The CCEFP recently announced that the National Science Foundation (NSF) Emerging Frontiers in Research & Innovation (EFRI) program will fund $30,000,000 in soft robotics. The topic area of Continuum, Compliant, and Configurable Soft Robotics (C3 SoRo) will award 15 proposals of approximately $2,000,000 each over four years. The NSF EFRI program seeks proposals with transformative […]
CCEFP
CCEFP Update: MEMS technology helping to create micro-pneumatic valves
Reducing size and energy consumption is paramount in most any-market application today, particularly in orthoses, which require compact power and control. To this end, a novel miniature proportional valve for controlling airflow in pneumatic systems is being developed at the University of Minnesota. The valve is expected to require two orders of magnitude, less power […]
NFPA launches giving society to support education, research
In more exciting news this week, The National Fluid Power Association’s Education and Technology Foundation announced that it has launched a new annual giving society to increase support for fluid power education and research. Named after Blaise Pascal, the French mathematician, physicist and inventor whose famous law describes the fundamental principle that gives fluid power its […]
Researchers develop fully pneumatic neurosurgical robot
A team of researchers affiliated with the Center for Compact and Efficient Fluid Power has developed a fully pneumatic surgical robot designed to aid with delicate surgeries that require the use of magnetic resonance imaging. The most obvious and most important challenge to overcome was to ensure that the device is safe for the patient. […]
Researchers develop high inertance liquid piston engine compressor
Last October, a U.S. patent was issued for a device developed by researchers affiliated with the Center for Compact and Efficient Fluid Power. The device, a free piston engine compressor, directly converts hydrocarbon fuel to compressed air and can be used to power new portable technologies that use pneumatic actuators. “There really wasn’t much guidance […]
CCEFP Annual Meeting and ASME/Bath Symposium on FPMC
The NSF Center for Compact and Efficient Power (CCEFP) is partnering with the ASME/Bath 2013 Symposium on Fluid Power & Motion Control* and will host the most innovative minds in fluid power at its upcoming annual conference in Sarasota, Florida, October 9 – 11, 2013. Join us to learn the latest in creative solutions to […]
Micro-excavator a powerful fluid power teaching tool
A micro-excavator, powered by water hydraulics or pneumatics and small enough to fit in a hand-carried storage bin, provides an exciting new platform for increasing understandings of the importance of fluid power as well as insights into the technology itself.
2011 in review
When 2011 started, I would have expected that the triennial IFPE show would have been the talk of the year. And the show was an impressive one, with more than 400 exhibitors, 100,000+ attendees at the combined co-located shows (including CONEXPO and CON/AGG) and a wonderful technical conference. But what I find perhaps most significant for the industry was how three of the main fluid power organizations came together in a joint effort to discuss efficiency.
Compact rescue robot climbs onto the stage
The Compact Rescue Robot, represents applications in the 100W to 1 kW range, roughly human scale applications.
New offices for CCEFP
After 5 years housed just off-campus at the University of Minnesota, the Center for Compact and Efficient Fluid Power has relocated its administrative offices to the Mechanical Engineering building in the heart of the U of M campus.
