A device designed to prevent workmen getting trapped under water has won the Irish leg of the 2016 James Dyson award.
A team of engineering students from Cork Institute of Technology were inspired to invent the HydroFLOcean (H-Flo) following the high-profile deaths of two labourers in Limerick last year.
TJ O’Herlihy and Bryan Whelan drowned after their work platform collapsed whilst they were carrying out maintenance works on Thomond Bridge over the River Shannon in August 2015.
The HydroFLOcean (H-Flo) separates the user from the work platform when it is submerged in water. It is attached to the workman’s harness on one side and to the safety cable connecting to the maintenance platform on the other.
The H-Flo uses the same inflation device used in life jackets to activate a gas canister when submerged in water. It is composed of two cylindrical metal shafts connected via a 10mm stainless steel pin. Upon submersion in water, the canister inside uses 10 megapascals of pressure to force the pin out, causing the device to split in two. This separates the user from the sinking platform.
A team of one business and seven engineering students from Cork Institute of Technology developed the concept and built a working prototype.
Project manager Arran Coughlan (27) said the idea came to the group in a brainstorming session shortly after they started back at college last year.
“The Limerick tragedy had only happened a couple of weeks before college started back, so it was pretty fresh in our minds. We were tasked with coming up with an innovative device, and it all took off from there,” said Coughland.
The team then built a working prototype, soldering and filing in the engineering workshop at CIT.
The device has been rigorously tested, and the team say it is totally unique. Plans for the H-Flo involve the group finding new markets that the technology can be applied to.
“We’re looking forward to exploring the possibilities and educating ourselves on the different opportunities for us to expand H-Flo,” said Coughlan.
H-Flo has already won the CIT prize for innovation 2016, the prestigious Cruickshank Intellectual Property Attorneys award.
The team will now proceed to the international stage of the competition and will compete against students from 22 different countries to win the overall James Dyson award and the grand prize of €35,000.
Dyson engineers will announce the top 20 international finalists on 29 September and the overall global winner will be selected by James Dyson and announced on 27 October 2016.
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