Documenting My Internship Experience: Week 1

As part of the requirements needed to complete my B.Eng degree in the university, I started my internship as a maintenance engineer in a factory in Ibadan.

I started working here in August, but it recently just occurred to me that it would be beneficial if I documented my journey here as an intern. So, I decided that I will be documenting details of my weekly activities as an intern here on Hive for the sake of myself and those who might be interested in knowing what interning in the biggest city in West Africa looks like.

Where I Work.

I work in a manufacturing company where we make PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride) pipes from recycled plastic. I am in the electrical department of the maintenance section. I work alongside two supervisors, and together, the three of us ensure that all forms of electrical faults in the company are well attended to. We also put in necessary measures to prevent faults from happening.

My working schedule is quite intense (I work 7AM-7PM from Monday to Saturday), but I live very close to the company and I get to my apartment earlier than most Lagosians, so I can't complain.

Without further ado, here is a day-to-day account of the previous week

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MONDAY

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I arrived work late because I travelled during the weekend. When I arrived at work, my boss gave me a tester even though I had one already. Apparently, he had bought sets of matching testers for everyone in the department.

tester

We'd been working on a faulty VFD (Variable Frequency Drive) Inverter the previous week, and that was the first thing we started work on.
I won't go into the details of how VFDs work, but for context, a VFD Inverter is a device that is used to control the speed and torque of electric motors.

This particular VFD had issues with its programming and it kept giving an error code that shuts down the system just after working for a while. We had called in an expert to help reprogram the device, but even after reprogramming, the issue still persisted.

faulty VFD

The engineer recommended that we remove the inverter from the production line and place it elsewhere.

Apart from doing this, I ran other routine maintenance works and closed for the day.

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TUESDAY

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By the time we resumed, we discovered that the VFD we fixed to a different production line was still giving the same error code. It was at that point we finally concluded that the device has issues that are currently beyond us. We removed the device from the line and replaced it with a functioning one.

I also helped the operators to remove and replace some barrel heaters from the extruder.

~A barrel heater is an electrical device that is used to, well, "heat the barrels" of the extruder. This is done so as to heat up the PVC material from powdered form to molten form.~

I then went ahead to carry out routine maintenance activities.

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WEDNESDAY

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There wasn't much to do today, but I had personal things to work on, so I just focused on that.

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THURSDAY

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One of the production lines had a faulty relay switch that was causing the pipe cutter to malfunction, so we had to remove it and replace it.

There was also an issue with the milling machine; the Rheotor attached to the machine wasn't working properly, so we had to adjust the placement.

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FRIDAY

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We got the replacement for the faulty VFD from Lagos. A Danfoss VLT series Inveter.
After running proper tests on it in our workshop, we took it to the production line and installed it there.

We observed its performance for some hours, and after we were satisfied, we closed it up and gave the directive for the operator to continue production on that line.

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SATURDAY

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We had to install a new water pump on one of the production lines. We did all the necessary wirings and tests on the pump, and after satisfactory results, we installed the pump.

But as soon as the pump started working, we discovered there was a leak somewhere in the tank. Since fixing that kind of issue isn't in our jurisdiction, we informed the mechanical department to fix the leakage. I don't know if it has been fixed now, but I hope it has.

So, there you have it folks. A summary of my week as a intern. I'll be back at the end of this week to give an update. Thank you for following to the end.