ABB boosts teaching facilities at Monash University

Power and automation company, ABB has donated automation equipment worth more than $150,000 to boost teaching facilities for engineering students.

The company donated drives, motors and PLC equipment to the Electrical Power Engineering (EPE) Laboratory, located at the Clayton campus of Monash University.

The University now offers new learning opportunities for students in the area of electricity generation and how it behaves.

In early October, the Department of Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering at Monash University, official opened its recently upgraded EPE Laboratory, at its Clayton campus.

The upgrade was made possible by the equipment donation by ABB in Australia, as well as the work of technical experts from Monash University, ABB and a number of volunteers.

“We are proud to support Monash University and electrical engineering students via the donation of ABB’s energy efficient drives, motors and control products,” said Michael Hose, ABB’s Drives manager for Australia.

“ABB’s very excited about the future of engineering in Australia and committed to supporting educational endeavors that further develop students’ understanding of the electricity grid and the technologies that are enabling the integration of renewables to lower environmental impact.”

The upgraded lab now offers a wide range of new learning possibilities for electrical engineering students, particularly in relation to the generation of electricity and how it behaves, according to ABB.

Equipment donated by ABB, included 8 x DCS550 DC drives, 16 x AC500 eco PLCs, 8 x ABB-Baldor electric motors and 8 x ACSM1 Servo Drives combined with Regenerative Units, with full braking power. The Regenerative Units control the line side power factor to unity, in order to maintain clean power with very low harmonic content.