Cleveland Community College, Illinois Institute of Technology, and Purdue University are the recipients of the spring 2012 semester gifts from the NFPA Education and Technology Foundation. Each gift will help strengthen interest in fluid power on their campuses and help the Foundation in its efforts to attract some of the best and brightest students to our field. The Foundation has awarded 21 gifts and one grant to 16 schools to date. These awards align with our strategy to bring fluid power to as many students as possible through our growing list of educator members.
Following are brief overviews of each project:
Cleveland Community College--Fluid Power in Automation
By Professor Mark Gengler
The goal of this project is to develop industry-specific, high skill level training components for a credit course at the two-year college level for automation application in the fluid power industry. Measurable objectives for the project include the following:
Objective 1: By March 2012, complete four unique industry assessments using resources through the
NFPA and the Automation Federation
Objective 2: By May 2012, develop the course “Fluid Power in Automation”
Objective 3: By September 2012, receive approval to offer the course from the accrediting body of the College and the NC Community College System
Objective 4: Offer the course in Spring 2013 semester with a minimum of 10 students enrolled. Course will be offered through synchronous and asynchronous methods.
Intended benefits of the project are to develop and provide industry-specific training in fluid power applications in automation systems. Consequences include an increased interest and application of fluid power in automation systems and the project will act as a foundation for future courses to be developed with similar concepts.
Illinois Institute of Technology--Multiple Configuration Hybrid Hydraulic Transmission Demonstrator
By Professor Jose Garcia
The goal of this project is to design and build a test setup to show students diverse alternatives for hybrid vehicle propulsion using fluid power technology. Specifically, this project seeks to build a demonstration setup that can be electronically controlled to replicate a scale model of a series or parallel hydraulic drive train.
The project will start in January 2012 and end in December 2012. Milestones are as follows:
February 1 – Design of demonstrator frame
March 1 – Component sizing and selection
April 15 – Purchasing of components
May 1 – Completion of demonstrator frame
July 1 – Assembly of components
September 1 – Testing and troubleshooting
Purdue University--Test Bench for Energy Efficient Active Oscillation Damping on Mobile Hydraulic Machines
By Professor Andrea Vacca
The gift will permit the completion of an existing experimental apparatus that will not only better expose students to fluid power related topics, but also captivate students on advanced issues related to control of hydraulic systems.
The goal of this project is to expose Purdue students to the following aspects of valve controlled hydraulic systems:
a) Understand the function and operation of flow control pressure control valves according to different basic layouts of valve controlled systems: open circuits, load-sensing configurations, additional anti-saturation features
b) Understand the dynamic behavior of control valves and their inherent instabilities
c) Understand the typical solutions to prevent system oscillations (capacitive and resistive elements introduced in pilot lines, preset pressure of counterbalance valves, etc.)
d) Understand and quantify the energy losses associated with solutions in c) above
e) Understand and quantify the sources of oscillations in mobile machines (related to hydraulic systems and load oscillations)
f) Understand the potentials of different electrohydraulic control strategies
g) Understand the research component of the project: development of adaptive control strategies aimed to damp system oscillations with reduced energy dissipations. Potentials of different feedback signals for the closed loop control (the case of accelerometers and pressure sensors)
Additional information about the spring 2012 semester gifts and previously awarded gifts can be found at http://www.nfpafoundation.org/Grants/CurrentProjects.aspx. If you would like to learn more about the gift program, please contact Sue Chase at (414) 778-3376 or schase@nfpa.com.