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Be your most inventive with our Product Design and Manufacture (PDM) facilities

Use a range of engineering and design software, and technologies - such as virtual reality and 3D printing - to get hands on experience with the tools you’ll use in your career. Please note the exact facilities and equipment you will use depends on your specific course.

 
John Mason

“The course develops both your product design side as well as your engineering side. It’s really versatile and opens up so many opportunities afterwards.”

Jon Mason – Product Design and Manufacture BEng graduate (Director of Product Design Engineering, PDD Innovation)

 
 

 

PDM design studios

Undergraduate students at a computer desk working in the Product Design Studio 1080px

This is your space to learn, collaborate and create - the home of the Product Design and Manufacture (PDM) programme.

Designed to support and enhance your learning, these spaces contain a variety of large format displays as well as digital drawing tablets to use during your design projects and coursework. You'll be inspired by previous examples of design projects, shown on 38 wall mounted 4K TV screens.

Our design studios are vibrant social spaces - housing a kitchenette, sofas and breakfast bar for breakout meetings and events - so are ideal for both individual study and collaborative group work.

 

 

Rapid Prototyping workshop

Technician Chris Hinchcliff working with 3D printers

Our state-of-the-art rapid prototyping workshop is home to a wide range of prototyping and 3D printing technologies. Designed to support all stages of project work from ideation to production, these machines bring your designs to life. You'll be able to test your ideas in a wide range of materials and produce both small and large components, including moving and flexible parts.

In combination with the CAD modelling skills you’ll learn, these printing facilities will allow you to produce models both simply and accurately, enabling you to explore your ideas to gain a deep and meaningful understanding of both form and function. Technologies available in this room include: a variety of Fusion Deposition Modelling (FDM Machines), Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) and Stereolithography (SLA) machines, and many more.

 

 

Virtual Reality (VR) workshop

Undergradute student using a virtual reality headset in the Product Design Studio 1080px

The world of product design moves incredibly fast, so we constantly invest in new technology that shapes the way we work and design. For this reason, we developed the virtual reality workshop so you can test the limits and applications of virtual reality - and explore its many benefits first hand. The workshop is equipped with several different types of VR headsets, as well as other cutting-edge technologies such as 3D scanners.

This is your opportunity to learn and experience some real future-facing technology. All our PDM students can use VR headsets and work within the virtual reality workshop. Navigate the virtual world and develop your understanding of its capabilities.

 

 

 

Virtual Reality (VR) classroom

Imagine a future where you can upload your designs at a touch of a button, then experience them to scale by stepping into a virtual version.

This cutting-edge £238,000 VR classroom is the first-of-a-kind in a UK university. Many universities, including University of Nottingham, have had VR labs for a while - but this is different due to its large scale (which means it can be used by 40 students at a time) and the latest high-quality VR software and hardware.

Based in the Engineering Science and Learning Centre (ESLC), VR headsets hang from four ‘station rigs’ on the ceiling which, when raised up, allows the room to be reconfigured for other activities. Wireless headsets can also be used in various locations and loaned to students to continue their studies outside the classroom. Supported by a specialist technician, custom environments and objects for teaching a range of engineering and architecture subjects will be developed.

 

 

More ways to succeed on your course

There are even more facilities and equipment to take advantage of in the Department of Mechanical, Materials and Manufacturing Engineering. From libraries and specialised software to departmental design studios - we have everything you need to succeed on your course and prepare you for your future career.

  • Engineering Applications Workshops
  • Computer Rooms
  • Libraries (George Green and Hallward)
  • Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering and Engineering Design Studios facilities
  • Engineering Applications Workshops
  • High powered virtualised computing - work remotely with access to all of our key software including  Solidworks (CAD), Keyshot and Affinity photo editing and publishing
  • Laser and plasma cutting technology

 

 

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