Abstract:

The cooperation of students of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering VSB-Technical University of Ostrava and companies engaged in the construction and operation of storage systems has created a practical requirement for the development of autonomous equipment that will eliminate flow defects of particulate materials in storage systems. Based on these requirements and in cooperation with industrial practice, an innovative device was created, protected by utility model No. CZ28212 and patent No. CZ307405 (see www.upv.cz).

The invention relates to a device providing analysis of particulate material and elimination of particulate material flow defects, comprising autonomous system which is arranged in the particulate material silo. In present, flow defects in particulate material silos are being solved in those cases when the parameters of the particulate material are constant, and solutions of these flow defects are limited by the localization of the flow defect. Moreover, flow defect often occurs in various places, therefore it is necessary to install, for example aeration or vibration system, in more places in the particulate material silo.

The main educational benefits of cooperation between the university and industrial practice include:
• Students learn the habits of working in a particular company,
• The student's knowledge and skills are purposefully increased through individual teaching,
• The student solves design situations with the help of specific and innovative information sources,
• Students use the practical experience of experts from practice, and thus create scientifically correct and current solutions (the role of the university) and at the same time verified by practice and connected with practice (the role of industrial practice),
• Students are forced to defend their results in front of experts from practice, which improves their ability to argue and the ability to present their results,
• Corporate support allows the student to eliminate solution variants that have not proven themselves in the past,
• The pedagogical principle of illustration and activating teaching methods (solution of case studies and discussion methods) is applied here,
• Student assessment allows to verify the goals from the perspective of experts from the university and from practice and provides the student with effective feedback.

The innovative potential of university students was thus demonstrated and used in cooperation between the university and industrial practice. The experience of university students gained in the development of innovative facilities is highly valued in the search for future employment.

Keywords:

Cooperation; Silo; University; Company; Innovation