Canterbury, New Zealand
1st Class Honours Degree in Aerospace Engineering followed by over fourteen years’ experience in Mechanical Engineering. Main area of specialism has been FEA of complex optical and mechanical assemblies, both from a structural and thermal perspective. Highly adaptable and quick to learn, a Chartered Engineer from 2013.
Since joining Cavotec, I've had a chance to further my design and advanced FEA experience by developing the next-gen automated mooring machine ‘Moormaster NxG”. This has been a great project, seeing a unique and innovative design progress from concept through to production. It has involved designing mechanical parts and assemblies for extreme load cases and against stringent cost targets, and as the company FEA lead, I performed analysis on the complete machine assembly using both Solidworks Sim and ABAQUS. I also mentored a summer student to create an automated weld fatigue analysis tool using Python and ABAQUS. One of my favourite parts of the job was overseeing testing of the first unit, after producing a comprehensive factory acceptance test (FAT) plan.
After moving to New Zealand at the end of 2016, I earned my place at BVT after impressing the MD with my proactive approach to finding work in a new country. My extensive FEA experience aligned well with BVT’s already great pedigree in this area, and I quickly rose to become the top performing engineer in the company. For the latter part of my time there, I was responsible for all the company's work outside of Auckland, signing off Design Certificates and PS1s for major projects across New Zealand.
Returned in a contracting role to provide analysis expertise for a highly sensitive body of work, and subsequently provide senior mechanical engineering duties for the Naval division. Performed detailed structural FEA on all critical parts of every periscope platform and produced internal and customer reports detailing the results. Completed detailed structural and transient thermal analysis of new window heating methods and identified improvements to increase performance by 100%.
As one of the small mechanical engineering team, I was fully responsible for various mechanical designs across a number of laser platforms. These designs, performed using Solidworks, included several time and cost saving lifting jigs, smaller component and sub assembly designs with considerable thermal loading considerations and improvements/redesigns of key components. I was also the principle mechanical engineer for the flagship product 'Fidelity HP', a small but powerful fibre laser, where I designed the layout and appearance of the laser from the beginning, cleverly incorporating several fibre modules and a large optical cavity into a tight space, and performing all necessary thermal analysis using Solidworks Simulation and producing reports. My thermal analysis role within the company did not end there, as I was the most qualified and experienced FEA engineer in the company, so was responsible for numerous key thermal and structural analyses - as a result of the knowledge and experience I gained through this I invented a brand new concept for thermal water cooling of a laser rod.
Thales Optronics is a large site of circa 800 employees and part of the larger Thales UK group which has over 8200 employees across 70 locations. The Optronics branch main activity is design and manufacture of high precision optical devices for military use, including laser rangefinders and target designators. The division has also been the preferred supplier of periscopes to the Royal Navy for the past 50 years. Completed a large amount of FEA, and created company documentation on the modelling of bearings and AV mounts, as well as similar guidelines on the modelling of frictional bolted joints. Carried out practical thermal testing investigations to identify hot spots and test potential cooling solutions for a number of laser products, and identified significant improvements to the designs from a thermal perspective. Attended Kaizen productivity improvement training which included a project to improve a key engineering process. Currently the lead mechanical engineer for two periscope upgrade activities. Main responsibilities: Performing thermal and structural FEA of optical assemblies to be used in laser designators and thermal imaging equipment, and analysing complex mechanical assemblies for use in periscopes and military vehicles. Training and supporting other employees in FEA and new versions of Ansys. Generating technical reports and writing technical specifications and test plans. Creating 3D CAD files from legacy 2D drawings to be used for design and integration work on periscopes. Working with and obtaining quotations from suppliers to develop components for use in military equipment. Working in a large team with engineers of different skillsets and grade levels and playing an active role in team meetings, peer reviews and critical design reviews. Carrying out investigations in order to determine the effects of implementing various engineering changes, and communicating these to the project team.