South Ural students build their career at the "CASE-IN" championship

The participation of students in the International Engineering Championship "CASE-IN" is a serious step in their career ladder. Finalists are noticed by companies such as SIBUR, ALROSA, SO UES, RusHydro, Rosatom, Tatneft, NIPIGAZ, Rosseti, and Mycromine, and are invited to complete internships and continue working at these enterprises.

In early June, the final of the IX season of the Student League took place in Moscow. The International engineering champion "CASE-INThe winners were students from South Ural universities – SUSU and MGTU named after G.I. Nosov. We asked the participants and their mentors what they had to puzzle over this year and in previous years. What did their participation in this project give them? And the organizers of the regional stage told how they have been able to put teams in the finals for so many years.

Social lifts for everyone

The CASE-IN Championship has been held since 2013. Since 2019, the project has been part of the presidential platform "Russia – the land of opportunities", created on the initiative of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The championship is part of the federal project "Social elevators for everyone" of the national project "Education". And this year it was included in the plan of the main events of the Year of Science and Technology.

"Ural universities are the backbone of the CASE–IN Student League. SUSU has been participating in the championship in the Southern Urals since 2017, and the Nosov Moscow State Technical University since 2018, both universities are among the top ten in the field of Metallurgy. Students from Magnitogorsk and Chelyabinsk became silver and bronze medalists in the field of Metallurgy, and in the Digital Transformation season in 2019 Magnitogorsk residents won the championship title among mining students.", " He's telling me Artyom Korolev, founder and co-chairman of the CASE-IN organizing committee.

How can we make sure that heat losses in the electric grid are reduced by 60%, and the nuclear icebreaker has a steel casing that is not afraid of the Arctic ice? How can I fill the workings so that the mine does not collapse? How to carry out the digital modernization of the company? The participating students face real challenges that adults and competent people face in the workplace. Future employers. This is how the CASE-IN championship is conceived.

Six minutes for a presentation!

"The case was dedicated to the development of the Arctic, – he remembers Maxim Gafarov, 1st year postgraduate student at SUSU Polytechnic Institute, team captain, silver medalist in Metallurgy (2018). – We needed to propose a technology for the production of cold-resistant steel for the manufacture of nuclear icebreaker hulls, the casing of which should not burst or leak. We did it."

 "I participated in the Championship as a second-year student (specializing in Open-pit mining), usually fifth-year students participate in the Championships), " He's telling me Nadezhda Kovalenko, captain of the 2021 finalist team, 3rd year student at the Institute of Mining and Transport of the Moscow State Technical University. Nosova. – We took 8th place in the final. But I think we've come up with a very interesting solution to the case. The task was to optimize the electrical costs for ventilation of the Udachny underground mine in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). And we came up with a way to generate electricity in Yakutia: we built a geothermal power plant, which began to generate electricity. (the planet's internal thermal reserves are being used, and a GEOPOWER is being built - Ed.) It's a significant saving when you don't buy electricity from the outside. Then we decided to switch the company's fleet from diesel (expensive) fuel to electric, as well as apply automation of equipment. We also replaced the angle of inclination of the fan blades, which solved our problem of an overabundance of air supply to the mine, thereby reducing the load on the heaters and, consequently, the electrical costs of ventilation. We have achieved significant efficiency and environmental friendliness of the enterprise. And finally, we diversified our production."

Power lines and drones

"In 2019, our energy engineering students developed a monitoring system and proposed upgrading power transmission lines in the Far North and creating its digital counterpart., – rejoices at the success of his students Ivan Titov, Senior Lecturer at the SUSU Department of Electric Power Plants, Networks and Power Supply Systems. – The climatic conditions in the north are difficult. Lots of snow, low temperatures and strong winds. Inspections of the line by staff are difficult. The guys suggested monitoring power lines using drones, as well as installing passive sensors on supports that wear out badly in permafrost conditions. All this, combined with the digital model of the line, can significantly reduce operating costs. The students tried to provide everything: permits for the departure of drones, took into account strong gusts of wind and diagnostics in both the visible and infrared spectrum, the price and payback period of the project. The author of the 2019 assignment was Rosseti FGC EES.

Last year, the partner of the championship, Rushydro, offered to solve the case for the modernization of the hydroelectric power plant with modern materials.

This season, the issues of using renewable energy sources as part of active energy complexes were addressed in the direction of "Electric Power Industry". The author of the case was the System Operator of the Unified Energy System.

 "This year's case was about active energy complexes, – Ivan Titov continues. – Two resolutions of the Government of the Russian Federation have just been issued, which form the requirements for such complexes. And at the Championship, they are already giving a case study on managing electric power flows. Simply put, an enterprise can build a small power plant at home and not buy electrical energy from a guaranteeing supplier. Moreover, the heat, which is a by-product of this process, can be used in the enterprise and thus serious savings arise. And our guys have found such sources of energy."

What did the championship give?

The participants of the engineering competitions say with one voice: the championship gave them "involvement in the profession", a trained eye, the ability to find mistakes and developed the habit of systematization. Aren't these the main qualities for a future chief engineer?

"The championship helped me find an interesting job, – says Maxim Gafarov, 1st year postgraduate student at SUSU, team captain, silver medalist in Metallurgy (2019). – Now I already work at the Chelyabinsk Pipe Rolling Plant, in the department of mathematical modeling and artificial intelligence methods (located at the junction of IT and metallurgy). I believe that interdisciplinary connections are the future. I like what I'm doing at the moment. Right now, I'm developing a mathematical model of defect formation on a continuous casting machine."

"I'm 23 years old now, and I have one more year to study., – says Alina Sharifullina, captain of the silver medalist team in the field of Design Engineering (2021), a student at the SUSU Institute of Architecture and Civil Engineering. – I associate my future with Chelyabinsk. My dream is to build a concert hall in Chelyabinsk, as we currently do not have a decent large venue for artists."

 "We were then fifth-year students at the Institute of Mining and Transport of the Moscow State Technical University. Nosova, – he remembers Maxim Dyusmekeev, captain of the Granite Champion team (2019). – We were given a task at the Championship: to develop a deposit in Yakutia. I remember that we suggested filling the depleted space with an ice pack (a mixture of rock and water), rather than expensive cement. This is necessary so that the mine does not collapse. As winners, Alrosa offered us an internship in Yakutia. It was very interesting to see how everything functions in permafrost conditions."

Everyone – participants, organizers, partners – are confident that the CASE-IN championship over the 9 years of its existence has not only raised the prestige of the engineering profession, it has set the framework for a new approach to higher education and significantly made life easier for employers by creating a recruitment platform.

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