When she moved to the U.S. three years ago from Germany to teach at Cal State Long Beach, associate engineering professor Christiane Beyer was asked one question.
“What tools do you think are missing in your department?” Dean of Engineering Dr. Forouzan Golshani asked Beyer.
In her answer, Beyer recommended that the department acquire a machine that would allow her engineering students to have more creative freedom for their senior projects, which they are required to design and manufacture over the course of two semesters.
In a nearly 1,000-word proposal to the DENSO North American Foundation, Beyer outlined the benefits a computer-controlled plasma cutter could provide for students.
Beyer’s proposal worked. According to Golshani, the Torchmate 5×5 – an almost 200-pound, computer-controlled plasma cutter – has been funded by DENSO and is scheduled to arrive at CSULB within a few weeks.
According to Beyer, plasma cutters work by sending inert pressurized gas, such as nitrogen or oxygen, through a small nozzle while a spark is fired into the gas. This reaction turns some of the gas into plasma, which becomes hot enough to melt and cut the metal.
With the help of this approximately $50,000 equipment, the department also hopes to uncover through research new methods of manufacturing, Golshani said.
“Engineering subject must be taught hand-in-hand with lab experience,” Golshani said. “[This machine] will augment student learning significantly. [This] is essential for a sound engineering program like ours.”
According to Beyer, the plasma cutter, which can usually cut up to six-inch thick steel plates in curved or angled shapes, will not only decrease production time but also allow students to produce complex products.
“[Several times] we had to give up and tell students to design simple products with straight lines,” Beyer said. “Even though they had good ideas, we had to tell them to avoid curves in their designs because we weren’t able to do it with the tools we had. We just had to sit back and accept the fact that we are limited and are not able to produce [something].”
With this new machine, however, the engineering department will be able to set aside its giant scissors, saws and lathes.
Instead of using a combination of processes and tools to cut sheet metal, students will be able to enter their designs into computer software, which will then set the plasma-cutting machine into motion, according to Beyer.
Junior engineering major Cesar Andraoe, who has worked extensively with this machine in the past, said this new addition to the department will be a great asset to students, especially when applying for jobs.
“If I were an employer, I would want to hire someone who has experience with this machine, because someone who has used the machine will know how to get the most out of the material,” Andraoe said. “You don’t want someone who will waste an entire sheet of metal to just make one small part.”
