The world population is growing and the climate is changing, causing the sea level to rise. Consequently the demand for reliable and efficient dredging methods for land reclamation projects is large. During his technological design project for IHC Merwede, Kris Zych developed a RF Density meter to measure the density of slurry by means of radio waves. A breakthrough, as it turned out. In 2012 Zych won the TU/e Academic Award for the best design project and meanwhile he is working out his prototype at IHC Merwede in the form of a PhD on Design.
At the time of applying for the technological designer programme Design and Technology Instrumentation (DTI) at the Eindhoven University of Technology, Zych already knew he would like to continue his final project as a PhD project. ‘The project at IHC Merwede luckily offered itself at the right place and time. The organisation already had good experiences with trainees of the DTI programme and the project eventually turned out to be suitable to continue as a PhD project. It was not an easy project. The interests were significant, as well as the need for innovation. It were months at a stretch of day and night testing, analysing, correcting and testing again. It truly demanded blood, sand and tears’, as Zych recollects.
‘The more efficient prototype was a long desired breakthrough for the organisation. Hence a request to further develop the prototype as a PhD project did not hold off for long. For me the next step in my career, for IHC Merwede the possibility to further develop the prototype into a solid and future-proof design’, Zych explains.
‘A big difference between the execution as part of a design process or as a PhD on Design I do not see’, Zych states. ‘Of course as a PhD candidate I carry more responsibilities and in the meanwhile I coach trainees of the DTI programme. My main responsibility within the research group is still the RF project. Therefore regularly you'll still see me standing down to my knees in a big heap of sand, searching for the optimal research results. The industry simply demands such a practical approach.’
Zych concludes: ‘During my training and the design project I have learned that success comes from a clear reporting structure and from questioning existing knowledge and insights from time to time. I can recommend this to anybody. If one does not, this just might close the door towards a solution you have been searching for so long.’