September 5, 2013 - University of Utah’s Department of Chemical Engineering has received $108,000 in state-of-the-art control system tools and software from industrial automation company Opto 22. This generosity is the most recent example of the company’s ongoing support of the university’s chemical engineering students in their laboratory courses. Opto 22 develops and manufactures hardware and software for applications involving industrial automation and control, energy management, remote monitoring, and data acquisition. The company, founded in 1974 by University of Utah engineering alumnus Robert Engman, is highly regarded in the automation and control industry for its innovation in modern solid-state relays and programmable controllers.
Engman’s pioneering work in solid-state relay development first enabled communication between industrial equipment and computers using standard, commercially available technologies. Currently, approximately 70 chemical engineering students each year at the university conduct experiments or examine a process with Opto 22 instrumentation as part of a senior design capstone course. This exposure provides students with a unique opportunity for hands-on experience with industrial-grade data acquisition and control in a laboratory setting before entering the workforce.
“The experiments students perform using Opto 22 equipment greatly enhance the presentation of a wide variety of chemical engineering principles, including separations, heat transfer, and process control,” says Milind Deo, professor and chair of chemical engineering at the University of Utah. “Most students cite this class as the most important part of their curriculum. It’s clear these educational experiences make a long-lasting impact on our students and serve them throughout their careers.” In addition to undergraduate students, University of Utah chemical engineering graduate students also benefit from a pilot-scale combustion and gasification facility that is fully automated with Opto 22 hardware and software.
“At Opto 22, we think it’s important to support STEM curriculum in our schools. A great way we can do this is to provide our made-in-the-USA, advanced automation electronics and software to the University of Utah’s Department of Chemical Engineering,” says Mark Engman, CEO and president of Opto 22. “We want to see today’s young engineers use these tools to develop the next generation of processing and manufacturing systems for the U.S.
And we think they’ll especially like our new groov product, which makes it easy and fun to build mobile control interfaces.”
About Opto 22
Opto 22 develops and manufactures hardware and software for applications involving industrial automation and control, energy management, remote monitoring, and data acquisition. Designed and made in the U.S.A., Opto 22 products have an established reputation worldwide for ease of use, innovation, quality, and reliability.
Opto 22 products use standard, commercially available networking and computer technologies and are used by automation end-users, OEMs, and information technology and operations personnel in over 10,000 installations worldwide. The company was founded in 1974 and is privately held in Temecula, California, U.S.A. Opto 22 products are available through a global network of distributors and system integrators.
