Center for Compact and Efficient Fluid Power
at Georgia Tech
Projects and Testbeds
The table below provides a list of CCEFP projects with active contributors at Georgia Tech.| Project | Description | Faculty Member | Students |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2E: Component Integration for Compact Fluid Power Systems | The goal of the project is to reduce significantly the time and effort required to formulate and solve systems engineering problems for compact and efficient fluid-power systems. To achieve this, analysis knowledge about fluid power components from multiple disciplinary perspectives and multiple levels of abstraction will be captured and organized in a modular, object-oriented knowledge repository using a standardized language (SysML), and synthesis knowledge about fluid power systems will be captured in the form of model transformations. A systems engineering method and software framework will be developed in which the synthesis and analysis knowledge from the repository is used to explore efficiently and comprehensively large spaces of system architectures, with the goal to improve the compactness and efficiency of fluid-power systems while balancing other system objectives such as effectiveness, cost, and reliability. | Chris Paredis |
Aleksander Kerzhner Roxanne Moore Aditya Shah |
| 2G: Fluid-Powered Surgery & Rehabilitation via Compact, Integrated Systems | The goal of this project is to extend fundamental understanding of theunique characteristics of fluid power that enable precise machines towithstand intense magnetic fields. Toward this end, we will developcompact systems where cylinders, valves, and sensors are no longerindependent entities assembled together, but are a single integratedsystem that can be manufactured simultaneously. Magnetic ResonanceImaging (MRI) compatible devices are the perfect focusing applicationfor this research. In surgery MRI provides exquisite soft tissueresolution, but robots are required to effectively make intraoperativeuse of this information. In rehabilitation, functional MRI (fMRI)offers the unique ability to visualize brain activity during therapy.Fluid power is an essential enabler in both contexts, becausetraditional electromagnetic actuators fail (or cause artifacts in)intense magnetic fields. This project is collaboration with theVanderbilt University. At Georgia Tech, a fluid-powered hapticinterface will be developed with MRI-compatible force and displacementsensors. A robust feedback controller will be implemented to achievesatisfactory performance under the delay of air pressure control dueto the use of long hoses between the MRI laboratory and control room. | Jun Ueda | Melih Turkseven |
| 3A.1: Multimodal Human Interfaces to Hydraulic Equipment | Operator effectiveness will be enhanced for existing and newly emerging fluid actuated devices through user interfaces that take advantage of multiple sensing and display modalities and control technologies incorporating Augmented Reality (AR), shared human/computer control and actuator control algorithms to enhance devices operational effectiveness. The effectiveness will be verified with user studies on simulations, physical experiments and CCEFP test beds. In conjunction with the development process, relevant models of operator-machine interaction will be developed, verified and used. Prediction of task needs and performance for new devices will thereby be enabled. | Wayne Book |
Hannes Daepp Mark Elton Heather Humphreys Longke Wang |
| 3B.1: Passive Noise Control | This project seeks to develop novel materials and methods for control of fluid-borne, structure-borne, and air-borne noise from fluid power systems. One objective of the Center is to develop applications for fluid power in non-traditional settings, several of which have far more stringent expectations for quiet operation as compared to industrial use. The project has developed a silencer and acoustic filter technology that holds the potential for size reductions of 2 to 3 orders of magnitude as compared to current technologies, reduced maintenance costs, and reduced complexity for manufacturing. The project has filed 7 patent disclosures to date. | Ken Cunefare |
Nick Earnhart Ken Marek |
| 3D.1: Leakage Reduction in Fluid Power Systems | The general goal of this project is the development of realistic numerical models of the seals and seal systems used in fluid power systems, which would be capable of predicting the key seal performance characteristics, especially seal leakage and friction, and serve as design tools. A further aim is to develop a fundamental understanding of the physics of sealing through the model development. Thus far, several numerical models have been developed: a steady-state model, an elastic transient model, and a viscoelastic transient model. These have been used to simulate various seals in an injection molding application and in a high pressure, high frequency actuator application. Results have shown that mixed lubrication occurs in the seal-rod interface, and that seal roughness plays an important role in seal performance, as does viscoelasticity. | Richard Salant |
Azam Thatte Yu Li Huang |
| 3D.2: Liquid Property Investigations Applied to Hydraulics at High Pressure -- New Directions in Elastohydrodynamic Lubrication to Solve Fluid Power Problems | This research will continue to provide measurements of the rheology of model lubricants and hydraulic fluids to the members of the Center for the purpose of simulation and analysis. The project will conduct the research necessary to transform elastohydrodynamics into a practical quantitative field. The work includes fundamental material property measurements and correlations along with numerical simulations for comparison with measured tribological performance. An essential part of this program involves collaboration with partners around the world who have been willing to provide an enormous amount of the effort. This program, in two years, has made substantial progress and the models that have been developed here have been employed in other laboratories to begin to transform the field of elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) into a quantitative science. | Scott Bair | Adam Young |
| Testbed 4: Fluid-Powered Rescue Robot |
Human scale fluid powered equipment exists only to a limited
degree and with limited functionality. The large forces possible from fluid
power could provide dramatic advancements in applications ranging from
agriculture to construction to emergency response, particularly if it were
compact, efficient and easy to use. The CCEFP Strategic Plan identifies the
following challenges at this power level:
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Wayne Book |
Hannes Daepp |
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