Final-year engineering students from 29 universities and institutes participated in the 5th Engineering Capstone Expo competition (Punjab Region) organised by the Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC).
The PEC’s Pakistan Development Committee (PDC) conducted the Expo at its regional office in Lahore.
Some 170 final-year design projects of the engineering students were shortlisted for display at the Expo. The selected projects have relevance to the current requirements of the industry and market. Representatives from the industry and businesses were invited to review the projects.
The Expo is also aimed at promoting entrepreneurship, innovative skills of the would-be engineers and their ability to create social and civic impact for the countrymen. The participation is free for the students enabling them to connect with top-class producers of various varieties of engineering products.
The participating students get the opportunity to learn about the current dynamics of the market and industries and their needs in providing world-class engineering solutions to industrial requirements. The engineering students also get media exposure and connectivity with relevant governmental and industrial platforms for nurturing and growth of their talent and skills.
PEC Chairman, Engineer Najeeb Haroon, was the chief guest at the inaugural ceremony and also spoke on the occasion and urged the engineering students to excel in their practical lives after graduation to meaningfully contribute to the development of Pakistan. Other notable speakers include PEC Vice-Chairman (Punjab) Dr Niaz Akhtar, Vice-Chancellor of Dawood University of Engineering & Technology Dr Samreen Hussain, and PDC Convener, Engineer Mir Maood Rashid.
PEC Senior Vice-Chairman, Nayyar Saeed, was the chief guest at the closing ceremony who gave prizes to the winners of the competition.
In group 1, the students of the Civil Engineering Department of the University of Engineering & Technology, Lahore secured the first prize with the project on “Low-cost housing solutions: development of building units and pre-fabricated panels using sustainable construction materials”.
The Civil Engineering students of NFC Institute of Engineering & Fertilizer Research, Faisalabad secured the second position with the project on “Checking the mechanical and physical properties of waste PET plastic pavers”.
Civil Engineering students of the University of Lahore secured the third prize with the project on “Prediction of compressive strength of fly ash based geopolymer concrete using supervised machine learning models”.
In group 2, Mechanical Engineering students of UET Lahore stood first with the project on “Design and fabrication of cow milking machine, Mechanical Engineering students of the University of Central Punjab stood second with the project on “Design and development of a table-top prototype of a 3D printer for the construction industry”, while Metallurgy students of the University of Punjab stood third with the project on “Development and characterization of hybrid filler based heat producing paints”.
In group 3, Textile students of National Textile University secured first prize with the project on “Optimization of process parameters to realize wash down effects using novel designed no-stone technology, Chemical Engineering students of UET Lahore (KSK Campus) stood second with the project on “Reinventing sustainability: Transferring waste into bio-composite with recycled polymer and wheat straw”, while Chemical Engineering students of Khawaja Fareed University of Engineering and Information Technology stood third with project on “Manufacturing of formali by partial oxidation of methanol”.
In group 4, all winning students belong to the Electrical Engineering Department. First prize went to students of Muhammad Nawaz Sharif University of Engineering & Technology, Multan who presented the project on “Solar hybrid inverter advanced MPPT and PEC techniques for optimal peak performance with IOT based power monitoring”, and students of the University of Central Punjab with the project on “Design and development of linear circuit analysis lab in the metaverse” stood second. At the same time, students of Sharif College Engineering and Technology also shared the second prize with the project on “Al-powered drone inspection for solar panel fault detection with thermal imaging”. The students of the University of Management and Technology with the project on “NFC based student smart card and café management system”, students of MNS UET Multan Lahore with the project on “Design and implementation of electric motorcycle using BLDC motor” and students of Govt College University Faisalabad with project on “Prototype battery management system with super-capacitor integration for fast li-ion battery charging applications” all shared the third prize
