TDK Corporation is pleased to announce that TDK-Lambda UK is continuing to support Blundell’s School AS-Level students qualify for their Engineering Education Scheme certificates and British Science Association CREST Gold awards. This award is widely recognised and respected by UCAS for university admissions in STEM subjects.

This year’s project involved establishing a method for controlling the ambient temperature for the surface mount component placement production lines and goods-in area. Previous projects included a method to calculate the facility’s carbon-footprint and developing a wind tunnel.

The five person team from Blundell’s school in Tiverton worked under the guidance of Tim Puttick, Production Manager for TDK-Lambda UK. Tim provided support and assistance to the pupils as needed. “The project team took the challenge and over a six month period produced a solution that allowed the ambient temperature of the two areas to be controlled either automatically or manually. A combination of low cost industrial materials and coding with a Raspberry Pi were utilised.”

These projects allows students to develop skills that are not usually used in a class room environment, and included project planning, writing program code, building prototypes, analysing return on investment for decision making and working as a focus team.

CREST is a UK award scheme that recognises success, enabling students to build their skills and demonstrate personal achievement in project work. It offers educators an easy-to-run framework for curriculum enhancement and is student-led, which means that young people take ownership of their projects and choose to undertake them in areas they enjoy or see as relevant. The CREST Gold award requires about 70 hours of project work and is the highest of four levels.