perturbed by passing aircraft, recovering energy that is otherwise lost. The design concept of the “leaves” was based on the theory of electro-mechanics and the potential to generate electrical power while meeting airport safety regulations.
Team Condor from Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María in Chile won the runner up prize for their proposal on an alternative design for aerodynamic speed brakes to recover energy for on-board reuse.
Spanish team ‘Ecolution,’ from the Universidad Pontificia Comillas de Madrid, was awarded the Best Video prize for the creative way they presented their project, the implementation of light-weight natural fiber composites in aircraft cargo containers.
This year a record number of teams participated in the challenge. 315 teams from different corners of the world vied for the title. In addition to strong interest in aviation and Airbus, the significant increase in the numbers of teams reflects the level of enthusiasm, creativity and students’ capacity of thinking ‘outside the box.’
The uniqueness of the Airbus challenge lies in the fact that it gives students the chance to develop teamwork, enhance their creativity and innovation skills, and improve project management as well as presentation skills. The challenge allows students to have close interaction with Airbus staff. This helps them learn from Airbus expertise and offers insight into the global aviation industry which currently supports 33 million jobs worldwide and is a substantial contributor to global commerce.
Earlier this week, on the first day of the Paris Air Show Airbus SAS (News - Alert) announced winning of orders and commitments for 142 aircraft worth $15 billion at list prices.
Madhubanti Rudra is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.Edited by
Rich Steeves
