Sherwyn's IP

For my independent project I decided to explore something I would potentially want to pursue in the future as a career.  Engineering is something that interests me.  I think engineering is something that is useful to our future and could be hands-on and practical. It also may involve problem solving, something I like to do so I took up this opportunity to see what the real thing was like.

 

Through Melanie, our careers adviser, I managed to get an internship at an electrical engineering company. Here I was exposed to how they drew and designed their plans. I was also fortunate enough to accompany them to their site visits such as substations.

 

The substation I visited was the Takapuna substation. I went there with 2 structural engineers and an electrical engineer. The purpose of this visit was so that with guidance and help from them we could devise a plan to reposition 3 11Kv cables. Other renovations were taking place but this was my little job.

 

Another substation was the Barber Road substation being constructed down in the Bombays. I went down there with 2 others and got to listen in on their meetings. Here they explained to me how the sites worked and I got to see parts of the plan being built.

 

I learnt many cool and interesting things about what electrical engineers do as a job. Some cool facts are about the Benmore line, which is a dc line in the South Island that crosses the Cook Straight and ends outside Wellington.  What's unique about this line is its just one cable that transfers current, on either end there are huge electrodes embedded in the ground. The current flows through these electrodes and because of the voltage drop naturally travel through the ground back down to the South Island completing the circuit.

 

Through this internship I have gained knowledge and learnt what engineers really do and have come to the conclusion that this is a great career which will benefit me by having me constantly think and come up with creative solutions to problems that would arise. It will also benefit others as we would devise safety measures so that any potential fault would not have major negative consequences