The National Fluid Power Association (NFPA) has announced the winners of its 2022 Fluid Power Vehicle Challenge. Iowa State University and Cleveland State University were named Overall Champion of the event.
For the 2022 challenge, two competitions were held to reach more students and industry members. Danfoss Power Solutions and Norgren hosted the events which took place April 20-22 and April 27-29.
Winners at the Danfoss-hosted event were:
- Overall Champion: Iowa State University
- 2nd Place: Murray State University
- 3rd Place: University of Cincinnati
Winners at the Norgren-hosted event were:
- Overall Champion: Cleveland State University
- 2nd Place: University of Akron
- 3rd Place: Arizona State University
NFPA says the 2022 Fluid Power Vehicle Challenge had its largest attendance to date with close to 250 university and industry participants. The association notes in its press release announcing this year's champions that the event highlighted use of pneumatics and electronics in addition to traditional hydraulic systems in the various teams' designs.
Prizes were given out honoring innovative use of pneumatics and electronics in the students' vehicle designs:
- Best Use of Pneumatics - Sponsored by Norgren: Murray State University and California Polytechnic State University
- Innovative Use of Electronics - Sponsored by IFP Motion Solutions Inc.: University of Cincinnati and Purdue University
What is the Fluid Power Vehicle Challenge?
Per the NFPA, its Fluid Power Vehicle Challenge is a competition that combines two technology platforms that are not normally associated with one another—human-powered vehicles and fluid power. The former is in the form of a bicycle which is generally seen as an efficient means of transport.
Students are challenged to create a fluid power-based vehicle that must include the following design elements:
- an accumulator for storing energy
- an electronic control system for the vehicle
- regeneration technology.
Combining human-powered vehicles with fluid power technology provides an opportunity for students to flex their engineering skills as well as learn more about fluid power components and systems.
Teams participating in the challenge design and build their fluid power-based vehicles which then partake in three races. NFPA industry sponsors, judges and mentors provide guidance to the student teams throughout the process. At the final events each team gives a presentation about its vehicle construction, testing and lessons learned says NFPA in its press release. Teams also meet individually with industry judges to have their designs assessed.
