Wim van der Hoek Award

Wim van der Hoek Award 2024

Prize for careful process analysis and early validation

During the 23rd edition of the Precision Fair in Den Bosch (NL), the Wim van der Hoek Award was presented under the auspices of DSPE (Dutch Society for Precision Engineering). The award went to Jan-Pieter Rijstenbil, who designed a machine for the accurate placement of welding nuts for laser spot welding, graduating from Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) on this subject. The jury praised his careful process analysis and the modular concept he ultimately chose. “He designed beautiful partial solutions and validated critical components and subprocesses at a very early stage.”

The second day of the Precision Fair 2024, Thursday 14th November in Den Bosch (NL), featured the presentation of the Wim van der Hoek Award. This award (also known as the Constructors Award) was introduced in 2006 to mark the 80th birthday of the Dutch doyen of design engineering principles, Wim van der Hoek (1924-2019). The Constructors Award is presented every year to the person with the best graduation project in the field of design in mechanical engineering at a Dutch or Belgian university of technology (TU) or university of applied sciences (UAS). This award includes a certificate, a trophy made by the Leidse instrumentmakers School and a sum of money, sponsored by the TU/e High Tech Systems Center (HTSC).

The winner of the Wim van der Hoek Award 2024, Jan-Pieter Rijstenbil, holding the trophy made by the Leidse instrumentmakers School. (Photo: Bram Saeys)

Four nominations

Criteria for the assessment of the graduation theses include the quality of the design, its substantiation and innovativeness, as well as its suitability for use as teaching material. The four nominations selected by the jury this year came from TU/e, TU Delft and HU UAS in Utrecht. The jury was chaired by DSPE board member Jos Gunsing (MaromeTech) and included Hans Steijaert (Vanderlande), Maurice Teuwen (JPE), Marc Vermeulen (ASML), Johan Vervoort (Vervos) and Wouter Vogelesang (VH Consult).

Fully automated placement

The Wim van der Hoek Award 2024 eventually went to Jan-Pieter Rijstenbil, who studied Mechanical Engineering at TU/e. Earlier this year, he graduated on “Automated Placement of Micronuts for Laser Spot Welding”. Commissioned by Wefabricate, a specialist in advanced production, he designed a machine for fully automatically placing a pattern of M1 nuts on a 0.3 mm thick base plate for laser spot welding. For this, both the base plate and the nuts must be loaded, positioned and stabilised within a few micrometers, after which the finished product is fed out.

VanderHoekean design

This assignment from Wefabricate was thus ideally suited to ‘VanderHoekean construction’ (after Wim van der Hoek, the founder of the Dutch school of design principles for precise movement and positioning). “This complex process involves a large number of steps, and requires taking into account welding spatter and heat development, but also enormous production numbers, or lifespan. In addition, the machine must be easy to adjust if a different product needs to be made.”

Ingenious mechanism

The winner has worked out his VanderHoekean design excellently, according to the jury. “After a careful process analysis, Jan-Pieter chose a modular concept that met all the requirements. The innovativeness of his design was mainly in the ingenious mechanism for supplying welding nuts using a straw. His design is DDP-worthy, which means it is suitable for inclusion in a collection of examples of good design (as Van der Hoek once published under the name Devil’s Picture Book (Des Duivels Prentenboek, DDP), ed.).”

Early-stage validation

Rijstenbil paid a lot of attention to the robustness and reliability of the process. “He designed beautiful partial solutions and validated critical components and subprocesses at a very early stage,” the jury noted in support of its choice. “He carried out a great many experiments for this, both at Wefabricate and at the TU/e Equipment & Prototype Center. He also regularly consulted specialised companies for manufacturing and surface treatment. Many of the techniques he used are groundbreaking.”

Inventive and creative

Finally, the jury described the winner as an excellent student who combines enormous inventiveness and creativity with great practical skills. “This is also proven by the history that Jan-Pieter already had with designing and building mechatronic aids himself, such as 3D printers and a tool to turn sheet music while playing the piano. He also has a social and entrepreneurial attitude.”

Hall of Fame:

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The jury in the Wim van der Hoek room at Janssen Precision Engineering in Maastricht:

Chairman Jos Gunsing (MaromeTech)
Johan Vervoort (Vervos)
Marc Vermeulen (ASML)
Maurice Teuwen (Janssen Precision Engineering)
Hans Steijaert (Vanderlande)
Wouter Vogelesang (VH Consult)

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