Thermal Imaging Projects Inspire Engineers of the Future
Since 2017, the Technical University of Dresden has organised the "BeING Inside" practical project week for A-level pupils and students in semesters 1 to 5 with an enthusiasm for engineering. This year, InfraTec supported the event as a cooperation partner, during which an industrial project was simulated under close-to-reality conditions. The six interdisciplinary teams of 2023 were given the following task: “Conceptual design respectively production of demonstration objects for sales support of InfraTec”.
What Was the Task to be Solved?
The teams were asked to support InfraTec in creating new demonstration objects for exhibition stands. For this purpose, their tasks included searching for new or potentially high-growth markets for stationary infrared cameras, from which one market was then selected for further work. In the next step, the teams determined the most important criteria for the use of the cameras for the respective market, which were subsequently translated into camera specifications. The last part of the task was to find succinct ways to demonstrate to potential customers how these specifications could be optimally implemented with InfraTec's thermographic cameras using a demonstrator.
How Were the Teams Trained and Supported?
To ensure the success of the project, expert and team coaches, all of them students of the TU Dresden, were trained in a three-day training course called "TrainING". They then supported the teams in working on the task during the "BeING Inside" project week. The interdisciplinary teams received further assistance from professors and experts from InfraTec, who were on site during the project phase. At the end of the project week, all groups presented their scientifically sound solution proposals to a jury. Since all the contributions were very well researched, elaborated and implemented, it was not easy for the jury to choose one student team and one pupil team as the winner at the final event.
Summing Up
The "BeING Inside" project with the topic of thermal imaging achieved a broad response from all participants. Enthused by the commitment and creative ideas of the project participants, the experts from InfraTec are looking forward to supporting projects of this kind in the future. Immediately after the project week, some prospective engineers already showed interest in continuing their project together with InfraTec, which the latter will be very happy to support.