CCEFP Opens Call for Research Proposals

The Center for Compact and Efficient Fluid Power is pleased to announce research funding availability for the period of July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2018.

The Center for Compact and Efficient Fluid Power (CCEFP) is a NSF-founded engineering research consortium, headquartered at the University of Minnesota, with one common goal – to change the way fluid power is researched, applied and taught.  All participating academic institutions are leaders in fluid power research and education.

CCEFP research projects are organized in three thrusts that achieve the following societal benefits: creation of new fluid power technology that, with improved efficiency, will significantly reduce petroleum consumption, energy use and pollution; with improved effectiveness, will make fluid power clean, quiet and safe for its millions of users; with improved compactness, will exploit its attributes in a new generation of human scale devices and equipment.

For the first time, any U.S. university is eligible to apply for CCEFP research funding. Proposals are due December 11, 2015. It is CCEFP policy to fund projects and test beds that align with its mission, vision and research strategy. Top strategic priorities in this CCEFP Call for Proposals include:

1. Increasing energy efficiency of fluid power;
2. Improving and applying the energy storage capabilities of fluid power;
3. Reducing environmental impact of fluid power;
4. Improving reliability of fluid power;
5. Reducing the size of fluid power while maintaining or increasing power output;
6. Building “smart” fluid power components and systems;
7. Emerging manufacturing technologies.

The full Call for Proposals and electronic application is provided at www.ccefp.org.

Questions may be directed to Professor and Director Kim A. Stelson (kstelson@umn.edu), Industry Liaison Officer Mike Gust (mjgust@umn.edu) or Sustainability Director Brad Bohlmann (bohlmann@umn.edu).