News
NEWS ARCHIVE
CCEFP Annual Meeting to take place at FPNI Symposium
May 14, 2010
The 2010 CCEFP Annual Meeting will run concurrently with the 6th Fluid Power Net International PhD Symposium taking place Tuesday, June 15th through Saturday, June 19th at Purdue University, in West Lafayette, Indiana.
CCEFP Annual Meeting events will take place on Monday, June 14th and Tuesday, June 15th prior to the FPNI Symposium kick-off reception. CCEFP presentations during the annual meeting will include those of the four test beds, Systems Engineering, Human Factors, and future plans for the Center, as well as Industry Collaboration and Education & Outreach. Individual research project presentations from the Center will be delivered within the Symposium framework and alongside those of the many other FPNI presentations.
The full FPNI Symposium schedule with a list of all research presentations can be downloaded here.
CCEFP Members can see the separate CCEFP Annual Meeting schedule here.
Registration is available directly through the FPNI Symposium website.
CCEFP Faculty, Students and Staff can find additional registration instructions under the Events tab in the Member's section of our website.
Center Completes 4th Annual NSF Site Visit
May 10, 2010
The CCEFP completed it's 4th NSF site visit following a full day of review by the site visit team. Comprehensive presentations on the Center's four research test beds were given along with reviews of the Center's overall research goals and accomplishments, Education & Outreach programs, and Industrial Collaboration efforts. Graduate students presented detailed posters of the Center's research projects and made short presentations for the site visit team during the poster show.
In addition to the posters, researchers from Georgia Tech brought along a portable version of their excavator simulator allowing users to experience operating an excavator using both traditional and haptic controllers. Representatives from the Science Museum of Minnesota were on hand to provide interactive demonstrations of both their cutaway swashplate pump and their hydro-table. Also on display were several other E&O hands-on displays including the Portable Fluid Power Demonstrator, Regenerative Pedicab, Hydraulic Arm Wrestling Machine, Energy Storing Orthosis, Pneumatic Haptic Interface, Pneumatics Kit, and Hydraulic AFO Simulator. The Center's outreach efforts were well represented by students in the gidaa program from the Albrook School (Cloquet) who attended to showcase their interactive robotics projects.
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Faculty Member to receive Honorary Doctorate
May 13, 2010
CCEFP Faculty and Efficiency Thrust leader Monika Ivantysynova (MAHA named Professor of Fluid Power Systems, Purdue University), will be given an honorary doctorate from Slovak Technical University Bratislava, her alma mater, at the 70th anniversary celebration of the university taking place October 2010.
The Slovak Technical University Bratislava is the largest Technical University in Slovak Republic, located in Bratislava, the capital city. Professor Ivantysynova studied Mechanical Engineering from 1974 to 1979, received her MS degree in 1979 and ultimately her PhD degree in 1983, all from Slovak Technical University Bratislava . When asked about the announcement, Professor Ivanatysynova stated, "The award is a great honour, especially knowing that the honorary doctorate was given to very famous people with great accomplishments."
Congratulations to Professor Monika Ivantysynova on this award!
Researchers win FPMC 2009 Best Paper Award
April 30, 2010
CCEFP researchers Josh Zimmerman and Professor Monika Ivantysynova of Purdue University have won the FPMC 2009 Best paper Award for their paper entitled "Effect of Installed Hydraulic Corner Power on the Energy Consumption and Performance of Multi-Actuator Displacement Controlled Mobile Machines". Josh presented this paper at the 2009 Bath/ASME Symposium on Fluid Power and Motion Control (FPMC 2009), which took place in October in Los Angeles. The award will be officially presented at the 2010 Bath/ASME Symposium on Fluid Power & Motion Control, September 15-17, at the University of Bath, UK. This is the third time the group has received this prestigious award since 2003.
Research for this paper has been funded by the National Science Foundation through the Center for Compact and Efficient Fluid Power (CCEFP).
Georgia Tech Students Win Third Award
April 16th, 2010
CCEFP graduate researchers Nick Earnhart (left) and Ken Marek of Georgia Tech have claimed yet another honor for their poster depicting research on noise control in fluid power. This is the third award the two have garnered for this project. The official announcement follows:
The Georgia Institute of Technology is pleased to announce another poster competition award for Nick Earnhart and Ken Marek. The two placed first in the General Competition at the North Carolina regional Acoustical Society of America Meeting in Raleigh. The competition was open to all topics concerning acoustics, and awarded prizes totaling $2000. The poster was based on their work for Project 3B.1 in the Center for Compact and Efficient Fluid Power and was entitled "Noise Control in Fluid Power: Analytical and Experimental Evaluation of a Hydraulic In-Line Silencer."
You can learn more about the work on Project 3B.1 in the Research section of our website.
Congratulations once more to Nick and Ken!
Students host Interactive Fluid Power exhibit at UIUC Engineering Open House
April 6, 2010
CCEFP students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) hosted an interactive fluid power exhibit during the annual student-led Engineering Open House (EOH), which took place March 12-13. Featured in the display was the CCEFP portable fluid power demonstrator, developed by Dr. John Lumkes and Jose Garcia at Purdue University to educate the public on basic fluid power concepts. Visitors at the open house were given the opportunity to try one of the two demonstrators on hand after receiving a basic lesson on how the hydraulic cylinders worked. During the event, several hundred visitors passed through the CCEFP display ranging for small children to adults. In addition to the demonstrators, research on hydrophobic materials and the fluid power assisted orthosis was presented. CCEFP member company Festo was also on hand at the event and wowed audiences with their pneumatically powered Airmotion_ride driving simulator.
The UIUC Engineering Open House features two days of exciting exhibits and competitions that showcase the talent and ingenuity of engineering students. The exposition attracts thousands of visitors to the Illinois campus each year and stands as the largest event of its kind in the country. EOH brings together students, faculty, and corporate sponsors to feature cutting-edge innovation in the fields of science and technology to inspire the next generation of engineers through engaging hands-on demonstrations.
Georgia Tech Students Win ASA Poster Competition
March 18, 2010
Graduate students Nick Earnhart (left) and Ken Marek (right) were recognized in a Georgia Tech campus competition sponsored by a local chapter of the Acoustical Society of America. Below is the official announcement:
"The Georgia Institute of Technology is pleased to announce that Ken Marek and Nick Earnhart recently placed first overall in the Spring Royster poster competition held by the Georgia Tech Acoustical Society of America (ASA) student chapter. The competition was open to any student, undergraduate or graduate, and awarded prizes totaling $2500 for posters addressing noise control in some form. Ken and Nick submitted their poster, “Noise Control in Fluid Power – Analytical and Experimental Evaluation of a Hydraulic In-Line Silencer,” based on their work for Project 3B.1 in the Center for Compact and Efficient Fluid Power. Ken and Nick will split the first prize award of $1500."
Congratulations to Ken and Nick!
Download the winning poster here in PDF format.
You can find out more about the work on Project 3B.1 in the Research section of our website.
Center Submits 4th Annual Report to NSF
March 17, 2010
CCEFP submitted it's 4th Annual Report to the National Science Foundation on March 16th. The report is a culmination of several months work by Center staff, faculty and students to communicate the previous year's efforts in the areas of our research program and strategy, education and outreach program, industry collaboration, infrastructure, diversity and overall center management. It also includes detailed research and E&O project summaries as well as a list of publications and member-faculty biographies.
The 4th Annual Report will be available for download in the About Us section of our website in the coming days.
Student Published in Tribology and Lubrication Technology
March 8, 2010
José Garcia (Ph.D candidate, Purdue University) was featured in a student focus article in the March 2010 Tribology and Lubrication Technology magazine. The article is entitled "Experimental Measurement of Surface and Fluid Effects on Static Friction for Metal Contacts". Co-authors on the article are Professors Ashlie Martini and John Lumkes. Tribology and Lubrication Technology is widely regarded as THE magazine for researchers and professionals in tribology related fields.
Read the article (located on pages 16-18) here.
Congratulations José!
Partner gidaa Schools Featured in Duluth News Tribune
February 22, 2010
The Duluth News Tribune featured an article on the attendance of local students at the inaugural National Fluid Power Association's National Fluid Power Challenge, hosted by the CCEFP at the University of Minnesota. Some of the students attending were from Cloquet Middle School and AlBrook Middle School, both of which are partners in the CCEFP's gidaa American Indian outreach program.
The Fluid Power Challenge is a skills competition for eighth-grade students intended to expose students and teachers to engineering problem-solving using fluid power technology.
You can read the full article at the Duluth News Tribune website.
Nano-Texturing Research Highlighted
February 22, 2010
Professor Eric Loth of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) along with his research team have created a website to showcase their work in the area of nanocomposite spray coatings. The website is populated with numerous videos that illustrate the results of nano-texturing applied to different surface materials resulting in superhydrophobicity and superoleophobicity. This research is being conducted as part of the CCEFP's Project 1D:Nano-Texturing for Improved Fluid Power Efficiency.
In addition, a video profile of UIUC graduate student Adam Steele highlights some of his Scanning Electron Microscope images of nano-particles as common objects. Adam recently won second place in the Materials Research Society's "Science as Art" competition for some of these fascinating images.
You can see these videos and more at the Nano-Texturing Research Group website.
Finally, an article on the CCEFP's Project 1D:Nano-Texturing for Improved Fluid Power Efficiency at UIUC on nano-texturing of fluid power lines was published in the December issue of Diesel Progress. The article has been made available in PDF format at our Trade Press page.
Read more about the research goals of the Center's Project 1D in our Research section.
Students on Integrated Algorithms project 1A.1 Submit Papers for Conferences
February 17, 2010
Graduate students working on Project 1A.1: Integrated Algorithms for Optimal Energy Use in Mobile Fluid Power Systems at the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign (UIUC) and at the University of Minnesota (UMN), have recently drafted papers for submission at upcoming conferences:
Jon Meyer (UMN) submitted a paper to the 7th International Fluid Power Conference taking place in Aachen, Germany on March 22 - 24. Jon's paper is entitled "Power Management Strategy for a Parallel Hydraulic Hybrid Passenger Vehicle Using Stochastic Dynamic Programming".
Tim Deppen (UIUC) is currently preparing a paper for the 2010 ASME Dynamic Systems and Control Conference in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on September 13-15. Tim's paper will be titled "Predictive Energy Management For Parallel Hydraulic Hybrid Passenger Vehicle".
Read more about the research goals of Project 1A.1 in our Research section.
Jon and Tim are two of many students working on papers for submission at these and other prestigious conferences. All faculty and students of the CCEFP have the opportunity to be recognized for their research efforts by submitting a news item here. -- Ed.
Robotics Curriculum to reach more American Indian Students
February 15, 2010
The CCEFP Education & Outreach Pre-College education program reports several exciting developments in the ongoing partnership with the American Indian educational programs:
Local schools who partner with the gidakiimanaaniwigamig (gidaa) program have launched robotics curriculum in their day curriculum and after-school programs. These programs are currently being taught at the Albrook School and the Ojibwe School. In the future, a community robotics program for youth will be launched as well. Information about the Albrook School's programs can be found at the following links:
Grades 3-4 STEM Lego Robotics
Grades 7-12 STEM After School Robotics
Constructing a Robot blog
The Albrook School, a key partner with CCEFP, is reorganizing to better align with the goal of moving students towards STEM fields. The school is piloting its day-time robotics curriculum and in the future, anticipates a formal cooperation with Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College in which students could earn college course credit for completion of robotics programs. Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College is also in the initial stages of offering a pre-engineering program.
Also of note: The gidakiimanaaniwigamig website has recently undergone a thorough redesign. The updated website includes information on the gidaa camps, science fairs, robotics/fluid power activities and the new manoomin (wild rice) project.
The technology-driven direction taking place in the Cloquet area is directly linked to the Center's relationship with gidaa. The CCEFP's promotion of Robotics curriculum has been key in exposing gidaa students to technology, engineering concepts, the scientific method and critical thinking skills.
Student Leadership Council Update
February 3, 2010
The Student Leadership Council (SLC) recently conducted its annual SWOT analysis. As part of this analysis, the SLC administered a survey to the center students soliciting feedback on their level of satisfaction with the center. These results were then used to improve the identification of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats as well as to highlight possible measures for resolving any noted weaknesses and threats.
Conclusions of the SWOT analysis are submitted to the Center for inclusion the NSF Annual Report along with the Center's response to the analysis. Full results of the SLC SWOT analysis will be available after the Annual Report has been submitted to NSF.
In other SLC news, Ms. Kelly Burgess (MSOE) has been appointed to the position of SLC Executive Committee Representative replacing Mike Rannow, who has given up his position after securing an internship position with one of our CCEFP member companies.
CCEFP Plans for Future Self-Sustainability
January 19, 2010
Like all ERCs, a primary challenge facing the CCEFP is sustainability, or, the continuation of CCEFP research, educational and outreach efforts after NSF funding has ended. We are currently in Year 4 of CCEFP operation. Our core funding for next year and through Year 8 (May 2014) will continue at current levels. Funding will then be reduced to two thirds of this level in Year 9 and one third of this level in Year 10. In Year 11, beginning June 2016, we will no longer receive any NSF or university matching funds.
The sustainability challenge is to continue to operate while being weaned of NSF and university funds. The track record of previous ERCs proves that approximately two thirds of them have successfully made this transition. Previous transitions, however, have always been challenging, requiring difficult choices due to the changing funding picture. The key to success is to anticipate and take actions to counteract the transition early since the funding cutoff is so drastic.
The CCEFP is actively pursuing a plan for the transition to sustainability. We recently created a new part-time position, CCEFP External Funding Director, to develop research funding opportunities and have hired Brad Bohlmann to fill that role. Brad is an excellent choice given his solid track record of attracting external research funding while working in the fluid power industry.
We have also formed the CCEFP Sustainability Task Force to create a plan which will guide us through the transition. The task force will have it's first meeting in late January. Members are:
- Kim Stelson, University of Minnesota, Chair
- Andrew Alleyne, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
- Wayne Book, Georgia Institute of Technology
- Tom Bray, Milwaukee School of Engineering
- Mike Gust, University of Minnesota
- Ed Howe, Enfield Technologies
- Monika Ivantysynova, Purdue University
- Joe Kovach, Parker-Hannifin
- Eric Lanke, National Fluid Power Association
- Lonnie Love, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
- Bill Parks, Deltrol Fluid Products
With these actions it is our goal to establish a clear strategy and move forward confidently into the future of Fluid Power Research.
Center Welcomes External Funding Director
January 6, 2010
The CCEFP would like to welcome Mr. Brad Bohlmann in the newly created position of External Funding Director. Some of you may have met Brad at the 2009 ERC Annual Meeting back in December, shortly after he came on board. However, we'd like to take this opportunity to officially welcome him and tell you all a little more about his background.
Brad received a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Minnesota, a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan-Dearborn, and an MBA from the University of St. Thomas. He has over 25 years experience in a variety of engineering areas including engines, powertrains and fluid power.
As part of the Center's goal for reaching self-sustainability by 2015, Brad's primary role will be identify and secure sources of external funding that will allow the Center to continue after NSF funding ends.
It's terrific to have Brad working with us and we invite you to connect with him and welcome him aboard!
Brad can be contacted directly by email or by phone at (612) 626-1795.
Design News Examines CCEFP Testbeds
December 15, 2009
Design News takes a closer look at the CCEFP Test bed projects in their article entitled "Four Game-Changing Fluid Power Technology Initiatives". Featured in the article are the University of Minnesota's research on a Hydromechanical Transmission (HMT) for the Hydraulic Hybrid Passenger Vehicle testbed and Purdue University's work on variable displacement pumps for the Excavator testbed. Also discussed are the Center's research in the areas of chemofluidic actuation and the development of a novel Free Piston Engine.
Read the full article at the Design News website.
CCEFP Hosts NFPA Fluid Power Challenge
December 10, 2009
The CCEFP hosted the National Fluid Power Association's Fluid Power Challenge, a competition that gets middle school students excited about fluid power. A Workshop Day for the event was held at the University of Minnesota campus on November 5, followed by the Challenge Day on December 10, 2009.
During the Fluid Power Challenge, middle school students learn about fluid power technology (hydraulics and pneumatics) and gain hands-on experience while building a fluid power mechanism with real world applicability. The program is designed to introduce the students, and their teachers, to the world of engineering and fluid power careers.
On Challenge Day, 22 8th-grade teams (four students per team) designed and built fluid power mechanisms that pick an object from one platform, rotate and place it on another. In addition to the number of pick-and-place cycles a school’s machine completes, a review of each team’s design approach, teamwork and portfolio were used in the final evaluation.
A student from a past competition said “This opens up more opportunities for engineering and careers kids aren’t aware of. It’s fun...you get to work with other kids and learn more math and science.”
Through the Challenges, the National Fluid Power Association (NFPA) and the Center for Compact and Efficient Fluid Power (CCEFP) hope to encourage students to select more mathematics and science courses in their high school curricula to keep their options open for technology-based post-secondary studies.
A video of a winning team’s fluid power mechanism in action is available at the Center's YouTube site:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYCHpTo_VDs
To learn more about the NFPA Fluid Power Challenge, please contact Carrie Tatman Schwartz, NFPA Program Manager at (414) 778-3347 or ctschwartz@nfpa.com, National Fluid Power Association, 3333 N. Mayfair Rd., Milwaukee, WI 53222.
New Associated Projects Announced
December 7, 2009
Two new, large-scale CCEFP associated projects have recently been announced:
- The University of Minnesota has been awarded an $8 million wind power research center, funded by the Department of Energy (DOE). The major fluid power component of this project is the development of hydrostatic power transmission technology for wind power, a collaborative effort between the University of Minnesota and Eaton Corporation.
- Vanderbilt University has received a major contract for new research from the Martin Companies to investigate the use of miniaturized fluid power in medical Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) applications. This research will develop miniature MR-compatible fluid-power actuation that offers no distortion to the image. Fluid power is one of only a few forms of actuation that has the potential for 100% MR compatibility.
Current CCEFP research focuses on four test beds spanning five orders of magnitude of power and weight: an excavator, a hydraulic hybrid passenger vehicle, a rescue robot and an orthosis. The Center plans to expand into even larger and smaller applications—wind power in the 1 MW range and medical micro-robots in the micro-watt range. These two new initiatives give us the ability to expand CCEFP research into the larger and smaller regimes.
CCEFP Faculty Member Awarded NSF Major Research Instrumentation Grant
December 1, 2009
CCEFP faculty member Professor Zongxuan "Sunny" Sun (University of Minnesota) was recently awarded an $800,000 NSF MRI (Major Research Instrumentation) grant. The grant will enable CCEFP to construct a hydrostatic dynamometer. Because of the superior power to weight ratio of hydraulics, a hydrostatic dynamometer will have a much lower moment of inertia than a conventional electric dynamometer. This allows the hydrostatic dynamometer to have a higher speed-of-response allowing it to simulate realistic engine transients. Understanding how an engine behaves during these rapid transients will provide important unknown information on fuel economy and emissions. The hydrostatic dynamometer will be an essential research tool for optimizing the control approach for the Hydraulic Hybrid Passenger Vehicle (HHPV) test bed.
Paper Wins Honors in Malaysia
November 13, 2009
University of Minnesota Ph.D. candidate Lei Tian attended the 2009 Small Engine Technology Conference (SETC) in Penang, Malaysia where he received the High Quality Paper award for his paper entitled "Miniature HCCI Free-Piston Engine Compressor for Orthosis Application". Only 9 such awards were given out of 110 papers submitted at the conference.
Since the first event in 1989, the Small Engine Technology Conference (SETC) continues to be the international technology conference for small engines and related products. SETC is jointly sponsored each year by the Society of Automotive Engineers of Japan, Inc. (JSAE) and SAE International. SETC 2009 was held on November 3-5, 2009.
Co-Authors on the paper are University of Minnesota Professors David Kittleson and William Durfee.
2009 Annual Meeting Report
November 5, 2009
The 2009 CCEFP Annual Meeting took place October 7-9 at the Alumni Foundation Center of North Carolina A&T State University. Over 130 members including 25 industry representatives were on hand to witness the presentations and participate in the poster shows and breakout sessions. This was the first year of a new format that included breakout sessions of smaller groups that enabled participants to more easily discuss the topic and ask questions.
Attendees took a tour of some of the engineering facilities on the campus, which included the labs used by CCEFP students and faculty. In the labs focusing on human machine interface, we were given a demonstration of some of the work being done on interaction with the excavator and rescue robot test beds. Students were able to demonstrate their analysis of the tasks involved in driving an excavator and showed a simulation of a virtual excavator being operated with a Phantom controller. Also on display were some of the impressive facilities used for material science and material testing, including lab space for the new Center for Advanced Materials and Smart Structures. Other highlights of the tour included research on driving simulations, air traffic control interfaces, augmented reality, military task allocation, and flow visualization.
Following Thursday’s dinner banquet, attendees were treated to a cultural performance of West African traditional dancing as performed by NCAT’s own E. Gwynn Dancers. The group consists of approximately 20 NCAT students studying traditional African dance under the direction of Dr. Eleanor Gwynn. While part of the group, students have the opportunity to travel to Africa to learn dance techniques first hand from traditional performers. Attendees at Thursday’s dinner witnessed three distinct dances and were even encouraged to join in on for the last dance. A fair number of CCEFP members were good sports and heeded the call of the dancers to take part.
Note: Members can login to access presentations and posters from this year's meeting under the Downloads menu.
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CCEFP Student wins Best Presentation Award
November 3, 2009
Georgia Institute of Technology graduate student Ken Marek's presentation “Numerical model for a hydraulic in-line silencer,” was selected as the best student presentation by the ASA Noise Technical Committee at the 158th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, in San Antonio, TX, which took place October 26-30, 2009. Co-authors on the paper include Nick Earnhart and Professor Ken Cunefare.
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| Ken Marek | Prof. Ken Cunefare | Nick Earnhart |
Title: Numerical Model for a Hydraulic In-line Silencer
Abstract: It is proposed that an in-line hydraulic silencer with a particular engineered lining can provide an effective alternative to other current silencing technologies. As a first step in validating this hypothesis, and to help with the design process, a numerical model is developed for a hydraulic silencer. The silencer consists of an annular dispersive medium with a rigid outer boundary, where fluid flow is directed through the annulus. Silencer characteristics, including input port impedance and acoustic transmission loss, are predicted by this model. Effects of silencer geometry and material properties, including nonlinearities, are discussed.
CCEFP Announces New Administrative Director
October 30, 2009
The CCEFP would like to welcome Lisa Wissbaum as it's new Administrative Director. Lisa is a graduate of the University of Minnesota, with an MPA (Master of Public Affairs) from the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute and a concentration in economic and community development.
Lisa has prior NSF experience in that she managed an NSF nanotechnology grant at the University of Minnesota's Institute of Technology from 2005-2008. From 2008 – fall, 2009, she coordinated industry/academic workshops, the annual meeting, and handled administrative details for UMN’s Industrial Partnership for Research in Interfacial and Materials Engineering (IPrime).
Lisa also has extensive experience in industry account, project, personnel, and University budget management. Prior to 2005, she worked in travel management with Navigant International (recently acquired by Carlson Companies) where she focused on the overall travel needs of corporate clients, including the implementation of new technology, procurement, and travel policy management.
Lisa's combination of University and industry experience provides skills and understanding to improve the Center for Compact and Efficient Fluid Power’s administrative efficiency and effectiveness.
Lisa can be contacted directly by email or by phone at 612-624-4993.
Welcome aboard Lisa!
Web Developer Highlights CCEFP Website Re-Design
September 29, 2009
Minneapolis web development firm August Ash, Inc, featured the CCEFP website creation project in their September newsletter. The article details the process undertaken to create a new look and better functioning website for the Center. Read about this project.
Purdue Student Receives Mentoring Award
September 15, 2009
Congratulations to Jose Garcia, who received the Purdue “2009 Graduate Mentor of the Summer” award, for his outstanding mentoring and support of the 2009 REU participants working in the ABE fluid power lab. He was nominated by Nikki Shrank and Phong Pham, two of the Purdue CCEFP REU students.
More coverage of CCEFP's Hydro-Mechanical Transmission in Diesel Progress Magazine
September 24, 2009
The October '09 issue of Diesel Progress features an article by Amanda Bothe on CCEFP's HMT research taking place at the University of Minnesota under Professor Perry Li. Professor Li is interviewed extensively for the article which can be downloaded in PDF format here.
Today's Fluid Power Magazine Features CCEFP Hydraulic Hybrid Passenger Vehicle
September 23, 2009
The CCEFP HHPV project is currently featured in the latest issue of Today's Fluid Power. Read the article online at the Today's Fluid Power website. Coverage begins on page 19.
CCEFP Hydraulic Hybrid Passenger Vehicle research featured in Hydraulics & Pneumatics Magazine
August 3, 2009
Professor Perry Li, Co-Director of the center and head researcher on test bed 3 (Hydraulic Hybrid Car) was interviewed for an article on hydraulic drivetrains by Hydraulics and Pneumatics magazine. Also featured in the article was work done in this area by CCEFP member companies Bosch Rexroth, Parker Hannifin, and Eaton Corporation.
Read the full article at the Hydraulics & Pneumatics website.
CCEFP Launches New Website!
March 12, 2009
Welcome to the new look of the Center for Compact and Efficient Fluid Power!
Our new website is designed to make navigation much easier and intuitive for a wide variety of users. It is designed with both Center members and the general public in mind. A revised layout makes finding information about our research and initiatives even easier. We’ve also adopted a much cleaner design and added animation to the home page and testbed pages for some extra punch.
In addition to the new look and feel of the site, we are also proud to introduce some new features including a search box in the navigation bar, the Highlights media center with videos and a photo album, an active Calendar and Events section, access to Sakai, our online collaboration tool, as well as a whole new member’s section with several features of its own.
After creating a new account, current members will now enjoy access to a Discussion Forum, a Downloads section where regularly used files and templates will be available, and an archive of the very popular and informative Webcast series. There is also a Boarding Pass section to get brand new members up to speed when they first join the Center.
As with any new site, some of the features are still being refined and we plan to continuously add new content and revise older content over the next several weeks. Please bear with us as we continue to improve the site, but feel free to comment on what’s already here and let us know what you think!
Start your tour of the new site right here.
If you have comments or questions about the new site, please contact Don Haney, CCEFP Communications Director, at 612-624-4957 or hane0001@umn.edu.
2008 CCEFP Student Retreat is another great success!
Over 20 students welcomed five representatives from industry to participate in this year's retreat which was held August 7 - 9 at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. The theme of the retreat was Industry-Student Engagement.
The CCEFP SLC had many activities planned during the event such as a SLC overview of what has been accomplished and goals for the future. A "speed-meeting" session between industry and students which allowed for more one-to-one discussion, followed by a perfect evening for an outdoor barbecue along with fun and games! Industry's participation concluded with an open mic discussion on how students and industry can be more engaged, such as stronger collaboration with research project champions to student internships to full-time employment opportunities. Industry gave an informal presentation on hot topics within the field and welcomed student feedback and inquires. Other items on the agenda were beautiful campus tours, a formal SLC meeting and a FIRST Pneumatics Outreach activity.
A warm thank you to our industry representatives who attended the meeting, a hearty congratulations to the SLC for another fine retreat, and to UIUC for kindly hosting this event!
CCEFP 2008 Annual Meeting held at MSOE
The Center held its 2nd Annual Meeting at the Milwaukee School of Engineering, May 28 - 30, 2008. The agenda included a warm greeting from Hermann Viets, President of MSOE and Tom Bray, Dean of Applied Research. Professor Kim Stelson, Director of the CCEFP welcomed over 165 industry members, faculty, staff and students.
Throughout the two and one-half day meeting all research and education projects were presented. Project presentations were informative and clearly articulated progress to this point and anticipated future work. The audience was also given an opportunity to exchange dialogue with the presenters during the question and answer sessions.
Positive critique and inquisitive questions sparked further conversation into the Student Poster Session and Reception, where all students were invited to present their research within the CCEFP. The poster session allowed for more in-depth discussions with individuals on both sides of the show.
A highlight of this year1s meeting was the Industry and Student Dinner Dine-Around. Seven industry members sponsored a dinner for students and industry to mingle together in a light-hearted atmosphere. We would like to thank the following industry members for sponsoring that event: Evonik Rohmax USA, Inc., Eaton Corporation, Gates, HUSCO, Parker Hannifin, RT Dygert and Sauer-Danfoss.
2008 Annual Meeting 52008 Annual Meeting 6Another new program agenda item was a servo-valve coloring book exercise presented by Roz Dolid of MTS. Meeting participants woke early to enjoy bacon and eggs along with a lesson on the fluid flow in a servo-valve. Following the coloring book activity, the meeting resumed with additional research and test bed presentations. Mr. Mike Gust of the CCEFP presented valuable information on intellectual property and the roles of the Center in relationship to its industry members. Prof. Will Durfee presented the Center1s education and outreach initiatives. The Milwaukee School of Engineering kindly hosted a reception at the new Grohmann Museum where attendees were able to view the rooftop sculpture garden that rose high above the building that housed many forms of industrial artwork.
The concluding day of the meeting allowed for advisory boards to meet together in person to share thoughts and have discussions on the Center for Compact and Efficient Fluid Power. A highly anticipated panel discussion lead by industry representatives on their personal careers paths and guidance for our future fluid power academics and industrial leaders prompted much discussion between the panel and students in the audience. This year's meeting was very fruitful and sparked more enthusiasm among the CCEFP leadership, students and the Center1s industry members. The Center invited the members of the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) who serves as an external committee to review and evaluate the Center in its current state. The Center continues to welcome feedback on its strategic direction through the SAB and its industrial partners.
FIRST Robotics Competition Team
The CCEFP sponsored a team of 20 high school students from the Fond du Lac Indian Reservation community in the midwest regional FIRST Robotics competition held at Williams Arena March 27-29.
FIRST stands for "For the Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology", and the competition was the first of its kind ever held on the University campus.
The competition started with a 15-second programmed run around the track which each robot made unassisted. Next, the robots earned points by hoisting balls over a ladder in the middle of the track and then crossing a finish line.
After the initial round of robotic competition, alliances were formed between two or three robot groups to create teams. Groups forming the team alliances exchanged and combined strategies to develop the most efficient means of competing with other teams. The team with the most points after the match ended went on to further competition with the top rated alliance traveling to Atlanta next month for the national championships.
The CCEFP sponsored and mentored the anishinaabeg ogichidaag FIRST Robotics Team formed by students from a group of schools near Cloquet, MN. As first-time competitors, they were excited to be part of the event, and they came away from the experience with a greater understanding of how to succeed in future competition.
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