ABE has been awarded a $13,500 instructional equipment grant by the College of Agriculture to bring Android tablets and apps into the classroom and into the field (at least, nearby fields). Welcome to the 21st Century!

Drs. Frankenberger, Ess, Buckmaster, and Larry Theller are involved. The courses that will use this technology include ASM 105 (Ag Systems Computations and Communication), ASM 215 (Surveying), ASM 540 (GIS Applications), and ASM 591 (Technology for Precision Agriculture). This technology will allow students to combine global positioning systems (GPS) data acquisition with real-time GIS processing.

Daniel Galle (MS) "Development of an Automated Precision Planter for Establishment of Miscanthus giganteus." February 29, 2012, 1:00 pm ABE 212 (Murphy)

Matteo Pelosi (PhD) "An Investigation on the Fluid-Structure Interaction of Piston/Cylinder Interface" February 15, 2012, 8:30 am Maha Fluid Power Research Center (Ivantysynova)

Tao Geng (PhD) "Microfluidics for Genetic and Epigenetic Analysis of Cells" March 22, 2012, 9:30 am ABE 212 (Lu)

Publications

The Maha Fluid Power Lab was featured in an article in SAE Off-Highway Engineering, February 23 issue.

·The following paper has been published by the Journal of Tribology Transactions:

• Pelosi, M. and Ivantysynova, M. 2012. A Geometric Multigrid Solver for the Piston-Cylinder Interface of Axial Piston Machines. Tribology Transactions, Vol. 55, Issue. 2, pp. 163 - 174.

The following papers have been accepted by the 7^th Ph.D. symposium which will take place in Reggio Emilia, Italy in June 27-30, 2012:

• Busquets, E. and Ivantysynova, M. 2012. Thermal-hydraulic behavior simulation and measurement of displacement controlled multi actuator machines. Accepted for publication by the 7^th Ph.D. symposium.
• Daher, N. and Ivantysynova, M. 2012. Electro-hydraulic energy-saving power steering systems of the future. Accepted for publication by the 7^th Ph.D. symposium.
• Kim, D. and Ivantysynova, M. 2012. Valve plate optimization focusing on noise reduction in axial piston machine with high volumetric efficiency. Accepted for publication by the 7^th Ph.D. symposium.
• Hippalgaonkar, R. and Ivantysynova, M. 2012. An overview of power management strategies for displacement controlled, multi-actuator hydraulic hybrid machine systems. Accepted for publication by the 7^th Ph.D. symposium.
• Zecchi, M. and Ivantysynova, M. 2012. An investigation of the impact of micro surface shaping on the cylinder block/valve plate interface performance through a novel thermo-elasto-hydrodynamic model. Accepted for publication by the 7^th Ph.D. symposium.
• Schenk, D. and Ivantysynova, M. 2012. The influence of swashplate elastohydrodynamic deformation in the slipper-swashplate interface. Accepted for publication by the 7^th Ph.D. symposium.
• Sprengel, M. and Ivantysynova, M. 2012. Coupling displacement controlled actuation and power split transmissions in hydraulic hybrid systems for off-highway vehicles. Accepted for publication by the 7^th Ph.D. symposium

Also, the following posters have been accepted for the 7^th Ph.D. symposium at Reggio Emilia, Italy:

• Mizell, D. and Ivantysynova, M. 2012. Reducing friction and leakage losses at the piston-cylinder interface by altering material properties. Accepted for publication by the 7^th Ph.D. symposium.
• Kalbfleisch, P. and Ivantysynova, M. 2012. Noise Reduction of Axial Piston Type Pumps. Accepted for publication by the 7^th Ph.D. symposium.

Maha Student News

After five years at the Maha Fluid Power Lab, Matteo successfully defended his PhD thesis. Matteo contributed a great research work to Maha and we are sad to see such a valuable member go, but we give our congratulations and wish him best of luck in the future! 

Maha welcomes new members Guido Francesco Ritelli (Visiting Researcher), Juan Pedro Gomez Virgilio (Visiting Researcher), and Wei Shen (Visiting Researcher) to the lab. We wish all of them the best of luck!

The Maha Fluid Power Lab is proud to present the achievements of the past year. The annual report is available for download at:

https://engineering.purdue.edu/Maha/docs/annualreport_2011.pdf

Students involved in GWG (Graduate Women's Gatherings) visited the Maha lab on Feb 17th. Monika gave her life time story to the students and also Andrew gave them a lab tour.

The Maha Fluid Power Lab is looking for undergraduate research interns during the summer of 2012. The following projects are available for this Summer:

• Theoretical and experimental study of a hydraulic pump's structure vibration and acoustics
• Design of a test rig to measure fluid film thickness
• Development of a new test stand for thermal measurements on axial piston machines
• Measurement and modeling of hydraulic pumps
• Friction force measurements in the piston cylinder interface of axial piston machines
• Experimental research supporting the development of a hydraulic hybrid excavator system
• Prognostics system for displacement controlled multi-actuator hydraulic hybrid machines
• Electro-hydraulic power steering system controller
• Instrumentation and evaluation of a large off-highway vehicle

The full description of the projects is available at:

https://engineering.purdue.edu/Maha/docs/Maha2012_SURF_Project_Descriptions.pdf

Madeline Porterfield won the grand prize in the student poster competition at the Institute for Biological Engineering national meeting. The BE sophomore won for her research during the SURF program at the University of Florida under the supervision of Dr. Eric McLamore. Congratulations, Madeline!

Alpha Mu Initiation

Alpha Mu, the ASM Honor Society, held initiation on March 7, 2012, at the ADM Agricultural Innovation Center. New initiates include: Kyle Barry, Katey Bartlett, Robert Blankenship, Dane Buuck, Darren Friar, Lincoln Gaston, Jason Qunn, Colton Ringel, Ethan Sell, Jacob Stevens, and Alex Thyen. Congratulations!