DBCE STUDENTS AT NATIONAL STUDENTS DESIGN COMPETITION (NSDC) BY ISHRAE

Eleven students from Don Bosco College of Engineering participated in the ‘National Student Design Competition 2021- 22’ (NSDC) organized by ‘Indian Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers’ (ISHRAE). The competition was about designing an air conditioning and ventilation system for a multi-specialty Hospital building that pertains to comfort cooling, ventilation and indoor air quality. The problem statement constituted a plan of a multispecialty hospital with a built up area of over 4400 sq. meters  across three floors with a huge range of necessary medical rooms, Operation Theaters, Cath labs, Isolation Rooms, OPDs and a full functioning Kitchen to name a few..

A span of four months was allotted to the participants to complete the following tasks – heat load calculations, ventilation, selection of types of Central Air Conditioning systems that constitute of Outdoor Units, Indoor Units, Cooling Towers, duct design, chiller capacity determination and total material cost.

All eleven students were grouped into three teams, wherein, two teams consisted of 4 members each and one team consisted of 3. Two of the teams collectively consisted of students from BE Mechanical( Mr. Akash Pawar, Mr. Fletcher D’Costa, Mr Milbert Alfonso, Mr. Kurt Consalves, Mr Rutik Naik and Mr. Sankath Nail) and BE Civil (Mr. Declan Luis) and the remaining one, had all its members from TE Mechanical (Ma. Ayisha Shaik, Mr. Lemuel D’Cunha, Mr. Ikram Saudagar and Mr. Ayush Tari).

Though all teams faced multiple tackles, challenges, hardships, problems; all 3 teams were successful in completing and submitting the project before the deadline. “Working on this project filled the gap of creative thinking, communication, learning and applying it to brush up our skills. Indeed, the project was not an easy task yet, the experience of coordinating with the teammates, learning from each-others’ mistakes, learning new concepts and applying the same to solve the problem was beneficial in building up core knowledge” says Miss. Ayisha Shaikh, member of one of the teams.

Prof. Tanay Rege, from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, receives honorable mention and due credit for his extraordinary, knowledge-filled and motivational guidance provided to all 3 teams.

“Does hard work pay?” is a genuine rhetorical question; because we all know that definitely hard work pays off. Irrespective of the result; which is awaited; the skills picked up are irreplaceable. “It was a wonderful experience working with my teammates on this project. I was introduced to a new subject and learnt about duct designing and materials to be used in AC ducting.  Also, experienced how it is to be a part of a group project and understood the importance of teamwork” shares Mr. Ayush Tari, also a member of one of the teams.

The competition received over 55 entries of student teams from nationwide premier institutes and universities.  The students are enthusiastically awaiting the shortlist of 12 teams that will take part in the final round held at national level in the month of March 2022.