The young engineer employed by metrology specialist Renishaw received his accolade for “creative use of technology”.
Matthew Hunter seized the Young Engineers’ Duke of York Award for inventing a novel mobile phone charger for cyclists.
The prize entitles Mr Hunter to £1,000 and to the Duke of York Rose Bowl trophy.
Hunter’s device, which he has called Cygen, is an eco-friendly innovation which uses power generated by the cyclist to charge their phone.
Manufacturer of the Year Awards
Apprentice and Young Manufacturer of the Year Awards up for grabs
If you’d like to recognise the ingenuity and hard work of an apprentice or young employee why not enter them into TM’s Young Manufacturer of the Year and Apprentice of the Year Awards.
The winners will get the chance to site on TM’s Editorial Advisory Board for a year, giving them the chance to influence the magazine’s content, appeal to the mext genration of manufacutring professional and metwork with other high profile members of the board.
Find out more about the awards.
Entries close on July 31
Hunter was inspired to create the device by a growing awareness of hobby cyclists loosing access to satnav and communication when en route.
The core of Matthew’s product is an axial gap brushless generator with a ring of magnets attached to the spokes and a corresponding array of coils supported from the axle. The device is designed to be totally non-contact, which means that there is no residual drag when the phone is not charging.
“The universal wheel mount allows the Cygen product to be easily fitted to any type of bicycle – a mountain bike, hybrid or road racing bike,” explained Hunter on receiving his award. “The magnet ring is designed to fit any style or pattern of spokes and the coil set is simply clamped by the axle of the wheel.”
Rod Edwards, chief executive of the Young Engineers charity, said he was delighted to see Matthew Hunter win the award.
He first met the young engineer via a mentoring programme at the National Physical Laboratory in Teddington. “It was very rewarding to see Matthew show his work to the Duke of York and then go on to be presented with the Rose Bowl,” commented Mr Edwards.
Young Engineers receives no direct Government funding. Matthew Hunter’s award was sponsored by Schaeffler UK.
