Professional and Student Entries Sought for 2012

Aluminum Extrusion Design Competition

$20,000 in prizes and scholarships to be awarded

(Wauconda, Illinois—November 15, 2011) The ET Foundation, the educational and scientific organization devoted to promoting and advancing aluminum extrusion processes and technologies, is seeking entries for the 2012 International Aluminum Extrusion Design Competition. Cash prizes and student scholarships are sponsored by Hydro Aluminum’s North American extrusion unit. Hydro has been sponsoring the competition since 2004.

The 2012 competition is divided into two classes: Professional and Student.  Cash prizes and student scholarships are expected to total $20,000—including a Grand Prize of $3,500.

Professional designers, engineers, and manufacturers along with students studying design and engineering at universities, colleges, technical schools and high schools around the world are invited to participate.  The ET Foundation will accept entries for the 2012 International Aluminum Extrusion Design Competition through March 5, 2012. Entry in the competition is free, and judging will take place following the entry deadline. The Call for Entries, containing all the details and entry forms, can be downloaded at www.ETFdesign.org.

The aim of the competition is to promote the understanding and use of extruded aluminum profiles, as well as to highlight innovations and recognize excellence in aluminum extrusion design.   Winning entries will be those that best demonstrate the benefits of aluminum extrusions.  The designs submitted should address any combination of the following objectives:

• Ease of fabrication and assembly
• Cost-effectiveness
• Innovation and/or customization in design
• New application capability
• Demonstration of aluminum extrusion’s product and process advantages, and
• Likelihood of market success.

Designers encouraged to innovate and exploit extrusion advantages

Innovation is a key objective of the competition, which encourages extruders, designers, fabricators, engineers, manufacturers and students to hone their skills and develop new and expanded uses for extruded aluminum.  The aluminum extrusion production process can accommodate a broad range of profile designs, allowing the designer to create the exact shape needed.  In addition, the aluminum profile can be formed to facilitate manufacturing and assembly, increase product reliability and durability, simplify maintenance and repairs for the product’s final use, and build in an attractive appearance that can make the final product more appealing to the customer.  Moreover, aluminum extrusions offer shorter lead times than other processes translating to product delivery within weeks rather than months, and provide a more cost-effective option since extrusion tooling is less expensive than other manufacturing methods.

Professional cash prizes and student scholarships to be awarded

In addition to a Grand Prize in the amount of $3,500 to be awarded across all categories and classes, professionals and students will compete in their own classes for the following awards.

Individual architects, designers or engineers, as well as companies, are eligible to enter the Professional Design Competition.  Aluminum extruders are encouraged to team up with their customers to enter the competition.  Entries received in the Professional Class will be divided into four categories: Structural, Transportation, Engineered Products, and Alternative Energy.  First-place cash prizes in the amount of $2,000 will be awarded to the best design in each category.

Students currently enrolled in a college, university, or technical school, including graduate students, are eligible to enter the Student Design Competition.  Entries from high school students also will be accepted.  Scholarships will be presented as cash awards to the top designs in the Student Class, including $3,000 for First Place, $2,000 for Second Place, and $1,000 for Third Place.  

Hydro Sustainable Design Scholarship Award

Students also may compete for the Hydro Sustainable Design Scholarship Award of $2,500.  The Sustainable Design award was established by Hydro to foster innovative solutions to societal and/or environmental issues.  The Sustainable Design Scholarship Award is presented to the student whose design best addresses those concerns, in addition to meeting the four basic ET Foundation Design Competition criteria of creativity, practicality, product/process advantage, and market impact/potential.  Past Sustainable Design winning entries have included a water purification system, a modular shelter with water collection system, a fully recyclable laptop computer, and a hydroponic gardening system.

Helpful design resources at ETFdesign.org

Visit the ET Foundation’s Design Competition website at www.ETFdesign.org for more information on the 2012 Aluminum Extrusion Student Design Competition—including the Call for Entries and official entry forms.  A variety of tools and resources are also available on the website, including the educational slide presentation, “Designing to the Limits of Your Imagination.”  The presentation, which is available to download, provides an overview of designing for aluminum extrusions and outlines the advantages of aluminum and the aluminum extrusion process.  Other resources include a page on Designing for Aluminum, which features information on aluminum extrusion design parameters, and a useful Press Availability Matrix that illustrates the relationship between profile design size as well as the availability of extrusion presses to produce the profile.  The page also includes a number of links to valuable information and resources available on the Aluminum Extruders Council website.

Winning designs from this and previous competitions are expected to be on display at the Tenth International Aluminum Extrusion Technology Seminar & Exposition—ET ’12, the premier technical conference for the global aluminum extrusion industry. ET ’12 is scheduled for May 15-18, 2012 in Miami Beach, Florida, USA.  For more information, visit www.ET12.org.

About the ET Foundation

The Extrusion Technology for Aluminum Profiles Foundation (ET Foundation) has been established for charitable, scientific, and educational purposes to develop, promote, provide, and fund education and research related to aluminum extrusion processes and technologies.  For more information, contact the ET Foundation mail@etfoundation.org or visit www.etfoundation.org. 

About Hydro

Hydro Aluminum North America is a unit of Norsk Hydro, a global supplier of aluminum with activities throughout the value chain, from bauxite extraction to the production of rolled and extruded aluminum products and building systems.. Based in Norway, the company employs 23,000 people in 40 countries and has activities on all continents.

In North America, Hydro provides aluminum solutions including supply sourcing, extrusion, finishing, and fabrication of components, as well as engineering and contract manufacturing services, for a variety of industries.

http://www.hydro.com/northamerica/

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