New to the NFPA Fluid Power Vehicle Challenge this year is an organized mentoring program. The competition challenges college engineering students to redesign a traditional bicycle using hydraulics as the mode of power transmission.
Each university Vehicle Challenge team worked with an assigned NFPA industry member mentor. The teams get competition points for checking in with their mentor at least four times throughout the program and submitting a summary of their discussion. Mentors help with things like vehicle bike design and schematics, component selection, assembly questions, and final adjustments before the competition. They can also be judges at the competition. This new program is providing much-needed resources and advice to the teams while giving industry members access to very creative engineering students.
NFPA’s workforce strategy is to help increase the number of university students educated in fluid power and connect them to NFPA member companies and careers in the fluid power industry. The Vehicle Challenge is increasing the number of students learning about fluid power and connecting those students to industry.
This year’sVehicle Challenge sponsors are Bimba, Eaton, Lube-Tech, Parker Hannifin and SunSource.
The opportunity to mentor and/or judge a Fluid Power Vehicle Challenge is reserved for Silver and Gold Pascal donors. For more information, please contact Lynn Beyer at lbeyer@nfpa.com or (414) 778-3364.
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