H.L. “Ben” Banton Fluid Power Laboratory

Considered by many to be the best fluid power teaching facility in the United States, the Fluid Power Laboratory has approximately 2,500 square feet of floor space and includes a 16-20 student classroom with work benches. The lab provides the ideal setting for education and research in fluid power (hydraulics and pneumatics), machine controls and data acquisition. Students learn basics of fluid power and acquire practical skills in fluid power components, circuits, testing and troubleshooting.
State of the art lab equipment allows students to have hands‐on experience in fluid power, learning the basics of hydraulic and pneumatic components, studying hydraulic, pneumatic and electric circuits, computer simulation and data acquisition.

The facility supports several courses:

• MET 230 (Fluid Power)
• MET 334 (Advanced Fluid Power)
• MET 432 (Hydraulic Motion Control Systems)
• MET 436 (Pneumatic Motion Control Systems)
• MET 382 (Controls and Instrumentation for Automation)
• TECH 581F (Advanced Topics in Fluid Power)

Current research:

Verifying a new mechanism of flow force compensation in a hydraulic
valve.

The lab houses the following equipment:

• eight hydraulic work stations supporting the basic Fluid Power (MET 230) course. These work stations have recently been upgraded with modern industrial components and state-of-the-art electronic instrumentation;
• eight hydraulic work stations supporting the upper level hydraulics courses (MET 334 and 432). These work stations include servo valves and electronic control, and instrumentation capable of transient data recording and computer interfacing;
• eight pneumatic work stations supporting the upper level pneumatics courses (MET 334 and 436);
• eight PC work stations which support all of the above courses, and have data acquisition capability compatible with the upper division work stations. Both Fluid Power CAD and Control simulation software is available for course-related computer work.

In addition, the laboratory has extensive pressure, flow, and viscosity instrumentation. Calibration and readout equipment (oscilloscopes) support the laboratory as well as independent study projects in the fluid power field.

Outside funding and support:

Bosch Rexroth Corp. provided eight test stands at an educational discount with the rest funded by the Maha Educational Fund at Purdue University. Parker Hannifin Corp. donated the 80‐gallon test stand and test valves for research of flow force in hydraulic valves. Vickers (now Eaton Corp.), Parker Hannifin Corp., SMC and Sun Hydraulics donated various components for the other test stands.