Leading engineering education specialist PA Hilton has fired up the awe-inspiring spectacle of its Ramjet aircraft engine simulator almost 60 years after it first became the foundation of its global teaching equipment business.
Staff held a rare test demonstration of the Ramjet at PA Hilton’s headquarters in King’s Somborne, near Stockbridge, in Hampshire, as they prepared to ship the kit to Algeria, where it will help train the next generation of engineers.
The Ramjet has no moving parts but uses propane gas to accurately replicate the effects of an operating aircraft engine, enabling students to test factors such as thrust, drag, fuel consumption and pressure distribution in laboratory conditions.
The demonstration involves inserting the rear of the Ramjet through a specially-created hole in the wall of the company’s workshop to enable the exhaust to leave the room as the Ramjet generates temperatures of more than 1,200C.
Invented by the company’s founder, the late aircraft engineer Paul Hilton, the Ramjet has been sold to more than 160 universities and defence academies around the world and helped in the teaching of hundreds of thousands of young engineers.
The first PA Hilton Ramjet was sold to Imperial College, London, in 1959. A Ramjet model sold to Southampton University in 1960 is still in use today and orders continue to come into PA Hilton from around the world, including India, USA, Malaysia, and now, Algeria.
The trial run also included a demonstration of the Pulsejet – a different engine that can be added to the same test stand and offers a new range of experiments for students.
The Ramjet is one of 400 educational products supplied by PA Hilton, which is internationally-renowned for the quality and longevity of its laboratory teaching equipment.
Mark Hardy, PA Hilton’s area sales manager for Africa and the Indian subcontinent, said: “No matter how many times we see the Ramjet in action, it never fails to impress. You can’t conduct experiments on a real aircraft engine in a lab, but the Ramjet is the next best thing and a very accurate simulator. It’s also an awesome sight to be behold when it’s fired up.
“It’s the kind of thing that inspires young people to go into engineering and we’re delighted to supply a specially-built model for another university. The model we build today is still the same that was built in the 50s and 60s and that is testament to the quality and versatility of the product.
“People will always want to work in aircraft engineering, so it’s such a useful teaching aid and definitely one of our favourite products.”
Paul Hilton, an RAF pilot during the Second World War, initially built the Ramjet as a prototype for a helicopter. Among the many establishments supplied with the model are Oxford University, University of California Los Angeles, Jordan University of Science and Technology and the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology.
Mark added: “The Ramjet sums up everything that is great about PA Hilton and it’s amazing that so many of our products have lasted for decades in engineering labs across the globe.
“With the 60th anniversary of PA Hilton coming up in a couple of years, we feel immensely proud that this British-made product, and the foundation stone of our business, is still as relevant today as it was more than half a century ago.”
PA Hilton supplies teaching equipment to institutions around the globe, demonstrating a comprehensive range of engineering principles including structures, aerodynamics, refrigeration and forces.