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City Students Win Top Honors at WESTEC Challenge
BY MIKE ALLEN / Senior Staff Writer for the San Diego Business Journal 2002

Seventeen students from City College’s manufacturing technology program experienced the thrill of winning first place for their team-designed bicycle drive system at last month’s WESTEC Manufacturing Challenge in Los Angeles.

Seventeen students from City College’s manufacturing technology program experienced the thrill of winning first place for their team-designed bicycle drive system at last month’s WESTEC Manufacturing Challenge in Los Angeles.

Held at one of the largest manufacturing trade shows on the West Coast, the students entered the drive system which they designed, built prototypes and then put together with a presentation explaining what they did.

The contest was the culmination of a project that began in December, said Akasha Kaur Khalsa, one of the team members.

“It was such a great learning experience,” Khalsa said. “It was exciting to be in a competition, but it’s even more exciting when you’re learning lessons by working on something real.”

As part of the design process, the students used some of the most sophisticated computer-aided design technology available, allowing them to save both time and the costs for making prototypes in metal.

“At City College, we’re blessed with rapid prototyping machines which allows us to do a computer drawing and then turn that drawing into a 3-D object made out of cornstarch and water,” Khalsa said.

The winning product is a pneumatic drive system that moves the bicycle’s tire, not the motor. The system was designed so it could easily be attached to a standard bicycle. Set in motion, the system moves a bike at 4 miles per hour, but can be disengaged for manual operation.

Technology training is hot at City College. The college houses both a vocational training program geared to students such as the technology manufacturing program Khalsa is enrolled in, and advanced technology transfer programs that are available to students and private entrepreneurs such as a technology incubator.

“We’re training the technicians that are needed to repair and maintain the increasingly automated systems used to manufacture products here in San Diego,” said Douglas Welch, principal instructor for the manufacturing technology program.

"Reprinted with permission. Copyright San DIego Business Journal 2002."


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