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News Release from: Festo
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 20 November 2003
Engineering Tripos graduates study
pneumatics
Thirty-seven graduate level engineers studying the Manufacturing Engineering Tripos at Cambridge University attended a master class in pneumatics technology organised by Festo UK.
On 10th October thirty-seven graduate level engineers studying the Manufacturing Engineering Tripos, an M.Eng course, at Cambridge University attended the prestigious Festo UK headquarters at Northampton for a master class in pneumatics technology Graham Spencer, Senior Didactic Lecturer at Festo, presented the comprehensive two-hour lecture
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 13 Apr 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
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While the M.Eng course comprises short periods of industrial placement for its students, the Festo lecture offered graduates a unique perspective on the tools, technologies and engineering philosophies developed and deployed by a market-leading automation manufacturer.
Graham Spencer covered multiple aspects of pneumatics contributing to the Fluid power syllabus - part of the Building Automated Systems area of the M.Eng course.
The lecture included the fundamentals of pneumatics, comprising the production of compressed air, specifics of control valves and actuators, and how these elements combine to produce a controllable system.
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Hands-on interaction with pre-built pneumatic circuits added a practical dimension to the lecture.
Following the master class, the graduates toured the Festo facility spending more than an hour in the Engineering and Technical Services Departments, the Industrial Models Exhibition Room, the Festo Didactic Flexible Manufacturing System (FMS) and - of particular interest - reviewing the suites of Design, Test and Simulation software for pneumatic, hydraulic and robotic systems.
Why the interest in software? Armed with the knowledge from the Festo lecture, the M.Eng syllabus now requires that the students design and build an automated system including pneumatics, robotics and PLC control.
"Representatives from Festo Didactic (the dedicated training arm of Festo) have visited Cambridge University several times over the past few years to lecture on pneumatics," explains Spencer.
"Now Dr Ken Platts of the University has returned the compliment, visiting us here in Northampton to give his students some visibility of how a competitive commercial organisation stays ahead of an increasing industry demand for automated engineering solutions." Spencer adds: "The graduates were universally impressed - not just with our engineering and software facilities, but with the way Festo thinks and addresses challenging issues.
Of course, as we've long known in Didactic, it's knowledge that makes the difference." Spencer expects this venture to strengthen the ongoing relationship between Cambridge University and Festo. Request free introductory details about products from Festo ...
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