Registration Opens for 2025 NFPA Fluid Power Vehicle Challenge
With the start of the school year comes another edition of the National Fluid Power Association’s (NFPA) Fluid Power Vehicle Challenge. Registration is now open for the 2025 vehicle challenge which tasks engineering students with designing a fluid power-based vehicle.
Students redesign a traditional bicycle by incorporating hydraulic and pneumatic technologies as the power transmission source to create a new vehicle that will eventually be put to the test in a final competition.
Design elements which are typically required include:
- accumulator for storing energy
- electronic control system
- regeneration technology.
Through the Fluid Power Vehicle Challenge, NFPA aims to expose engineering students to fluid power technology while also offering an opportunity to apply their skills in a hands-on experience. The challenge is open to students at any stage in their academic career, though many schools use it as part of capstone design courses.
The vehicle challenge also provides an opportunity for members of the hydraulics and pneumatics industry to be involved through donations of supplies and mentoring time. It offers networking opportunities as well for all involved; students have the chance to learn what a fluid power career could entail while industry members can meet potential future employees.
On November 1, 2024, NFPA will host a virtual Networking Mixer in which students participating in the vehicle challenge and industry members can engage with one another to aid with potential future recruitment.
Vehicle Challenge Expands to Three Final Competitions
Each year’s NFPA Fluid Power Vehicle Challenge culminates in the student teams taking part in a final competition during which the student-designed vehicles are put through various races to see how they compare to one another.
In past years there have been two final competitions hosted by member companies in different parts of the U.S. NFPA announced in July that donations made through its Pascal Society have enabled an expansion to three competitions for the 2025 vehicle challenge. This will enable as many as 27 teams to participate, helping to broaden students’ exposure to hydraulics and pneumatics.
READ MORE about winners of the 2024 Fluid Power Vehicle Challenge.
The final competitions will be hosted by the following NFPA member companies:
- IMI plc April 9-11 in Rockford, IL
- Danfoss Power Solutions April 23-25 in Ames, IA
- IFP Motion Solutions Inc. April 30-May 2 in Cedar Rapids, IA
At the final competition events, students’ vehicles compete in three races — sprint, efficiency and endurance — for the chance to win cash prizes. During these events students also present their designs to industry members in attendance who serve as judges, providing further career experience and networking opportunities.
With the addition of a third final competition, NFPA is adding more technical liaisons to the vehicle challenge as well who will support the student teams in their design efforts. Steve Gluck, a 45-year fluid power industry veteran who has worked in many roles with various companies, and Randy Nobles of Womack Machine Supply Company with over 43 years of fluid power industry experience, will join current technical liaison Ernie Parker, a 45-year industry veteran who also taught at Hennepin Community College.
Additional support is provided by several NFPA members working in the hydraulics and pneumatics sector who offer mentorship throughout the vehicle challenge year and other support.
Through educational initiatives such as this, NFPA is working to educate the next generation of engineers about fluid power to ensure it remains a relevant motion control technology for years to come, and there will be enough expertise in the field capable of working with hydraulics and pneumatics.
READ MORE: Assessing Future Design Needs for Hydraulics and Pneumatics
