Energy engineering students of Turku UAS organized an introduction day for vocational school students to make energy field studies more appealing.
Texts: Juuso Korvela, Väinö Hannila
Pictures: Siiri Welling
Demo day for students of vocational school Raseko, included an introduction to energy field studies in Turku University of Applied Sciences. Demo days project assignment comes from COVE SEED (Sustainable Energy Education) -program, which is a development project for sustainable energy education. COVE SEED is a part of larger Erasmus+ -program. Erasmus+ is a program of European Union to support education, youth, and sports around Europe. Demo day project is associated with Raseko and Turku University of Applied Sciences. The project was a part of the Capstone – innovation project course in which every third-year student participates in Turku UAS.
Main goal of the day was to advertise possible future energy studies and add knowledge of engineering possibilities. In other words, to get more people to take interest in energy field studies. Students of Raseko got to peek into engineering studies from a student’s point of view and got an overview look of the campus.
A peek into the life of an energy engineer student
Demo day consisted of six different tasks, all involved with a theme in energy engineering studies, such as solar energy and other power sources. One of the themes was getting to know various employment possibilities in energy engineering. That is important so participants would get a larger view of how many different jobs an engineer can do. Due to the ongoing energy crisis, it was a great opportunity to spread knowledge of energy consumption and use that as a theme of its own. Laboratory equipment at TUAS New Energy lab was introduced and three of the tasks took place in the laboratory. Students of Raseko were divided into small groups and went through all the playful, but also educational tasks.
The six tasks included videos from energy- and environmental engineering alumni students of TUAS, a kahoot quiz with energy related questions, a playful brainstorming session to design a device or a concept to prevent the ongoing energy crisis, different tasks in the NERC laboratory and the solar power plant on the roof of EduCity.
In the first laboratory task the students got to charge an electric car using small solar panels generating electricity from an LED light. The second task in the NERC laboratory was an introduction to the Mobile Solar Lab. The mobile solar lab is a solar panel testing device which the students got to test the efficiencies of a solar panel in different conditions and examine its defects with.
After the laboratory tasks the students got an introduction to the solar power plant and different weather conditions and irradiance measurement devices located on the roof of EduCity. They also got to examine the panels with thermal cameras to try and detect hot spots and defects in the panels.
“Inspiring students to become future energy engineers”
The demo day ended with a feedback survey and the students receiving prizes they earned during some of the tasks. Based on the feedback the students mostly enjoyed the experience and found it fun and educational. In the feedback survey 10 % of the students answered that they will be applying for energy studies in Turku UAS. In conclusion the demo day was a success and worked towards the project’s goal – inspiring students to become future energy engineers.