Central Iowa Times

Iowa Central’s electrical and industrial maintenance programs will soon be receiving some much-needed equipment upgrades thanks to an area manufacturer and employer.

Nestle Purina, which has a manufacturing plant in Fort Dodge, recently awarded funding to the Iowa Central programs through a $26,220 Purina Foundation Grant.

Currently, students enrolled in the programs must share the equipment when working on projects which is not an ideal set-up for hands on learning.  Some of the present equipment is worn and past its usefulness.

The grant will allow Iowa Central to purchase 10 1615A Triple Output DC power supplies, six Lab Bolt 73-OP AC-DC power supplies, 10 Fluke 87 Digital Multimeters and a line boring machine.

The purchase of additional multimeters will allow more access to the devices as there are presently 70 students enrolled in the Electrical Technologies Program and only 20 multimeters available. 

The meters teach students how to verify the presence or absence of voltage and are an important tool of the trade both for problem solving and safety purposes. 

The DC power supplies will be used to teach students about terms of voltage, currents and resistance and the AC supplies will allow students to measure certain AC voltage ranges that are safe for beginning technicians to work with.  

The line boring machine assists in efficient and precise problem solving in various settings, including manufacturing. 

The addition of this unit will allow students to learn how to use it and become more prepared for work in the manufacturing industry.  

Original source can be found here.