ARMSA 2019 winners –From left Azel Viljoen (UJ) with her ‘Immune Dune’ device (to retain beach sand) in third place, Onkgopotse Mothibo (TUT) for her ‘Uncapped’ design to allow for safer jet ski fishing in second place; Denzill Bothma (TUT) for his ‘Beach Muncher,’ a system with roller and scoop/skip for cleaning beaches in first place.
Every year, the Association of Rotational Moulders of South Africa (ARMSA) organises a design competition that is sponsored by SASOL’s Polymer Tech Centre. This year’s brief for the competition was to create a product that demonstrated an appreciation of the many advantages of the rotational moulding process, which could be used in applications on beaches, whether for leisure, environmental care or other. Judges consisting of experts in the field of rotational moulding expected students to identify a real-life problem around the theme by designing an original but also a commercially viable solution.
The announcement of the winners of this year’s Sasol Student Design Competition coincided with the Affiliation of Rotational Moulding Organisations’ (ARMO) international conference, on 17 September 2019, at Sun City. Attendees of the conference so favourably impressed by the strategies the students applied in their problem solving challenge that many of them offered their business cards to students interested commercializing their products.
TUT’s Jaco van Heerden received a commendation for his ‘Wave Ezee’ pontoon design which adds stability to a surfboard when beginner surfers learn to surf.
Azel Viljoen from UJ came third with her ‘Immune Dune’, a rotational moulded product that protects the beaches from coastal erosion.
Second place was awarded to Onkgopotse Mothibe from TUT with her ‘Uncapped buoyancy pontoon’. Onkgopotse redesigned a rib kit stabiliser for jet skis which improves the buoyancy for Jet Ski fishing, a recently introduced extreme sport practiced along the South African coast line.
There has always been an intense rivalry between TUT and UJ’s Industrial Department for the first prize with the annual Sasol Student Design Competition, but TUT’s second year Industrial Design student Denzill Bothma took this year’s prize. Denzill designed the ‘Beach Muncher’ to be pulled behind a tractor to quickly clean beaches due to natural events such as floods, illegal dumping and solid waste flushed out from the ocean and litter left behind by people visiting the beaches.
At the prize giving, Nick Aggett, senior technical specialist at Sasol who has been coordinating the design events for over a decade, said “Every year we are amazed by the students’ innovation”.
Sasol Student Design Competition winner 2019, Denzill Bothma said “I would like to thank ARMSA for the opportunity to engage with experts in industry. We have huge respect for our lecturers who are sharing their knowledge and support and motivate us to perform exceptional.”
To access the designs please click here.