W.S.G. Isaac Newton

I performed my internship at Demcon Life Sciences & Health in Enschede, which is one of the sub-companies of Demcon. Here I spend my 15 EC period looking at the consequences of shocks in devices. Many medical devices are either portable by handle or portable by rolling. Focusing on that second category, medical devices are mounted to a trolley which can be pushed around by medical staff and for the majority of the hospital flooring, rolling is smooth and easy. However, once a doorstep or the entrance of an elevator is encountered, the device should be ready for a bumpy experience. In more scientific terms, the sudden movement of the wheels in the Z direction causes the system to experience a mechanical shock. Now, Demcon is interested if medical devices (or the trolleys themselves) are damaged by this event and if a trolley should be designed differently next time. This question made me focus on a method to analyze the severity of shocks and translate these outcomes into a design guideline for yet-to-be-designed medical trolleys.

During the internship, I applied my dynamics knowledge but also broadened it significantly. I used literature to understand a shock severity analysis methodology and validated its working with hand calculations but also with detailed simulations in Ansys Mechanical. As some results from this shock analysis did not only amaze me but also my supporting colleagues at Demcon, I prepared a set of real-world shock tests that I did at the vibration lab of the UT to confirm simulation outcomes. At the time of writing this abstract, I was still analyzing the data, but I can say that shock severity analysis has many aspects and that Demcon will organize another (graduation) internship to continue my work.

According to the requirements of the internship, I performed most of my analyses by myself, but Demcon acted as a perfect company to take an internship from. Apart from a supervisor, I could consult 2 other very experienced engineers who supported me throughout the internship. Apart from these 3 engineers, I met a lot of people who would genuinely love to help me further during the internship. It is this great working atmosphere at Demcon together with very interesting assignments that keeps attracting new students for internships and graduations in my opinion. I really enjoyed my internship period at Demcon!