Fluid Power Research Group, DIMEC, Department of Mechanical and Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering in Modena, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena - Italy
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Fluid Power Research Group, DIMEC, Department of Mechanical and Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering in Modena, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena - Italy |
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| Location | Modena, Italy |
| Contact Person | Prof. Giuseppe Cantore |
| Address | DIMEC
University of Modena and Reggio Emilia Via Vignolese 905/b 41110 Modena, Italy |
| Telephone number | +39 059 2056149 |
| Fax number | +39 059 2056126/29 |
| cantore@unimo.it | |
| Internet Site | http://www.ing.unimo.it |
The Faculty of Engineering in Modena is hosting about 3000 undergraduate students, it receives about 600 new students per year, and it graduates about 100 engineers per year. At today, the Faculty gives to stu-dents the possibility to achieve the degree in Mechanical Engineering, in Materials Engineering, in Ambient Engineering, in Informatics Engineering, in Telecommunications Engineering and in Electronics Engineering.
The Department of Mechanical and Civil Engineering, started up the 1st of January 2002 and collecting all researchers on the areas of industrial design and process, fluid power systems and components, internal combustion engines, ambient and civil engineering, is one of the three technical research centers located in Modena, in the new buildings close to the Faculty of Engineering.
The years 1993-1995 were spent to organize the research staff and, thanks to the financial support of some local Industrial Associations (small and middle enterprises), the first studies on the steady-state and transient behavior of hydraulic machines and components were completed.
Among other activities, particular attention was devoted to the organization and the implementation of a Fluid Power Lab in DemoCenter, actually named Center for the Development of Oil-Hydraulic Application.
In 1995 Prof. Massimo Borghi joined the research group, enlarging its field of interest to the design of volumetric machines (in particular of external gears pump and motors and of swash plate axial piston pumps) and of hydraulic valves.
From the 1995 Prof. Cantore and Prof. Borghi activated a still living research cooperation with the CE-MOTER-CNR of Ferrara, in order to develop new skills in the field of the numerical analysis of the internal flows (CFD) and in the field of the dynamic behavior of hydraulic systems submitted to fast transient.
In 1996 Dr. Enrico Mattarelli terminated his 3 years PhD course and became a staff member as a researcher. Actually he is Associate Professor, and his research activity deals mainly with the analysis and the design of intake and exhaust manifolds of internal combustion engine.
In 1999 Dr. Massimo Milani became a staff member as a researcher, after a three year PhD period spent between Modena and Ferrara.
From 1999 till today the research activity of the group has been extended to the analysis and the design of the onboard vehicle hydraulic circuits and components, which today spans from the study of Common Rail Injection Systems (Diesel and Gasoline) to the analysis of Lubricating Systems or to the design of the hydraulic circuit for the gear shift control in a F1 car.
Actually the research team is formed by:
At present we have 8 graduate students involved in our research programs, and two PhD students directly supported by industries.
Due to its network-based organization, the University has two Faculties of Engineering (the first, and older, located in Modena, the second one in Reggio Emilia) which offer an industrial oriented student career, and host specific courses in the field of the Fluid Power.
More in detail, the Faculty of Engineering in Modena offers to the student in Mechanical and Mate-rials Engineering the following courses:
1. Energy Conversion Systems A, which introduces the basic elements about steam power plants, steam turbines, centrifugal pumps and volumetric pumps;
2. Energy Conversion Systems B, which introduces the basic elements about gas-turbine power plants, gas-turbines for aeronautics applications and internal combustion engines;
3. Mechanical Measurements, particularly oriented to the analysis of the measure chain of a Fluid Power System;
4. Internal Combustion Engines, covering and detailing different design aspects regarding the two and four stroke engines, both Diesel and Spark Ignition ones;
5. Hydraulics and Pneumatics, which introduces to the study of systems and circuits, and details the most important features and design aspects of volumetric machines and components;
6. Cogenerative Power Plants, particularly devoted to the analysis of industrial cogeneration systems;
7. Energy Conversion Systems and Hydraulics, which spans from the analysis of steam and gas-turbine power plants to the study of common industrial hydraulic applications.
For graduated people the Faculty of Engineering in Modena offers a PhD Course in Materials Engineering, which presents, in the field of Material for Mechanical Application, a career in Fluid Power Systems.
The DIMEC is also affiliated to the DIEM of the University of Bologna into the organization of the PhD Course in Fluid Power Machines and Power Plants, which includes a specific career in Fluid Power Appli-cations.
Finally, some of our graduate student spent with us a period (one to two years) as applied researcher, with the financial support of a contract signed between the DIMEC and an Industry involved in a Joint Program Research Project.
By a general point of view, our research activities could be classified in four main themes, namely:
This activity, initiated by Prof. Borghi at the end of the 80sī, has received a strong impulse with the start of the still living research cooperation with the CASAPPA SpA (1995 - today), one of the more important Italian manufacturer in this field.
More in details, the scope of this branch of research is the development and the tailoring of CAD/CAE instruments for the design of external gear pumps and motors, both traditional and with hydraulic balancing.
At this stage, the CAD/CAE tools allows to determine (for the entire field of application of the machine) the pressure variation in sealed spaces, the total radial load applied to gears, the eccentric working position of gears, the total leakage flowrates, the machine volumetric efficiency, the pressure overshoot occurring in the space between the teeth in contact and the pressure distribution in the lateral clearance between gears and balancing bearing blocks.
Moreover, the group participate actively to the planning and to the development of experimental activities and test benches, both for standard characterization of machines behavior and for the analysis of their particular dynamics.
At now the research activity is concentrated on the development and the optimization of a simulation tool able to predict the metering characteristics of proportional open center distributors equipped with metering notches. This activity, supported by the Hydrocontrol S.p.A., involves also the design and the development of experimental tests, particularly devoted to the determination of the flowforces acting on the spools of these distributors, and to the definition of the effect on this forces of the metering area consequent to a multiple notches configuration.
The research activity in the field of the hydraulic component design is partly dedicated also to the determination of the locking force acting on spool, and to the definition of the optimal design of the balancing grooves for the radial load compensation.
Started in 1996 thanks to the support of the researchers of the CEMOTER-CNR, this research activity has been developed with the aim of studying the correlation existing between velocity field, pressure distribution and flow forces consequent to the fluid flow into the internal geometries of hydraulic components.
The analysis, developed and tailored through a step by step experimental validation, is performed both using a 2D approach, and analyzing the efflux characteristics in more complex and detailed 3D models.
Starting from 2001, part of the research activity regarding the CFD application is spent to develop a 1D and a 2D codes for the analysis of multi-phase multi-component flows in simplified geometries.
The target is to tailor a CAE instrument for the design and the optimization of injector holes and for injection nozzles, starting from a more detailed description of the efflux of a fluid submitted to relevant pressure drops and taking into account for the cavitation phenomena.
The research cooperation, terminated in 2001, allowed to develop the circuit evolutions and the actuators re-design, and to tailor some new control strategies to be applied to the servo-valves, to obtain an improvement of the performances and a better control of the gears selection systems.
Part of the activity of the year 2001 was spent to model and to analyse the dynamic behavior of a common rail injection system equipping a 4 cylinder turbo-charged Diesel Engine. This activity, carried out in cooperation with the DIEM of the University of Bologna and the VM Motori S.p.A., was focused on the analysis of the dynamics of a 1st Generation Common Rail Injector and of the dynamic interaction of the 4 injectors with the hydraulic power node, by varying the rail pressure and the control strategies applied by the ECU to the systems.
Contemporarily, in cooperation with the VM Motori S.p.A., during the year 2001 the Fluid power research group in Modena created and tailored a 1D model for the dynamic behavior analysis of the lubricating circuit of a 4 cylinder turbo-charged Diesel Engine.
Finally, in the second part of 2001 a still living research cooperation with the Ferrari GES S.p.A. has been started, for the analysis of the dynamic behavior and the optimization of the design of a high pressure gasoline common rail injection system.