The “Déplace de l'air à Poly” (Move the air at Poly) contest, designed for Cégep students in both pre-university and technical programs, was held at Polytechnique on Saturday, January 26, 2013. The 75 participants on 29 teams of two or three students were required to design an alternator for a mini wind turbine using only parts that were provided to them during the four hours allotted for producing a prototype. Once assembly was complete, the students were able to try out their alternator in front of a fan.

Sponsored by the Association québécoise de la production d'énergie renouvelable (Québec Association for the Production of Renewable Energy—AQPER), the day ended with a visit to the Polytechnique laboratories and discussions with technical societies and different committees.

Contest participants were helped by many Polytechnique electrical engineering students, who served as mentors in addition to maintaining their demanding course load. “We saw a great variety of turbine designs. All the professors on hand were surprised by the performances,” said Khaled Arfa, a senior lecturer in Polytechnique's Department of Electrical Engineering.

THE WINNERS:

• 1st place ($2,000 prize): The Win1000 team from Cégep de La Pocatière, comprising Léandre Joncas, Vincent Bernier and Maxime Lizotte (RMS voltage: 1,203 mV).
• 2ndplace ($1,000 prize): The Phil & Co team from Cégep André-Laurendeau, comprising Philippe Chabot, Philip Waring and Vincent Tanguay Casgrain (RMS voltage: 877 mV).
• 3rd place ($500 prize): The SMD Construction team from Collège André-Grasset, comprising Adam Martino, Joël Simoneau and Étienne Desrosiers (RMS voltage: 842 mV).

The profession of electrical engineer can lead to many possible careers. Graduates of Polytechnique's electrical engineering bachelor's program can specialize in 15 fields of concentration and orientation, including aerospace embedded systems, bio-instrumentation and space technologies.

Congratulations to all the teams that took part! See you in 2014!