The Fluid Power Innovation & Research Conference (FPIRC), grown out of a partnership between the National Fluid Power Association (NFPA) and the the Center for Compact and Efficient Fluid Power (CCEFP), is becoming one of best places in the world to learn about the latest fluid power R&D. For years, I’ve said that the U.S. needs […]
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CCEFP update: Varying pump flow rates
There are several hydraulic applications that require varied flow rates. Traditionally, this was achieved by using a fixed-displacement pump and a metering valve that throttles the flow across an orifice. This is an extremely inefficient control method that converts waste energy into heat. A better method of control is to use a variable displacement hydraulic […]
CCEFP update: Hydraulically actuated patient transfer device
One goal of the National Science Foundation’s Engineering Research Center on Compact and Efficient Fluid Power (CCEFP) is to explore how advanced fluid power technology can be used in a wider range of applications. A significant market need has been identified for an improved mobile device for transferring mobility limited people—particularly bariatric patients. Typical transfers […]
CCEFP update: Hydraulics and free piston engines
Contributed by Ke Li, PhD student, University of Minnesota (Advisor: Professor Zongxuan Sun) A conventional mobile fluid power generation system consists of a internal combustion engine (ICE) and a rotational hydraulic pump. An alternative is the use of a free piston engine (FPE)—this eliminates the crankshaft to enable unconstrained piston motion. With a FPE, linear […]
2012 CCEFP Annual Meeting and NFPA Fluid Power Workforce Summit
The Center for Compact and Efficient Fluid Power (CCEFP) will hold their annual meeting in conjunction with the National Fluid Power Association’s Workforce Summit at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, September 24-26, 2012. This event is open to all. It is a great opportunity to hear presentations about fluid power research underway at the University […]
Registration open for NFPA’s Fluid Power Workforce Summit, CCEFP Annual Meeting
Registration is now open for the National Fluid Power Association (NFPA) Workforce Summit and the Center for Compact and Efficient Fluid Power (CCEFP) Annual Meeting.
CCEFP educational outreach results in hydraulic hybrid application for school buses
A project to develop a hydraulic hybrid retrofit of a school bus, led by Dr. Michael Leamy at the Georgia Institute of Technology and his team of undergraduate and graduate engineering students, is yielding impressive results.
CCEFP research aims to reduce friction in fluid power systems
Friction between lubricated surfaces is a principal source of energy losses in fluid power systems—a ubiquitous problem for fluid power users across the industrial spectrum. But thanks to research underway within the Engineering Research Center for Compact and Efficient Fluid Power, that problem is on its way to resolution.
New approaches to noise control from the CCEFP
Besides negatively affecting hearing and impairing effective communication, excessive noise can increase mechanical fatigue and reduce component life. In short, excessive noise detracts from the attractiveness of existing fluid power products and can be an entry barrier for this technology into new markets and applications.
It’s all in the research—catching up with the CCEFP
The Center for Compact and Efficient Fluid Power, now in it’s 5th year, has been a nice success story for the fluid power industry. Funded in part by the National Science Foundation, the Center has among its goals the research and development of efficient components, compact power supplies, and compact energy storage.
