by Two weeks ago, Synthesis of Mechanisms and Machines stopped being just another lecture for students studying Mechanical Engineering at the National University of Rosario. Now, the most advanced students consider it a training space that carries a special motivation: it is the large testing laboratory where the student Benjamin Cinto Developed a hermetic lock to be applied in spacecraft, with the purpose of presenting this innovative mechanism in a international competition organized by NASA.
Cinto, born in Gualeguaychú 24 years ago, took part in this demanding global competition, which brought together 140 experienced engineers and designers from the five continents and took home the biggest prize.
The jury of six engineers appointed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States declared him the winner, awarded him with financial compensation and, above all, He added to his fledgling resume with an outstanding grade.
To the requirement posed by the organizers of the contest to create a device capable of safely blocking the segments of space structures upon contact – to prevent them from being activated during the launch – the Entre Ríos inventor responded with his project “Egyptian key”, inspired by the lock method anciently used by the Egyptian civilization.
The wedge-shaped pin designed by Cinto through a 3D model, when it advances, makes latches fall and blocks the system, which can ensure the union of sections of space equipment such as antennas, solar panels and telescopes, after having reached its orbit. . in outer space. That is, the system comes into operation once the take-off conditions of the transport ship have been exceeded.
“The two parts of the mechanism are a pin and spring-loaded wedges. As the pin advances, the wedges move and then lock it. The objective is to achieve, with a very low activation force, a high contact force between the plates, thanks to the fact that the wedges have a smaller entry angle than the exit angle,” explains the creator himself in detail, already unaware of the initial doubts, when the call for the competition posed “an overwhelming problem, difficult to face, with many requirements and a deadline of one month.”
The panorama began to change after a three-week wait, when Cinto was informed that he was part of the group of ten finalists. For the first time, the possibility of taking first place appeared clearly on the horizon.
Once the storm of congratulations he received from NASA experts, other contestants, teachers, fellow students, private companies and a large cast of family, neighbors and friends spread across Gualeguaychú and Rosario subsided, Cinto returned to focus on the idea of developing a eucalyptus logging waste pelletizer for solid fuelsthe outline of the final project of his career, which he hopes to complete in mid-2024.
“All this I got is fruit of public education, key something to have innovative tools and equalize opportunities,” highlights Cinto. His vocation for Engineering had shown some indication when he was attending the No. Guillermo Rawson Primary School and he finished his studies at the No. 2 Presbítero José María Colombo Technical School. The decision to enter the University was also influenced by the background of two of his five brothers, who had already graduated as engineers in Rosario, an omnipresent model to emulate.
Before, as a child raised in the atmosphere of tranquility that reigns in the south of Entre Ríos, he was driven by the curiosity to discover how toys and machines worked. First he dedicated himself to breaking or, in the best of cases, disassembling everything that came into his hands, like previous step to find a way to rebuild in your own way.
“Those were the births of my passion for Mechanical Engineering, a profession with a wide career opportunity that adapts to different industrial areas,” Cinto ponders, with the hope that his experience will serve to inspire others and his sights set on the most skeptical.
