Background All participants in this project want to collaborate with their European partners, want to get a deeper insight into the topic of sustainability and gain key qualifications. Further, they want to use means of communication which are state of the art in industry and commerce. Soft skills like improving language/communicational skills and the development of social contacts can be seen as further benefits for both students and teachers. The idea of a common project was developed at a meeting in Leuben in spring 2018. All four participating schools decided to take part in the “Stirling Engine Group”. Goals The participants want to rebuild a Stirling engine. Starting point is an enginge called ST 05 G, developed by Dieter Viebach (Germany). This engine is a technically rather demanding construction – especially when it comes to manufacturing – and redesigning it will be challenging for all partners. In the first step construction drawings will be made by using already existing technical documents. Based on these drawing each school will manufacture the parts needed for building their own engines. Assembling the engines, testing them and analysing the performance data will complete the project. Number and profile of participants All four participants are technical schools from Belgium, the Czech Republic, Norway and Austria, which offer their students a rather similar technical education in the fields of industrial production, material science and building and energy technologies. All four schools put an emphasis on practical training in their own workshops, have a close cooperation with local companies in the different regions and have already gained some experience in carrying out European Erasmus+ projects. The students are between 15 and 19 years old and for each individual step students of one class or of the whole schools will be selected to take part in the project. The Czech school will hold a competition in spring 2019 in which the students have to develop their own Stirling engine. Descripiton of activities During the project 5 mobilities are planned to be carried out – one visit to each partner school and a final event in Austria. Activities taking place during the visits: • getting to know the partner schools • presentation of the host country • social contact between the students of the different countries, if possible stay at host family • working on the project and comparing the experiences and results • technical excursions related to the topic • sightseeing • scheduling the next work steps in the Project Methodology to be used in carrying out the project The project will be carried out according to a pre-defined work plan in which the single steps are scheduled in advance. The following tasks have been planned: • realising the construction drawings on a CAD-system • producing the various parts for the engines • assembling and testing the engines • measuring and comparing the performance data of the four engines During the whole process all partners will be connected by digital means of communication (e.g. eTwinning). Results Each school will have its own Stirling engine which can be used for further educational purposes. Potential long term benefits • support the students‘ creativity and motivation, develop different skills needed in the future • the students are engaged in designing, constructing, producing, assembling and testing a real machine • in this processes knowledge gained in the classroom has to be put into practice • by putting this project into practice both students and teachers will develop their creative thinking • team spirit and a sense of responsibility will be developed • both students and teachers have to collaborate with their European partners and to take responsibility for their special tasks • improvement of language skills in a technical environment (CLIL), as all students communicate in English in written and spoken communication during the whole project Practical possibility for dealing with sustainable energy production Although Stirling engines have been known for a long time, the way they work has become more popular in the last years. As there will be a scarcity of fossil fuels in the future alternative ways to power machines will become more important. The Stirling engine might be one of these solutions for some applications. Getting a closer insight into this topic might raise the students’ awareness concerning sustainability and ecological sense of responsibility.
Context All participants taking part in this project wanted to collaborate with their European partners to get an insight into the topic of sustainability and gain key qualifications. Especially the topic of sustainability became or important because of the current energy crises. Means of communication which are state of the art in industry and commerce were used. Soft skills like improving language and communication skills and the development of social contacts were further benefits for both students and teachers. Goals The participants wanted to rebuild a Stirling engine. Starting point was an engine called ST 05 G, developed by Dieter Viebach (Germany). This engine is a technically rather demanding construction – especially when it comes to manufacturing – and redesigning was challenging for all partners. But by the end of the project all partners got their own machines running. In the first step construction drawings were made by using already existing technical documents. Based on these drawing each school manufactured the parts needed for building their own engines. Only the casting was done in Vöcklabruck (Austria). Assembling the engines, testing them and analyzing the performance data completed the project. Description of activities During the project 5 mobilities were conducted - one visit to each partner school and a final event in Austria. The following activities took place during the visits: Both students and teachers got an insight into the different schools and school systems as well as the local economies and traditions and customs. Special activities for establishing social contacts between students from all partner schools were carried out. The main part of activities concerned the work on the Stirling engines at the different levels – construction and planning, casting and manufacturing the different parts, assembling the engines, testing the results, solving occurring problems, comparing the different findings. Another important aspect of this project were the technical excursions related to the topic of sustainability and also excursions which helped to learn more about the different countries. Project Results The final goal, that each school has its own Stirling Engine which can be used for further educational purposes has been reached. Through the collaboration between all partners problems occurring during the whole process could be solved. Long Term Benefits Especially the creative thinking and motivation of all involved students and teachers was raised and all participants developed skills they need in their future working life. The students were engaged in designing, constructing, producing, assembling and testing a real machine. Knowledge they gained in the class room was put into practice. Further a sense of team spirit was developed according to the European thinking. An improvement of language skills in a technical environment (CLIL), as all students and teachers communicated in English in written and spoken communication during the whole project, was noticeable. Although Stirling engines have been known for a long time, the way they work has become more popular in the last years. As there will be a scarcity of fossil fuels in the future alternative ways to power machines will become more important. The Stirling engine might be one of these solutions for some applications. By the help of this project these facts have been made public to a greater audience and the awareness concerning sustainability and an ecological sense of responsibility has been raised.