"The experience has opened many doors for us." From left: Victorious Concordia student engineers Nathaniel Kennedy-Noble, Idalma Fuentes, Basel Wehba and Ravi Natalia.
Their project centred on incorporating greener materials into the fabrication of the honeycomb composite used to build helicopter rotor blades. Currently most honeycomb composites are made using oil-based materials, which Kennedy-Noble says are polluting to make and not easily recycled.
James Corrigan, administrative chair of Sustainability 2015, was impressed by the four winners.
“This is a very good reflection of the engineering team at Concordia, where people with an undergraduate background can compete and be successful even when they're up against teams that have graduate level talent,” he says.
This was the first time that AHS International, the world’s oldest and largest technical society dedicated to vertical flight technology, has held a conference on aviation sustainability. Corrigan says the topic is particularly relevant for those entering the industry.
Wehba and Natalia plan to use their prize money to subsidize the cost of creating a prototype of their nozzle, which will also be their final capstone project before they graduate. As an additional reward for placing first, the two will receive technical advice and guidance from the AHS Internal Montréal-Ottawa chapter during the nozzle’s development.
“The experience has opened many doors for us,” says Ravi. The pair have made contact with Bell Helicopter and Pratt & Whitney, which are showing interest in their invention.
“We first have to prove it in the primary stage, but it’s possible this idea could blow up the aerospace industry.”
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