Students learn about Project Bloodhound
On the 3rd February 2015 a group of Y11 students from Wales High School attended the AMRC Training Centre for an introduction to the Project Bloodhound. Project Bloodhound aims to build the worlds first 1,000mph car and will be using a donated Rolls-Royces EJ200 engines.
The project is inspiring a range of educational activities that are encouraging young people to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects.
Ian Crowston a Rolls-Royce engineer facilitated the sessions and was a key driver in pulling this particular event together. The day involved the students making balloon cars and racing them against each other to help them understand the principles of aerodynamics. Practical maths was used to create a velocity/time graph.
Two current AMRC Training Centre apprentices, Sam Ward of TWI and Jack Smith from Rolls-Royce, who is also a former Wales High School student, gave a presentation on reverse engineering and demonstrated the work they had carried out on a gear pump which included CAD/CAM.
As well as this, discussions were held on the way the nose cone and steering wheel of the Bloodhound were developed and Nikon kindly dedicated their time with a demonstration of their 3D scanning facilities.
Further maths principles were examined using co-ordinates and their use in CNC machining G-code with practical examples given.
All the students thoroughly enjoyed the day and left enthused about Project Bloodhound. Simon Kerfoot, STEM Club Co-ordinator at Wales High School said An excellent day, all our pupils thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
The event was a pilot and it is hoped that Rolls-Royce and the AMRC Training Centre can work together to put on regular STEM workshops for young people.