The Department of Oil and Gas Engineering and Welding, the Institute of Mechanical Engineering and Transport, Lviv Polytechnic, runs a student club for the creation of unmanned aerial vehicles.
Last year, Lviv Polytechnic University opened a new educational program – «Unmanned aerial vehicles», specialty No. 134 «Aviation and rocket and space engineering». More than 30 students chose it and now are gaining knowledge that will help them build and operate drones in the future. You can read more about the new program in the article Revival of aviation traditions: Polytechnic will teach to design, manufacture and operate drones.
Along with the opening of a new educational program, the Department launched a student aviation club.
– The initiative for such a club came from students and we agreed. Aviation disciplines are taught from the third semester, so the preparation is ongoing. However, thanks to this club, students can try to construct simple unmanned aerial vehicles of the wing type with their own hands, says Olesia Maksymovych, Head of the Department of Oil and Gas Engineering and Welding (OGEW).
The Aviation club is divided into two groups, each of which makes its own drone. The club is led by Oleksii Prykhodko, Associate Professor at the OGEW Department. Under his guidance, students acquire practical skills in designing and manufacturing drones.
Oleksii Prykhodko has been interested in aircraft modeling for about 15 years. According to his drawings, students make training UAVs.
– These are the first models that we create here. According to their characteristics, they are more like toys. These are the first attempts for students to understand the basics, because you have to start somewhere. Later, maybe we will do something more serious and specifically for someone, notes Oleksii Prykhodko.
Models are created with their own hands from improvised means, among which the main one is foam plastic, which is covered with a special material. However, electronics, in particular the control panel, are bought in the club with their own funds.
– When the scholarship arrives, then we will buy a control panel and we will be able to launch the plane into the sky, – says student Hlib Hryshyn. – I like to work in a club to better understand how to build such radio-controlled UAVs. Perhaps in the future, thanks to our skills, we will be able to help the Armed Forces in the war, because we know that drones are very necessary now.
Another student, Dmytro Yenaliev, says that for him club is the most interesting part of studying:
– You do something with your own hands, you don’t follow theories. This is an applied thing in a specialty that will be needed in the future.
According to Olesia Maksymovych, Head of the Department of Oil and Gas Engineering and Welding, if additional funding were available, the group could produce one drone every month. Therefore, we are open to cooperation here. In particular, recently students of the educational program «Unmanned aerial vehicles» participated in a joint international project. Due to problems with electricity supply as a result of Russian terrorist attacks on the critical infrastructure of Ukraine, Polish colleagues presented Polytechnic students with powerful power banks.
Let us remind you that a representative of the Progresstech-Ukraine visited the Department of Oil and Gas Engineering and Welding, the Institute of Mechanical Engineering and Transport of Lviv Polytechnic, where, in particular, the specialty No. 134 «Aviation and rocket and space engineering» is taught. The meeting was held at the invitation of Professor Olesia Maksymovych, Head of Department of Oil and Gas Engineering and Welding.
