Mountainous male student wins second prize at provincial level with topic of preventing overloaded and oversized vehicles

Born into a farming family in the poor mountainous commune of Quynh Tan, far from the district center, with many shortages, Nguyen Canh Thanh and Van Duc Minh have strived to overcome difficulties and pursue their passion for scientific innovation.

Recently, two students won second prize at the provincial level in the science and technology innovation contest organized by the Nghe An Department of Education and Training with the topic“Barriers automatically detect and prevent overloaded vehicles from entering village roads”. Previously,This topic won first prize in the district level competition.

Sharing about their topic, the two students said: Realizing that the situation of expanding the load capacity and overloading is quite common, some vehicles even carry 2-3 times the permitted load. If the vehicle load cannot be controlled when traveling on village routes, it is natural that the road will be damaged and destroyed; the environment will be polluted, and the risk of traffic accidents will increase.

Nguyen Canh Thanh and Van Duc Minh (first desk on the left) are 9A students at Quynh Tan Secondary School (Quynh Luu, Nghe An). Photo: Ngoc Bich

Understanding the people's frustration and the potential danger, Nguyen Canh Thanh said:“Our product originates from reality. The road in my village has just been rebuilt, but after only 2 years, the road has experienced some problems such as subsidence, cracks and potholes appearing all over the road. Therefore, we boldly came up with the idea of ​​building a Barrier system that automatically detects and prevents overloaded vehicles from entering the village road.

Thanh and Minh's product "Barrier automatically detects and prevents overloaded vehicles from entering village roads" consists of 4 main parts: Frame and support system; Electronic scale; Electromagnetic relay; Electric motor system. The operating principle of this product is to place a barrier 2.5m higher than the road surface. Only vehicles with a height of over 2.5m must be inspected. When the vehicle is inspected by the system, two cases will occur:

The weight of the vehicle is less than or equal to the road load limit: The relay is not powered, the engine is not running, so the barrier is still open, the green light is on, the vehicle is allowed to continue moving. In case the weight of the vehicle is greater than the road load limit, the red warning light system is turned on, signaling that the vehicle is not allowed to move onto the road.

The product consists of 4 main parts: Frame and support system; Electronic scale; Electromagnetic relay; Electric motor system. Photo: Ngoc Bich

Drivers can look at the LCD screen to know how much the vehicle is overloaded so they know to lower the load. "When the vehicle has a load greater than the road's allowable limit, the Arduino operates to supply power to the electromagnetic relay, the electromagnetic relay operates to supply power to the motor, at this time the barrier will lower and prevent vehicles from entering the road" - Van Duc Minh confidently introduced the product.

Mr. Le Van Son - Principal of the school said: The Science and Technology Innovation Contest is an annual contest, a useful playground for students to research, study and unleash their creativity. Therefore, at the school level, we always create conditions and encourage students to participate.

“After students have products that win prizes at the school level, they are selected to compete at the district level. After that, the school makes plans, arranges instructors, and invests more funds so that their products are qualified to compete at a higher level.”