Four students who did their work placement with TVH from early February to the end of June have had their project selected for the next round of the Innovation Awards 2012.

The Katholieke Hogeschool (KATHO) students' project on "the design and realisation of a test facility for hydraulic pumps and transmissions" under the wings of TVH was selected in the first round from 240 entries. A total of 54 projects from seven categories will go through to the second round.

A TVH spokesperson says the test facility was built to "test all kind of pumps and transmissions used in all brands of forklifts, but it is also possible to test other pumps".

The project by Jeffrey Pollet, Joris Tijtgat (electromechanics), Tom Lavent (electronics) and Bert Delaere (ICT) is a test configuration for all types of hydraulic pumps. Both students in electromechanics were responsible for the design of the test facility and the mechanical realisation. The students in electronics and ICT were responsible for the programming of the controller and for the design of the interface.

The Innovation Awards, an initiative of the business centres and provincial development agencies of West-Flanders, aim to motivate the students at the West-Flemish university colleges - Howest, KATHO and Katholieke Hogeschool Brugge-Oostende - when writing their theses.

The business centre in Courtrai will decide on a winner on 7 November.
View the test facility in action at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTLbsTQDS7E