Students’ life-saving device in global finals

A team of engineering and business students from Cork Institute of Technology pioneered the project, namely Kelly Lane, Shane O’Driscoll, Arran Coughlan, Gerard O’Connell, Jason Shorten, John Harrington, George O’Rourke and Kacey Mealy.

Kelly Lane, Shane O’ Driscoll, Arran Coughlan, Gerard O’ Connell and Kacey Mealy with their HydroFLOcean (H-FLO) device. Picture: Gerard McCarthy

The team won the Irish leg of the James Dyson Award earlier this month, securing a place in the global leg.

Now, they will go up against 19 other design teams from across the world in an effort to win the top prize worth €35,000.

Their design, called the HydroFLOcean, was a result of the high-profile deaths of two labourers in Limerick last year.

The men drowned after their work platform collapsed while they were carrying out maintenance works on Thomond Bridge over the River Shannon.

Platforms or maintenance cages are often used when working at heights and workers are typically secured to the work platform via a harness and lanyard.

Although a rare occurrence, if the platform does collapse over a body of water, the individual faces the risk of becoming submerged while still connected to it. Underwater, it is a lot more difficult to detach from the platform and, as in the case of the Limerick men, can result in fatalities.

The HydroFLOcean (H-FLO) separates the user from the work platform when it is submerged in water. It is attached to the workman’s harness on one side and to the safety cable connecting to the maintenance platform on the other.

The device uses the same inflation device used in life jackets to activate a gas canister when submerged in water. The H-FLO is composed of two cylindrical metal shafts connected via a 10mm stainless steel pin. Upon submersion in water, the gas canister inside uses 10 megapascals of pressure to force the pin out, causing the device to split in two. This separates the user from the sinking platform.

It has been rigorously tested, and the team says it is totally unique.

The future plans involve the group finding new markets to which the technology can be applied. They believe that this technology could save lives in areas such as the automotive industry and in offshore oil rigging.

They have already won the CIT Prize For Innovation 2016, the prestigious Cruickshank Intellectual Property Attorneys Award, and the 2016 Irish James Dyson Award.

The final 20 projects will be reviewed by James Dyson, who will pick the international winner and two runners-up. The international winner will be announced on October 27.