Open Access Government talk to Vestas aircoil A/S about the multidisciplinary InDEStruct Project, and why it is vital that academia meets industry from the perspective of Industry 4.0.
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The ESRs took part in a day-long innovation workshop with colleagues from Vestas aircoil in Odense, Denamrk. The workshop was led by Susanne Odgaard from Futureworks Cph.
The ESRs learned crucial lessons in structuring their ideation process and collaborating with industrial partners.
The early-stage researcher Milena Watanabe Bavaresco won the 2021 University of Southampton round of the Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition and was classified as a quarter finalist in the Vitae national round.
The 3MT is a science communication competition in which postgraduate researchers are challenged to present their research project to a non-specialist audience in just under three minutes.
Milena explained her work on structural vibrations with the title “Good vibrations: using motion to detect early signs of structural damage”.
You can see her recording below and the videos of the 2021 finalists, semi-finalists and quarter finalists here.
The InDEStruct project (Integrated Design of Engineering Studies) seeks to advance heat exchanger technology by creating novel structural concepts…
ESR-1, Atul Singh, has completed his industrial secondment at Dinex A/S, in Middlefart, Denmark, who have, as an Exhaust aftertreatment solutions provider company, very recently crossed their 2 billion Danish Kroner in revenue landmark for 2021.
This month long secondment, provided an opportunity for Atul to learn from the very best in the business, the micro and macro perspectives of an exhaust aftertreatment systems product development. This ranged, from understanding the way simulations are performed in a time restrictive and an highly competitive automotive sector, to presenting them to upper management for making data-driven business decisions.
For Atul, emphasis was laid on building automated tools for the engineering team, that would equip them to conduct their simulation tasks in a much more time efficient manner, if developed further. Apart from this, Atul also overviewed the method of spray simulations in the context of an exhaust system within the stringent EU-6 emission norms. As such simulation are, more often than not, also understood with an experimental data, Atul also got the chance to interact with the team at Southern Denmark University to learn about the ins and outs of performing an experiment and the challenges that are associated with the spray studies.
In general, the secondment has been an exceptional training environment and an amazing learning experience for Atul, that has been instrumental in gaining exposure to the real world challenges within a team, that in a way, directly addresses the climate change related concerns.
Now, that is a 21st century challenge, worth understanding.
Academia meets industry… and vice versa. Denmark holds a strong position in the delicate art of making theory and practice blend blood, ultimately benefitting both academic societies and private companies as well as the world outside.
“Good is not good enough when better is expected”.
A quote that may very well apply for Atul Singh (29) from India working tirelessly at his computer optimizing engineering designs to the better.
In a world of complex computer models combined with his solid engineering background Atul is a scientific adventurer always looking for new land to discover. Currently setting his landmarks and waypoints in Denmark assisting Vestas aircoil to further improve their engineering designs in marine and industrial cooling systems.
“At present we look into the next generation of heat exchangers as we focus on new concepts. In its essence engineering is truly multidisciplinary. I perceive my three PhD-colleagues and myself pretty much as a family on a mission: My goal is to optimize an engineering system – which happens to be a heat exchanger in this case – with each of us bringing our expertise to the table: Comprehensive knowledge on real life testing, vibrations, fatigue and – for my part – design optimization,” explains Atul Singh.
Significant new knowledge
The fellow European Industrial PhD project between the University of Southampton and Vestas aircoil involves four young talents from abroad. The project is funded by the EU Horizon program. The project is planned to last four years with a 50/50 split between studies in the UK and Denmark. The PhD’s have weekly online meetings with their university supervisor and biweekly meetings with their industrial supervisor. At Vestas aircoil the industrial supervisor is Claus H. Ibsen, Master of Science in Engineering (M. Sc. Eng.) and PhD himself.
A PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) is a 3-year postgraduate doctoral degree, awarded to students who complete an original thesis offering a significant new contribution to knowledge in their subject. PhD qualifications are available in all subjects and usually the highest level of academic degree a person can achieve.
Trade-offs are important
Along with Atul the talented “four-piece PhD puzzle” is personalized by Milena Watanabe Bavaresco from Brazil, Kevin Jose from India, and Khandokar Abu Talha from Bangladesh. All four invited to be part of the ambitious research and development team at Vestas aircoil currently expanding its R&D facilities and activities in Denmark.
Four teammates that are both professional colleagues and best friends – or to put it in Atul’s more poetic way: “We talk about everything under the sun… including, sometimes, the sun”.
In a world of physics, equations and natural laws optimization by engineering design is, however, objective dependent.
”It depends! If the task or the objective, as it is normally called, is to reduce the weight, then the optimization process would focus on certain set of design choices. And if – on the other hand – the purpose is increasing energy efficiency or thermal output, or reducing emissions, then the set of design choices would be completely different. Basically, there is a trade-off that needs to be understood. Building efficient tools for analyzing such complex types of multi-disciplinary problems is what my research aims at providing”.
Despite his age and relatively brief career Atul has crisscrossed the European continent after finishing his 4-year Bachelor of Engineering in Gujarat hometown Ahmedabad, India. If Ahmedabad occurs familiar to some readers the reason would probably be the fact that the city in 1887 witnessed a graduating 18-year-old high school student later to become one of the most famous and admired leaders that ever walked on this Earth: Mahatma Gandhi.
Universally respected for his wisdom, one particular Gandhi-quote means a lot to Atul as it basically connects to optimal usage of resources which in a magical way relates to Atul’s work of optimization as well.
Gandhi said:
“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed”.,
Supporting 65,000 researchers
With the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions (MSCA) the EU Commission is supporting the career development and training of researchers. The MSCA are expected to finance around 65,000 researchers, including 25,000 doctoral candidates. The EU target is to spend 3% of EU GDP on research and development by 2020. At the MSCA start in 2014 at least 1 million new R&D jobs had to be established.
By funding excellent research and offering attractive working conditions, the MSCA offer high quality professional opportunities open to researchers of any age, nationality or discipline.
The specific objectives of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Networks (ITN) are:
1. to train a new generation of creative, entrepreneurial and innovative early-stage researchers able to face current and future challenges and to convert knowledge and ideas into products and services for economic and social benefit
2. to raise excellence and structure research and doctoral training, extending the traditional academic research training setting, incorporating the elements of Open Science and equipping researchers with the right combination of research-related and transferable competences
3. to provide enhanced career perspectives in both the academic and non-academic sectors through international, interdisciplinary and intersectoral mobility combined with an innovation-oriented mind-set.
Look forward and reach out
Atul did not walk a historic nonviolent disobedience Salt March but travelled 6.000 kilometers from Ahmedabad to Rostock in Germany to take the final steps towards his Master of Engineering degree finishing his thesis, after having further specialized in engineering design at a jet engine research team in B-TU Cottbus, Germany, then at a supercomputing center of Cineca in Bologna, Italy, and at truck manufacturer Scania in Södertälje, Sweden.
Despite the reputable venues Atul is a sincerely humble young engineer with a September 2022 deadline for his PhD thesis to be handed in at Southampton University in England. A work that will probably comprise some 150-200 pages and – if acknowledged by the scientific society – will add another name to novel science making him one of world’s leading experts in his highly specialized area of interest.
“I have been very lucky. So far, my career has had a domino effect – one good thing leading to another. It is almost surreal. I spoke with my father about the opportunity to join Vestas aircoil in Denmark. He noticed Denmark’s supreme rank on the global happiness index – and advised me to look forward and reach out. And here I am part of a magnificent PhD-team in a very well-structured Danish business”.
A revolution in engineering
Atul’s fascination in engineering design is well rooted in a restless search for ideal second to none solutions. Regardless, if that is a meticulous detail in a subcomponent or a giant scale structure, or a completely different engineering system altogether.
“The heat exchangers developed by Vestas aircoil are cooling down ship engines the size of buildings. We talk massive dimensions. And yet, even a giant diesel engine is a precise clockwork that must be designed carefully into every detail in order to function in an optimal manner. I guess one could argue that engineering design in the past often tended to be very robust structures with little or no considerations to emissions or climate footprint. Down the road, however, we have realized that modern engineering design must pay further attention to the environment offering more comprehensive solutions that pay respect to improved sustainability. My research would be no different,” says Atul.
He would not be surprised if global challenges related to climate change and resource scarcity will manifest as main drivers that will eventually materialize themselves as high octane fuel in an engineering design revolution.
“Life cycle and recycling aspects is definitely becoming a new and very inspiring a challenge for engineering design over the past years”.
Pioneers for six decades
Founded in the 1950s Vestas aircoil has been a market leading manufacturer of marine and industrial cooling products ever since. Vestas built the first marine diesel engine charge air cooler in the world for Burmeister & Wain in 1956. The company is headquartered in Lem, a small industrial town often associated with its blacksmith industry.
Until the 1980s Vestas aircoil was part of Vestas Wind Systems also located in Lem. Today, Vestas aircoil is owned by Genua. Vestas aircoil has 250 employees based in Denmark, Southern Europe and the Far East.
www.vestas-aircoil.com
Cost conscious at the same time
“It is very expensive to develop new prototypes and models. Another very interesting aspect in engineering design is the effort to optimize and yet be cost conscious at the same time. Customers and companies cannot afford to spend endless resources in new engineering designs. Hence being cost effective in terms of both time and resources, is – more often than not – another important aspect of the equation,” Atul explains.
Taking a brief look in the rearview mirror it is almost four years ago, the market-leading Danish manufacturer of marine and industrial cooling systems joined forces with the University of Southampton in preparations for a fellow European Industrial PhD project financially supported by the EU Horizon program. The international collaboration, including UK, Denmark, the European Union, and talented young people from abroad carry the ambition to spark even closer cooperation between academia and industry for their mutual benefit.
“After Southampton, I am open to opportunities anywhere in the world, as I am indeed, a citizen of the world. Opportunities will show when the time comes,” says Atul.
It seems fair to conclude that the generous “domino effect” will once again be a guide to Atul as he moves along and take the next steps in his career.
Their time to shine
The very first steps, however, will bring Atul back to the University of Southampton in England to fulfill the contract signed with Vestas aircoil and the university.
University of Southampton is ranked Top 100 globally. On the website the university flash its payoff: “This is your time to shine” with a promising ambition to “develop critical thinking and independent learning skills that are essential for future leaders and decision makers”.
Currently, Atul shines at Vestas aircoil along with Milena, Kevin and Talha. Soon four PhD thesis will probably shine equally intense on the science sky with stars of new insights, thoughts and learnings picked up and examined closely by four talented engineers spending three years together in UK and Denmark.
Kevin: “Now I see structures everywhere”
Milena: “I fell in love with research”
Talha: “Failure is what I predict”
ESR4 (Khandokar Abu Talha) has completed his secondment at Dinex A/S. During his time at Dinex, he took part in several activities including a ‘Hackathon’ design challenge. Similar to ESR2, ESR4 (Talha) was part of the Product Development team at Dinex. He received training on FE structural analysis and learnt about standard industrial practices at Dinex. In addition to that, he collaborated with Dinex on fatigue lifing of their exhaust system and gained first-hand experience on vibration induced fatigue life estimation technique. The training he received in Dinex would be very useful for the future deliverables of InDestruct project.
Academia meets industry… and vice versa. Denmark holds a strong position in the delicate art of making theory and practice blend blood, ultimately benefitting both academic societies and private companies as well as the world outside.
If – for some reason – you want to know when any given component will eventually fail or break down Khandokar Abu Talha (26) from Bangladesh is a young expert, you should consider paying a visit.
Significant new knowledge
The fellow European Industrial PhD project between the University of Southampton and Vestas aircoil involves four young talents from abroad. The project is funded by the EU Horizon program. The project is planned to last four years with a 50/50 split between studies in the UK and Denmark. The PhD’s have weekly online meetings with their university supervisor and biweekly meetings with their industrial supervisor. At Vestas aircoil the industrial supervisor is Claus H. Ibsen, Master of Science in Engineering (M. Sc. Eng.) and PhD himself.
A PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) is a 3-year postgraduate doctoral degree, awarded to students who complete an original thesis offering a significant new contribution to knowledge in their subject. PhD qualifications are available in all subjects and usually the highest level of academic degree a person can achieve.
Given his capacity to predict the lifespan of a wide range of materials and structures, one could, in fact, argue he is a master of disaster. Yet, engineers don’t use that kind of language which seems a fairly good reason to have Mechanical Engineer and PhD Talha explain himself:
“My work is to investigate the fatigue behaviour of components in a certain structure… let’s say a heat exchanger. Combining fatigue testing with cyclic amplitude loading, observations and merging these real-life data into established and well-proven general theories and methods, I can predict when the component will fail. In a fairly precise manner”.
Using heat exchangers as an example to illustrate his point doesn’t come by accident. Talha is currently working on his PhD thesis, Fatigue evaluations of additive manufactured materials in novel heat exchanger design in the headquarters of Vestas Aircoil – for the past seven decades, a pioneering and market-leading Denmark-based manufacturer of marine and industrial cooling systems.
Knowing what we don’t know
“As goes for any PhD thesis, however, my work has the essential second part not just to obtain an in-depth understanding of what we can observe and already know but indeed carry on the thought process to a next level enabling us to realise some of the knowledge gaps we still face. Realising what we don’t know is a fundamental first step in science to build new experiments that will generate more information and data upon which we can crystallise out groundbreaking new evidence and knowledge”.
Predicting failure in a modern setting basically involves extremely heavy data, capable computer modelling and real-life cyclic loading tests. Inside Talha’s modern computer and its powerful models, however, sits knowledge, part of which goes way back in time.
Understanding the cyclic behaviour of material goes back to World War II. In 1943 two American scientists working for NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, the predecessor to NASA) established the Ramberg-Osgood equation that describes the non-linear relationship between cyclic stress and strain, which still is a relevant and widely used theory even though more advanced models are available.
Supporting 65,000 researchers
With the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions (MSCA) the EU Commission is supporting the career development and training of researchers. The MSCA are expected to finance around 65,000 researchers, including 25,000 doctoral candidates. The EU target is to spend 3% of EU GDP on research and development by 2020. At the MSCA start in 2014 at least 1 million new R&D jobs had to be established.
By funding excellent research and offering attractive working conditions, the MSCA offer high quality professional opportunities open to researchers of any age, nationality or discipline.
The specific objectives of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Networks (ITN) are:
1. to train a new generation of creative, entrepreneurial and innovative early-stage researchers able to face current and future challenges and to convert knowledge and ideas into products and services for economic and social benefit
2. to raise excellence and structure research and doctoral training, extending the traditional academic research training setting, incorporating the elements of Open Science and equipping researchers with the right combination of research-related and transferable competences
3. to provide enhanced career perspectives in both the academic and non-academic sectors through international, interdisciplinary and intersectoral mobility combined with an innovation-oriented mind-set.
From elastic to plastic behaviour
The constitutive equations themself are so complicated it would probably take an engineer to fully understand it.
Yet, the stress-strain curve related to the constitutive equations illustrates the behaviour of materials near the yield points.
In material science and engineering, the yield point is the point on a stress-strain curve that indicates the limit of elastic behaviour and the beginning of plastic behaviour. Below the yield point, a material will deform elastically and return to its original shape when stress is stopped. Once the yield point is passed, however, some fraction of the deformation will be permanent and non-reversible. That stage in the process is known as plastic deformation.
And plastic deformation can often lead to microscopic cracks that, in themselves, are not destructive but can develop further and make the material or structure deteriorate into weakness, malfunction and eventually total breakdown.
A process well-known from numerous incidents and accidents – recent examples being airplane accidents in the US and Europe with engine parts ripping off due to metal fatigue and consequently damaging the entire structure.
Everything will fail one day
“The cyclic behaviour combined with stress-life – the number of cycles to failure under a certain stress level – can predict failure of a structural material with reasonable accuracy. It all started in 1837, when a german engineer, Wilhelm Albert published the first article on metal fatigue, later which was termed as ‘metals being tired’ by Jean-Victor Poncelet, a French engineer. Then, O. H. Basquin proposed the relationship between stress and number of cycles to failure, which marked a major milestone in fatigue research history. For generations, engineers stood on the shoulders of these pioneers, and created complex models of fatigue failure as phenomena and how to excel the prediction of it”.
The pioneering nature of these early realisations proves themselves on a daily basis as theories turn out to be applicable not only to metal as they originated from but – at least partly – also to other materials such as composites, plastics and ceramics.
At the coffee machine in the Vestas aircoil reception area, we briefly dwell at the slightly more philosophical truth that everything may eventually fail. Any structure we build, any machine we manufacture will fail at last. Even human beings and what goes beyond our wildest imaginations have an end:
“Ultimately, even the universe as we know it will possibly collapse one day… in what is to become the biggest failure ever,” Talha says with contagious laughter. “But I am not sure my computer models are capable of predicting much in that context”.
Pioneers for six decades
Founded in the 1950s Vestas aircoil has been a market leading manufacturer of marine and industrial cooling products ever since. Vestas built the first marine diesel engine charge air cooler in the world for Burmeister & Wain in 1956. The company is headquartered in Lem, a small industrial town often associated with its blacksmith industry.
Until the 1980s Vestas aircoil was part of Vestas Wind Systems also located in Lem. Today, Vestas aircoil is owned by Genua. Vestas aircoil has 250 employees based in Denmark, Southern Europe and the Far East.
www.vestas-aircoil.com
Young talents from abroad
In other words: Fatigue, failure and collapse is a law of nature. And Talha’s engineering nature is to describe and predict.
“Predictions of failure are highly relevant in, let’s say, the car industry. Most failures – probably 7 or 8 in 10 – have a cyclic nature. Fatigue cracks in materials and components will correspond in a certain ratio with the numbers of miles the car has been driving. On top of that comes other crucial factors such as climate, load, user characteristics etc. Predictions basically enable companies to set up maintenance schedules, guarantees, spare part production etc. In fact, to a large extent the core business model itself”.
Working closely together with PhD-colleagues Milena Watanabe Bavaresco from Brazil and Kevin Jose and Atul Singh from India, Talha is part of the ambitious research and development team at Vestas aircoil currently planning to further expand its R&D facilities and activities in Denmark.
Three years ago, the market-leading Danish manufacturer of marine and industrial cooling systems joined forces with the University of Southampton in preparations for a fellow European Industrial PhD project financially supported by the EU Horizon program. The international collaboration, including UK, Denmark, the European Union and talented young people from abroad carry the ambition to spark even closer cooperation between academia and industry for their mutual benefit.
“Representing academia, I find the industrial environment very rewarding. It’s indeed inspiring to face real-life challenges. Another upside is the potential networking and collaboration opportunities enabling us to generate new solid knowledge essential for the PhD”.
The deadly winter in Denmark
Talha will work on his thesis at Vestas aircoil until December 2021. Going back to the UK, he will finish his PhD at the University of Southampton within 6-9 months.
Where prediction and failure will bring him after that he doesn’t know yet:
“Before arriving in Denmark, I worked in Bangladesh, France, Germany and England. I am open to any opportunity. Given the current Covid-19 situation… who knows what travel bans will look like in the future?”.
Instead, Talha puts a lot of energy into his passion for cooking. Often together with PhD colleague Kevin Jose from India.
“I am very excited about both the Asian and European kitchen. Coming to the sparsely populated Western part of Denmark, we have realised, however, the difficulties in finding those ingredients we are familiar with in Southeast Asia”.
“Apart from the Asian food resource scarcity, living in Ringkoebing and Denmark has been a wonderful experience so far. People are fun and very nice. I am quite excited about the Nordic work-life ratio allowing me substantial time to enjoy the sea and re-energise. The one thing I don’t like about Denmark is winter. No life… no sunshine. It’s deadly!” says Talha with a smile and wraps up:
“And yet I survived…”
Kevin: “Now I see structures everywhere”
Milena: “I fell in love with research”
Atul: “Finding trade-offs is my trade”
ESR2 (Kevin Jose) has returned from Middelfart after spending a month at Dinex A/S, the exhaust and aftertreatment solutions giant. During his time at Dinex, he was part of the Product Development team. He got a first hand experince of the design development process in an industrial setting with a focus on FEA Structural Analysis. The experience he gained at Dinex will surely be useful in his career.
Academia meets industry… and vice versa. Denmark holds a strong position in the delicate art of making theory and practice blend blood. Ultimately benefitting both academic societies and private companies as well as the world outside.
”I was born and raised not far from New Delhi… a giant metropolis with 22 million people. I also lived in New York with a population of 8 million. Even Southampton – hometown of my university – has 250,000 inhabitants. Now I live in Ringkøbing together with 10,000 people or so. It’s quiet but I actually find the rather sleepy atmosphere charming. I believe it’s an ideal place for me to write the initial part of my PhD thesis”.
Kevin Jose (25) came directly from India to Denmark in January 2020. He arrived in the midst of the month-long Nordic winter darkness challenging even to many native Danes suffering from a weather-burdened mood. On top of only a few hours of daylight this particular winter was distinct with a record number of rainy and windy days.
“The subtropical summer we experience now, however, definitely warmed me up. Actually, I find the indoor temperatures a bit challenging these days. Unlike India there is no air conditioning inside our office building and the campus where I live. The bright summer nights with very early sunrise is also something for me to get used to”.
Significant new knowledge
The fellow European Industrial PhD project between the University of Southampton and Vestas aircoil involves four young talents from abroad. The project is funded by the EU Horizon program. The project is planned to last four years with a 50/50 split between studies in the UK and Denmark. The PhD’s have weekly online meetings with their university supervisor and biweekly meetings with their industrial supervisor. At Vestas aircoil the industrial supervisor is Claus H. Ibsen, Master of Science in Engineering (M. Sc. Eng.) and PhD himself.
A PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) is a 3-year postgraduate doctoral degree, awarded to students who complete an original thesis offering a significant new contribution to knowledge in their subject. PhD qualifications are available in all subjects and usually the highest level of academic degree a person can achieve.
Structures in nature
Working closely together with PhD-colleague Milena Watanabe Bavaresco from Brazil, Kevin is part of the research and development team at Vestas aircoil. The market leading Danish manufacturer of marine and industrial cooling systems joined forces, three years ago, with University of Southampton in preparations for a fellow European Industrial PhD project, financially supported by the EU Horizon program that Kevin is now part of.
The international collaboration including UK, Denmark, the European Union and talented young people from abroad carries the ambition to spark even closer cooperation between academia and industry for their mutual benefit.
“And that is indeed what we achieve by spending time at Vestas aircoil. Once your fundamental knowledge is in place you start to see the structures we examine everywhere. Even in nature and the landscape surrounding us”.
Supporting 65,000 researchers
With the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions (MSCA) the EU Commission is supporting the career development and training of researchers. The MSCA are expected to finance around 65,000 researchers, including 25,000 doctoral candidates. The EU target is to spend 3% of EU GDP on research and development by 2020. At the MSCA start in 2014 at least 1 million new R&D jobs had to be established.
By funding excellent research and offering attractive working conditions, the MSCA offer high quality professional opportunities open to researchers of any age, nationality or discipline.
The specific objectives of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Networks (ITN) are:
1. to train a new generation of creative, entrepreneurial and innovative early-stage researchers able to face current and future challenges and to convert knowledge and ideas into products and services for economic and social benefit
2. to raise excellence and structure research and doctoral training, extending the traditional academic research training setting, incorporating the elements of Open Science and equipping researchers with the right combination of research-related and transferable competences
3. to provide enhanced career perspectives in both the academic and non-academic sectors through international, interdisciplinary and intersectoral mobility combined with an innovation-oriented mind-set.
The beauty of our work
“To give you an example, one day I was at the fjord watching the waves coming in. What I observed and realized was how plants along the shore influence the rhythm of the water surface. In fact, plantation at the fjord has an effect on the waves that in some ways is similar to the effect that tubes and fins in a Vestas aircoil charge air cooler have on vibrations of the cooler. I find it rather fascinating to recognize and retrieve the dynamics from completely different spheres and potentially make them relevant even to an industrial cooling system. That is the beauty of our work”.
For Kevin the inspiration goes far beyond observing waves at Ringkøbing Fjord. Even his knowledge of vibrations from musical drums and trees reactions to earthquakes carry insights that Kevin can take advantage of on a daily basis.
Troubles to shoot
Sitting at his desk in the Research and Development Department at the Vestas aircoil headquarter in Denmark Kevin is working on computer models that are capable of translating the physical dynamics that he observes elsewhere into tools that have the capacity to make sophisticated know how workable in an industrial setting as well.
Pioneers for six decades
Founded in the 1950s Vestas aircoil has been a market leading manufacturer of marine and industrial cooling products ever since. Vestas built the first marine diesel engine charge air cooler in the world for Burmeister & Wain in 1956. The company is headquartered in Lem, a small industrial town often associated with its blacksmith industry.
Until the 1980s Vestas aircoil was part of Vestas Wind Systems also located in Lem. Today, Vestas aircoil is owned by Genua. Vestas aircoil has 250 employees based in Denmark, Southern Europe and the Far East.
www.vestas-aircoil.com
One highly relevant topic at his current employer is the effect of manufacturing tolerance on vibrations.
“Vibrations cause deformations in materials and structures that – if not predicted accurately in calculations and design – potentially may cause failure. From let’s say aircraft jet engines we know that even the slightest deviations in geometric or material parameters in one fan blade eventually may break down the entire engine with catastrophic consequences to follow. 1 or 2 percent dissimilarity can easily evolve into a 100 percent disaster. Inspired by real life industrial challenges, my work focuses on building the simplest possible models that translate issues related to vibrations into academic concepts and responses from physics that are durable at the engineer’s desk as well as in the production facility”.
Ultimately, Kevin’s ambition is to succeed with scientific simplification models that may not run three decimals on expensive super computers but strike an accuracy that make the models useful in contexts where thousandths are overkill.
The nature of the PhD
Kevin is currently researching and writing a PhD thesis he plans to submit in 2 years or so. Meanwhile he will write numerous scientific articles submitted to relevant journals with the PhD constituting a summary of the original work presented and connected over the course of the PhD project.
”A PhD thesis would normally be 100-150 pages and must present what is acknowledged by independent researchers as new scientific realizations. If successful a PhD would ideally become one in only 2-3 experts worldwide in his or her particular field of super specialized science”.
To focus one must, however, relax now and then. In Kevin’s case he prefers to rest his curious scientific mind while searching through a camera lens for picturesque landscapes, sunsets or lighthouses along the North Sea coastline and Ringkøbing Fjord. Or enjoy the social life at the campus in Ringkøbing with those 30 other young international talents living there… many of them young researchers at the wind turbine giant Vestas Wind Systems located next door to Vestas aircoil.
Now and then, Kevin also put aside the scientific literature and allow himself to linger with books describing recent Danish history.
“I am rather stunned by the homogeneity of the Danish society. Once in a while, though, I miss the dynamic cultural dissimilarity I grew up with in India. I speak two Indian languages fluently and my parents are part of a religious minority comprising only two percent of the population in India. I find it exciting when cultures and contradictions meet, but I am deeply impressed by the non-hierarchical society in Denmark. We sit in the CEOs office to do this interview for instance… that pretty much explains the Danish informality”.
Magic in the campus kitchen
Most of all, Kevin misses the spicy Indian cuisine he was born and raised with. After months of searching and assisted by friends in Denmark and abroad, a decent spice rack with ginger, turmeric, cumin, cilantro and fenugreek is slowly materializing in his campus kitchen. As well as new discoveries in kitchen machinery.
“We do not use electrical ovens in India. It was a somewhat magical discovery to me, and I decided to bake bread only to suffer the painful response that fellow students in the campus kitchen complimented me for my “fine cake”. After that I started looking for bakeries with bread on sale”.
It may well be that his core competences lay outside baking, however, true talent does not deny itself. Looking into the future Kevin see himself almost anywhere in the world his expertise may unfold:
“If my future career will lead me to a university position as professor or a cutting-edge research and development position in the private sector I really don’t know. It is still in the making, I guess. In fact, I don’t have strong feelings what part of the world will become my future home. I am very flexible and mostly driven by job opportunities that have the potential to unleash the science I feel passionate about”.
Milena: “I fell in love with research”
Atul: “Finding trade-offs is my trade”
Talha: “Failure is what I predict”