Five Pembrokeshire College engineering students have won £500 after coming up with a solution to a brief set by Valero.

First year, Level 3 Engineering students James Hart, Harris Lovegrove, Rhys Rackley, Morgan Scourfield and Callum Williams entered the Engineering Education Scheme Wales (EESW) challenge, competing against over 70 teams from schools and colleges across South Wales to complete the real-world task.

Held at Swansea’s Liberty Stadium, the boys were tasked with designing and manufacturing a portable machine which automatically detects any defects within a steam trap by using temperature and ultrasonic probes.

The boys enjoyed the challenge, with Rhys saying: “The event gave us a taste of what it would be like to work in engineering. We all enjoyed working together as a team.”

Harris agreed and commented: “We tested our prototype before taking it to the event, it was a really good experience.”

The annual event is designed to link students who are under the age of 20 with local egineering companies, to give them a platform to showcase their skills and a flavour of the real world through live briefs.

Mature college student, Chris Baldwin, couldn’t take part in the event, but worked on the initial design and prototype. The boys impressed the judges with their design and were also nominated in the final round for Best Chemical/Process Engineering Design and Best Working Model or Prototype.

The winners will share a cut of the prize money, while the majority of the winnings will be spent on equipment for the college; the item in question will be decided upon from student votes.

Also attending the event were fellow students from the Level 3 Operations and Maintenance course, Huw Davies, Huw Jenkins, Harry Myers, Josh Phillips, Libby Sheldon and Daniel Smith, who took part in a similar challenge and were nominated in the final rounds for Best Application of Science and Best Chemical/Process Engineering Design.

To find out more about Engineering courses available at Pembrokeshire College go along to the Open Evening on April 26 from 5 - 7 pm.