UC students engineer first-place-winning hydraulic bicycle

For the first time in school history, the UC team earned first place in the Fluid Power Vehicle Competition. Photo/Provided

For an entire academic year, a group of fifth-year mechanical engineering technology students joined together to design, develop, and fine-tune a fluid power vehicle. The project served as their senior capstone, was presented at the CEAS EXPO, and capped off their time at the College of Engineering and Applied Science with a win that made history.

"I wanted to be part of a senior design project that was an actual working prototype," said Amelia Roney, president of the Fluid Power Club.

Once the team was formed, it was time to dive in. Advised by Professor Muthar al-Ubaidi, Roney said that they spent months researching old capstone projects, fluid power teams, and competitions to be as prepared as they could be before they started building.

"We researched all the winning teams we could from previous years, all of us had eight teams or so to research their design, what their bike looked like, and what we could take from each one," Roney said.

When building the bike, all teams must adhere to certain requirements. For instance, the bike must be hydraulically propelled. Things like chains can be present on the bike, but the power must come from hydraulics. Other rules include a weight limit of 250 pounds, a maximum system pressure of 3000 PSI, and a system that is manufactured to industry standards. Basically, if something wouldn't be used on an industry vehicle (like duct tape), it could not be used on their vehicle.

The team opted to use a tricycle frame instead of a traditional bike frame. Photo/Provided

The National Fluid Power Association provided teams with hydraulic circuit design software to simulate their designs. This gave the students a chance to familiarize themselves with different valves, pumps and methods to design their system.

"We didn't have a lot of hands-on experience with building something, so we really had to learn along the way," said Mason Roy, frame team lead for the project.

Before they could choose their frame, they had to first design the hydraulic system to propel the bike. They spent weeks running calculations account for the weight of the bike, potential course inclines and the horsepower that could be provided by the rider. Roney explained that they ended up using one-quarter horsepower in their calculations. While a person likely can generate one whole horsepower, that will decline after a short time. They knew that they didn't want to design their system to need a lot of horsepower to go fast. Their focus: make it doable and sustainable.

"We went for a tricycle frame instead of a traditional or recumbent bike frame," Roy said. "It was half the price of the others, and we didn't have to worry about balance when we put our tank and power system on it that weighed 60+ pounds."

Once they got the frame, they drew up what their vehicle would look like and where the components would live. Most of the design work took place during the fall semester, and after winter break it was full steam ahead to get ready for competition.

The UC Fluid Power Club was named Grand Champion. Photo/Provided

Overall, the UC Fluid Power Club won first place in Grand Champion, the efficiency race, the endurance race, and won the team spirit award. The students shared that the hardships they faced leading up to competition worked in their favor in the end. Several other teams had issues at competition, but UC had already had those issues and solved them in the weeks leading up to it. The UC team was one of only two teams that were engineering technology students, while the rest were engineering students.

"This experience was new for a lot of us because it was the first time we actually owned the problem and there wasn't somebody else above us to help. We really had to dive into it," Roney said.

Until last academic year, there were no courses at CEAS surrounding fluid power. The first course was taught to a small group of students with a goal to expand in the future.