MAHA Fluid Power Research Center
Purdue University
West Lafayette, Indiana, USA

Location Lafayette, Indiana, USA
Responsible Leader: MAHA Professor Monika Ivantysynova
Address 3601 Sagamore Parkway North
Lafayette, Indiana 47904, USA
Telephone number +1 (765) 742 1213
Fax number +1 (765) 742 1217
Email
Internet Site http://pasture.ecn.purdue.edu/~mahalab/

From Editor

International Journal of Fluid Power would like to introduce the fluid power research and education centres with their expertise and particular interests in this column. Jumping from continent to continent we like to offer every research centre the opportunity to present itself.


FLUID POWER RESEARCH CENTRES WORLD-WIDE




Introduction




   Since its founding in 1869, Purdue University has been at the forefront of engineering education and research in the United States. Purdue is one of the largest public universities in the country, with 39,000 students attending the main campus in West Lafayette, Indiana and an additional 30,000 students at other regional campuses and research centers. Purdue offers a wide range of courses of study including management, nursing, pharmacy, science, and liberal arts. However, advancing knowledge in agriculture and engineering has been the university’s main purpose since it was founded almost 140 years ago. The College of Engineering comprises 6,200 undergraduate and 1,950 graduate students in a variety of engineering disciplines. Purdue has a strong tradition of excellence in engineering research and education. The engineering graduate program regularly ranks among the top 10 in the United States, and Purdue alumni fill prominent positions in academia, government and industry.






Research Facilities





Purdue has fluid power research and teaching laboratories in the College of Engineering and the College of Agriculture with six faculty members involved in fluid power research. The facilities and main research areas have been introduced in the Fluid Power Research Centers World-Wide section in the International Journal of Fluid Power 3 (2002) No. 3.


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Fig. 1:  Prof. Ivantysynova and her research team outside the Maha lab entrance

In 2001, Purdue received a $4 million endowment from the estate of Mr. Otto J. Maha for the advancement of fluid power research and education. A professorship was established, and in August 2004 Dr. Monika Ivantysynova joined Purdue as the Otto Maha Named Professor of Fluid Power Systems. She brought several students and much of her test equipment with her to Purdue, forming the heart of the new Maha Fluid Power Laboratory. The Maha lab, under the direction of Dr. Ivantysynova, is Purdue’s premier fluid power research facility and the largest of its kind at any university in the country.
The lab has 950 m2 of floor space, with specialized test rigs for measuring steady state and dynamic performance of pumps and motors, hydrostatic transmissions and linear and rotary actuators. Special test rigs are available for experimental investigations of tribological systems of pumps and motors, measurement of friction forces, temperature distribution and elastohydrodynamic pressure fields in lubricating gaps. The lab also houses several mobile machines for testing novel hydraulic actuators, transmissions and control concepts. A 450 kW central hydraulic power supply unit consisting of five independently controllable pressure compensated pumps has been installed to supply the individual test rigs with low and high pressure. The total installed electric power amounts to 700 kW.

Research at MAHA Lab





The research activities focus on two major areas: (1) advanced energy saving hydraulic actuators and drive systems and (2) the investigation of physical processes in displacement pumps and motors, especially modelling of flow phenomena in narrow lubricating gaps.



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Fig. 2:  MAHA Fluid Power Laboratory



Advanced Energy Saving Hydraulic Actuators
   The aim of this research is to develop new valveless hydraulic actuator concepts, including necessary motion control strategies for different applications to avoid energy dissipation by resistance control. Recently, among others, a new valveless linear actuator has been developed and successfully tested on an off-road vehicle. For large mobile robots displacement controlled joint rotary actuator concepts have been developed and successfully tested using a large laboratory test rig. Current research activities include:



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Fig. 3:  Graduate student Anderson St. Hilaire operates the Joint Integrated Rotary Actuator (JIRA) test rig, demonstrating pump-controlled actuation




Fig. 4: Field testing of a prototype skid-steer loader


Computer Based Pump & Motor Design



   This research focuses on the performance optimization and noise reduction of pumps and motors. These research efforts involve the design of special experimental facilities to develop a fundamental understanding of the complexity of physical effects taking place in displacement machines. One important result of this research on pumps and motors has been the development of the multi-domain simulation program CASPAR. CASPAR represents the first program worldwide, which allows the prediction of flow ripple, instantaneous cylinder pressure, oscillating swash plate forces, gap heights, pressure and temperature fields in lubricating gaps, friction forces and volumetric losses of piston pumps and motors.

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Fig. 5:  CASPAR images showing finite element mesh and pressure distribution








Fig. 6: EHD Pump for measurement of pressure and temperature fields in lubricating gaps







Fig. 7:  Test rig for measurement of elastohydrodynamic (EHD) effects



   Current research activities concentrate on investigating micro and nano-scale flow phenomena and fluid-structure interaction to improve existing mathematical models and to develop methods for surface optimization allowing a further increase in power density and improvements in efficiency and reliability. Further research focuses on modeling fluid and structure borne noise sources allowing the development of model based optimization methods for the reduction of noise emission from pumps and motors.


Drive Line Control and CVT Concepts



   Research in this area centers on investigations concerning the feasibility and performance of alternative drive line technologies for off-road and other vehicles. The aim is to develop system concepts for minimizing exhaust emissions and fuel consumption without limiting the vehicle’s driving power. A special software tool called PSDD has been developed to support virtual prototyping of power split drives and complex multimotor hydrostatic transmissions.

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Fig. 8:  Hardware-in-the-loop test rig for testing drive line control



   The research activities are supported by performance measurements using motor and pump test rigs and a hardware-in-the-loop drive line test rig. Past and current studies include:
  • Virtual prototyping of power split drives
  • Vehicle drive line control towards optimized primary power consumption
  • Advanced system and control strategies for multimotor hydrostatic transmissions
  • Development of generic methods for prognostics of mechatronic systems of off-road vehicles




New Research at ABE Fluid Power Lab





Fluid power research at Purdue University was first covered by the International Journal of Fluid Power in the December 2002 issue (Vol. 3 No. 3). Since then there have been many new developments. The Fluid Power research lab located in the Agricultural & Biological Engineering (ABE) building has been extended, and in 2004 Associate Professor John Lumkes joined the ABE department. In addition to the research topicsdescribed in the previous IJFP article, there are now several interesting new projects under the direction of Dr. Lumkes and Professor Gary Krutz.


Smart Assembly



Imagine hydraulic systems with completely integrated electronics. Sensors, communication buses and electrical power supplies would be built directly into the hydraulic components. Fluid and electrical connectors would be seamlessly integrated together. Systems made of these “smart” components would assemble more quickly, have fewer parts, and could automatically troubleshoot themselves like automobile diagnostic systems. This is Dr. Gary Krutz’s vision for the future of fluid power. His students are currently researching new materials that allow sensor integration, as well as techniques for transmitting DC electric power and CAN data signals through hydraulic hoses.



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Fig. 9: Prototype “smart” hoses with integrated electrical lines for power and data transmission



High Speed Valves




As the fluid power industry transitions toward controlling pumps and motors electrohydraulically, there is an increasing demand for robust, low cost, high bandwidth proportional valves to control pump displacement. Such a valve does not yet exist on the market, but this is about to change. Dr. John Lumkes and Mark Batdorff have developed a high speed valve actuator that promises bandwidths of up to 2000 Hz. A patent has recently been granted for the new actuator concept and prototype testing is under way.


Fluid Power ERC




  On 19 May 2006, the US National Science Foundation announced the creation of the Engineering Research Center (ERC) for Compact and Efficient Fluid Power. The ERC grant totals $21 million, which includes $3.1 million from industry sponsors. Professors from Purdue and six other universities will work together to develop fluid power systems that are more compact, quieter and more efficient. Target applications for the improved technologies include familiar fields such as on-road and off-road vehicles and industrial equipment, as well as new applications like rescue robots, wearable tools and medical devices.
  Professors Monika Ivantysynova, Steven Wereley, Luc Mongeau and Steven Frankel represent Purdue in the new ERC consortium. Research projects funded through the ERC are currently getting underway and promise to soon show exciting new developments for fluid power in the United States.



 

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