Unique Car To Transform Firefighters' Training
6 June 2011
Steve Hill, Programme Leader for Motorsports courses at the University of Derby (second from left) with his students (l to r) Mike Barlow, Mark Upton, Antony Wan, Emily Bell and Jamie Reading; and The Transformer car built for Derbyshire Fire & Rescue Service.
We don't believe there is another training rig like this in the UK
”Steve Hill, Programme Leader for Motorsports courses at the University.
A 'transformer' car custom-built by University of Derby students to help firefighters with rescue training is already attracting interest from other emergency services.
For their final year project Motorsports degree students have redesigned a Toyota Avensis so that hydraulic motors will rotate the front, and so that the roof can be folded back or lifted off and one whole side can be removed. It will be used by Derbyshire Fire & Rescue Service to train their officers in how to extract people trapped in vehicles during a road traffic collision.
It is believed that the transformer vehicle, donated by Toyota's Burnaston plant, is the first of its type designed for use by emergency services.
The project will be demonstrated at the University's Markeaton Street site in Derby as part of the students' annual Degree Shows programme, this year running from Saturday 4 to 11 June.
Hundreds of students' work in crafts, fashion, textiles, fine art, film, design, theatre, visual communications, architecture, music technology, creative expressive therapies and art therapy will be on display for the public to come and see for free at the University's Markeaton Street and Britannia Mill sites in Derby, and elsewhere.
Steve Hill, Programme Leader for Motorsports courses at the University, said: "The students have worked very hard on this project to make sure the fire and rescue service got exactly what they wanted.
"Much of the vehicle's 'transforming' is done using hydraulic motors, duplicating the actual procedures and making it easier to use for those training.
"We don't believe there is another training rig like this in the UK. Derbyshire Fire & Rescue Service are looking for us to produce a single-decker bus or truck version for them next year and have told us that they have had interest from other emergency services."
The original idea came from Derbyshire Fire & Rescue Service. Four Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) Motorsport Engineering degree students - Mike Barlow, Emily Bell, Mark Upton and Antony Wan - were involved in its design and realisation for their final year project.
Challenges included being able to remove large sections of the car, and getting its front to pivot under the dashboard, and for it all to fit back together again properly. The students used structural analysis, computer simulations, built-in supporting frameworks and hydraulic rams to overcome these problems.
Organiser Watch Manager Mark Burnham, of Derbyshire Fire & Rescue Service, added: "A large part of firefighter training is to extricate casualties as safely and as quickly as possible from vehicles involved in road traffic collisions. Currently, we get through a large amount of vehicles which can only be used once.
"The transformer project has created a re-usable training vehicle which allows our trainees to observe the techniques and methods used to extract casualties, over and over again at a minimum cost to the fire and rescue service."
Once released to Derbyshire Fire & Rescue Service the car, nicknamed The Transformer, will be used for training purposes throughout the area including at Buxton and Glossop.
For further information about the 2011 University of Derby Degree Shows - this year entitled 'Synthesis' - see website www.derby.ac.uk/degreeshow2011
The University of Derby is proud to be part of Universities UK-led Universities Week, which is running from 13-19 June 2011. It will be getting involved with national activities highlighting the surprising links and relationships that universities have with the people and businesses in their local communities, of which this story is just one example.
For further information please contact Press and PR Officer Sean Kirby on 01332 591891 or 07876 476103, or email s.kirby@derby.ac.uk.
