Thrust Area 1: Efficiency
By increasing the efficiency of fluid power in existing and new applications, the ERC will save many billions of dollars in energy, paying for the Center many times over. Improved efficiency will significantly reduce petroleum consumption and pollution. If new fluid power technology could cause a 10 percent improvement in overall fuel consumption for transportation, $24 billion in crude oil would be saved each year
The superior power density of fluid power makes it ideal for regenerative breaking, with field tests showing fuel savings of 25 to 35 percent for trucks. The ERC will develop new, high-density accumulators that will make the regeneration approach feasible for passenger vehicles, resulting in much larger energy savings.
Significant energy savings can also be achieved in the construction, mining, agricultural and industrial sectors.
Research projects
1A.1 Integrated algorithms for optimal energy use in mobile fluid power systems.
1A.2 Optimal power management for mobile fluid power machines using displacement-controlled actuators.
1B EHD effects for adaptive surfaces for pumps and motors.
1D Drag reduction via biomimetric nanosurface features.
1E.1 On/off valve concepts for energy transformation and control.
1E.2 Coupled multi-domain modeling and simulation.
1G Optimized Engineered Fluid
Thrust Fact Sheet
