UBCO first-year engineering students competed a recent competition to see who could create the best vehicle gearbox in terms of design, sustainability and meeting client specifications.

One group designed the third-lightest gearbox, which featured three bearings instead of the usual six, earning them first place in the competition.

Team captain Kyle Reid said six bearings seemed like it was too much for the project, so the team designed a gearbox with three, weighing 42.3 grams.

鈥淔or us, it鈥檚 more sustainable for our project. We knew it wouldn鈥檛 be carrying a large load with our gearbox because that鈥檚 not really what it鈥檚 designed for, so we decided six bearings were kind of overkill,鈥� said Reid.

鈥淲ith less bearings, there鈥檚 less material, maintenance, and manufacturing cost. Also it鈥檚 so compact, it鈥檚 super strong and there鈥檚 little friction which is ideal in a gearbox,鈥� said engineering student Stormy Howard.

The students worked on their projects throughout the semester. Overall one of the main challenges for the group involved getting together.

鈥淲e鈥檙e all on different schedules so it was difficult to set up times for meetings and to do work,鈥� said Howard.

鈥淢ore than 60 teams completed their design, which includes a set of engineering calculations, a model of the gearbox (using modelling software) and building a 3-D printed prototype. The prototypes went through vigorous laboratory testing, in which both functionality and engineering sustainability were assessed,鈥� reads a UBCO release.

鈥淭he top 30 teams were selected for the final competition and these teams will present their models, as well as several alternative design solutions in the final stages of the competition.鈥�

Awards were handed out for first, second and third place as well as an innovation award.

Students also completed an environmental impact assessment as the critical component of the design project, said head professor Dimitry Sediako.