Company background:
Sunharvester is a company based in Aghanloo Industrial Estate in Limavady. They manufacture and supply a range of smart batteries which store energy generated by solar panels to harness the power of the sun during the day and at night the free energy is used to power homes and commercial premises with portable units.
Challenge:
Sunharvester wanted to develop a new Power Storage Housing Unit for one of their battery packs. The company wanted the new unit to be compact and fully transportable from building to building however in order to do this they needed full training in Computer Aided Design (CAD)
Solution:
In order to overcome this obstacle, Sunharvester made contact with North West Regional College (NWRC) Business Support Centre (BSC) who supported them through the InnovateUs programme which is funded by the Department for Economy (DfE)
This provided 30 hours of 1:1 mentoring support from NWRC Product Design Centre Manager, Philip Devlin, who provided training to the company to develop a design for a power storage housing unit. This involved full CAD training in design, sketch, extrude and mate components. The training also included 3D printing and laser cutting via a Computer Numerical Controlled (CNC) machine.
Impact:
On completion of the project, Sunharvester have successfully developed a new power storage housing unit for their battery packs which is compact and fully transportable from building to building.
Testimonial from Damien Anderson (Sunharvester) discussing the benefits of working with NWRC’S PDC:
‘’I first heard about the PDC from Liam Mc Nally (International Synergies) who told me to contact NWRC. I was then introduced to Philip Devlin, Manager of the PDC, and we talked about developing a new Power Storage Housing Unit for one of my battery packs.
‘’Philip said I could avail of the InnovateUs programme from DfE which I didn’t know was possible and it was a great help. After the application was approved I made another appointment with Philip and we began the drawing process.
‘’I needed a plastic top plate for my 500-watt generator which involved measuring and drawing holes for the components on Solidworks. We also cut the plastic out using the laser machine which was very helpful.
‘’When that was done Philip assisted me in producing a new label for our 100-watt power pack which again involved using the laser etching machine which turned out really well and added a professional touch to our new product which I know will help us sell in Africa.
‘’I would definitely use the college services again as the guidance and facilities in the PDC were excellent and the project was great value for money. I hope to work with Philip again in the near future on further projects such was the support I received.’’
