Technical science students taking part in an EBEC (European BEST Engineering Competition) contest at Kaunas University of Technology on February 21 really had to put their thinking caps on to solve a unique task set for them by specialists from Fima, the engineering solutions company: to turn an old printer into a wind power plant.

The head of Fima's Solutions department, Rokas Šlekys, who introduced the task to the students and evaluated their solutions, said that the students have bold ideas every year and 2013 was no exception. “The students had only four hours to complete the task but that did not discourage them. All the teams managed to construct functioning wind power plants and some teams came up with solutions that were not foreseen by Fima engineers who prepared the challenge,” said Mr Šlekys.

It was also a major effort for Fima’s engineers to come up with something that presented a suitable challenge for the students, he added. “We prepared for the contest as seriously as the students did. Fima’s team created the task and found a way to imitate the wind source and to measure the voltage generated by the power plants. They also set up a measurement desk,” said Mr Šlekys.

The students’ ideas were evaluated on the basis of the technical solutions, the originality of the designs, the durability of construction as well as the ideas’ practical utility.

Two teams – InfoSA and  LMKJ^m – won the main prize: a trip to Saint Petersburg to take part in the regional EBEC competition.

The EBEC is an international competition for engineering students from all over Europe which is held every year. The first competition took place in 2003 and Lithuania joined in 2006. This year’s qualifying competitions are taking place in 83 European cities and more than 100 students took part in the Kaunas leg.

Fima’s engineers have been setting challenges for the EBEC participants for several years and come up with unique puzzles every year.

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