Vanderbilt engineers are a key part of the team in an ambitious national effort to advance the field of fluid power, which could lead to reductions in fuel consumption, state-of-the-art rescue robots and new devices to aid people with mobility impairments.

The National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center for Compact and Efficient Fluid Power is funded by a $15 million five-year grant from the NSF, and augmented by $3 million from various industry partners. The center will be directed by the University of Minnesota.

Fluid-power technology encompasses most applications that use liquids or gases to transmit power in the form of mechanical work or pressure. The complexity of these systems ranges from a simple centrifugal pump used to remove water from the basement of a house to sophisticated airplane controls that rely on high-pressure hydraulic systems. Fluid power is a $33 billion industry worldwide. Industry areas include aerospace, agriculture, construction, health care, manufacturing, mining, and transportation.

“Back in the 1950s and 1960s, the United States led the world in fluid-power research, but now Europe and Asia have passed us by,” said Kim Stelson, the director of the new research center and mechanical engineering professor at the University of Minnesota. “We hope that this new center will get us back on track in this growing field.”

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