Bellow Rail Brake wins 3D Pioneers Challenge 2022
A team of Master's students and lecturers from pd|z wins the 3D Pioneers Challenge 2022. They are awarded for the bellow rail brake that they developed. In total, projects from 27 countries and five continents were submitted for this competition.
The winner of the 2022 Challenge is a mechanical engineering team of ETH Zurich: Urs Hofmann, Julian Ferchow, Philipp Keller, Lukas Rother, Konstantinos Sarigiannidis, Aurel Schüpbach Michael Zanetti as well as Mirko Meboldt, Professor for Product Development and Engineering Design, developed a special bellow rail brake as part of the Design for Additive Manufacturing course at ETH. The prize, which was awarded in May 2022, is endowed with CHF 10,000. The jury also chose the ETH team’s concept as the winner in the mobility subcategory.
The winning design is an additively manufactured monolithic brake for rail transport. Among other things, it is intended for the hyperloop technology, a new type of high-speed transport system. For speeds of up to 1,000 km/h, the brake had to be as small, lightweight, and fail-safe as possible. The integration of a bellow generates a gap between the brake and the rail. When pressure is released, immediate braking is initiated by contracting the bellow.
The design consists of a single component, which reduces the number of possible sources of error. In addition, the lightweight construction and the integration of various functions signify a step further towards sustainable mobility. The jury thought so, too. They underlined their decision by saying: "The project is a fantastic contribution to climate-friendly mobility. It is a new and progressive solution for braking technologies where safety is top priority in order to enable hyperloop speeds in the future."
The 3D Pioneers Challenge is an international design competition for additive manufacturing processes and future technologies and is considered the most important award in this field. The competition is primarily aimed at students, young professionals / start-ups and professionals who work in design or technical fields such as automotive, software, research, or the medical sector. The theme of this year's competition was convergence and sustainability. A jury of 30 experts evaluated the entries.
ETH Additive Manufacturing Course
The "Design for Additive Manufacturing" course will also be offered in the upcoming fall semester. The goal is to teach students the basics of additive manufacturing in a hands-on, project-based manner. Up to 20 students can participate. Divided into groups of five, the aim is to tackle real-world problems using additive manufacturing.