The aca­d­e­m­ic Chair of Hydraulics was cre­at­ed in 2010 to ensure the long-term future of hydraulic pow­er trans­mis­sion teach­ing at UTC as part of the engi­neer­ing cur­ricu­lum. For the CETIM, viz., the rep­re­sen­ta­tive of the mechan­i­cal engi­neer­ing pro­fes­sions in France, it was also a ques­tion of pro­vid­ing sci­en­tif­ic exper­tise in the field of hydraulics.

UTC and the Cen­tre tech­nique des indus­tries mécaniques (CETIM) cre­at­ed the Hydraulics and Mecha­tron­ics Chair under the ini­tia­tive of hydraulic trans­mis­sion man­u­fac­tur­ers and their trade asso­ci­a­tion Artema, with sup­port from the Picardie Region and the Euro­pean Region­al Devel­op­ment Fund (Fed­er). “The tech­no­log­i­cal sit­u­a­tion is clear: hydraulics, with its phys­i­cal prop­er­ties such as pow­er den­si­ty and mass, can­not be replaced in the short term, but it must be trans­formed if it is to retain its place in a low-car­bon ener­gy per­spec­tive, i.e., offer­ing bet­ter ener­gy per­for­mance, reduced oper­at­ing noise and improved com­pact­ness and adapt­abil­i­ty to elec­tric dri­ves. In short, the cre­ation of a Chair was jus­ti­fied by two fac­tors: the need for train­ing and the devel­op­ment of this lit­tle-known tech­nol­o­gy, which is invis­i­ble and often con­fused with dam hydraulics and which is still essen­tial for pow­er­ing machines”, explains Chairhold­er Éric Noppe, who joined UTC as a con­tract lec­tur­ercum- research engi­neer after 25 years’ expe­ri­ence in indus­try. “The needs in the field of hydraulics are very promis­ing, because, para­dox­i­cal­ly, the elec­tri­fi­ca­tion of mobile machines will gen­er­ate a lot of work to adapt hydraulic trans­mis­sions. Trans­mis­sions that are qui­eter, run faster, are more ener­gy-effi­cient and sup­port new ener­gies. So many chal­lenges ahead!

A whole ecosystem dedicated to innovation

The Chair makes it pos­si­ble to include a hydraulics course in the engi­neer­ing cur­ricu­lum, with 25 to 30 stu­dents trained each year. The Chair gen­er­ates a tech­no­log­i­cal research activ­i­ty in part­ner­ship with a test and exper­i­men­ta­tion plat­form inte­grat­ed into the UTC Rober­val mechan­i­cal engi­neer­ing lab­o­ra­to­ry. Final­ly, a con­tin­u­ing edu­ca­tion activ­i­ty for indus­tri­al­ists com­pletes the work, with a train­ing rig oper­at­ed with a part­ner. “Research engi­neers, doc­tor­al stu­dents and engi­neer­ing interns are the dri­ving force behind the Chair. The UTC Foun­da­tion for Inno­va­tion pro­vides fund­ing through patron­age. In fact, the CETIM, a spon­sor of the UTC Part­ner­ship Foun­da­tion, has financed the oper­a­tion of the Chair from the out­set. Indus­tri­al design­ers or inte­gra­tors of hydraulic func­tions par­tic­i­pate in col­lab­o­ra­tive research projects and indi­rect­ly in the train­ing of engi­neers in the incu­ba­tor. A net­work of part­ner uni­ver­si­ties, such as Insa Lyon, Insa Toulouse, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Mod­e­na and Pur­due Lafayette Uni­ver­si­ty, form an enrich­ing col­lab­o­ra­tion. SATT Lutech, a research fund­ing part­ner, is also sup­port­ing a patent filed with­in the frame­work of the Chair, for a drone with hydraulic trans­mis­sion”, adds Éric Noppe. The Chair is involved in a num­ber of R&D projects, includ­ing the Euro­pean H2REF-DEMO project. This involves the design and pro­duc­tion of an inno­v­a­tive hydro­gen com­pres­sor that will even­tu­al­ly be the largest in Europe for fill­ing the tanks of future hydro­gen-pow­ered trucks and bus­es. A scale 1 pro­to­type will be oper­a­tional in 2025. UTC is respon­si­ble for the com­plete mod­el­ling of the process, con­trol and com­mand assis­tance and for the design of the hydraulic gen­er­a­tion sys­tem. “This is a real break­through in the field of hydro­gen com­pres­sion. Hydraulics offer the prospect of reduc­ing the ener­gy con­sumed in fill­ing vehi­cle tanks by more than 50%, with a new, inno­v­a­tive fill­ing method.

” “Nothing can be done alone”

Hydraulics issues are cou­pled with elec­tri­cal engi­neer­ing, flu­id mechan­ics and flow cal­cu­la­tion, opti­miza­tion and design meth­ods in indus­tri­al engi­neer­ing, acoustics, tri­bol­o­gy and mate­ri­als, com­mand and con­trol. “In short, this is a rich­ly applic­a­ble play­ground for Rober­val’s sci­en­tif­ic activ­i­ties. For stu­dents, it’s a way of per­fect­ing their knowl­edge dur­ing the degree cycle, but also of par­tic­i­pat­ing in indus­tri­al R&D projects after grad­u­a­tion. For them, the Chair can be seen as an ide­al plat­form for enter­ing indus­try with a rec­og­nized spe­cial­iza­tion. They ben­e­fit not only from real indus­tri­al sub­jects, but also from a high-lev­el learn­ing require­ment that stim­u­lates them. For the mechan­i­cal research engi­neers and sci­en­tists who work in the Rober­val lab­o­ra­to­ry, this means a large num­ber of col­lab­o­ra­tive sub­jects and case stud­ies, because in a field as mul­ti­phys­i­cal as hydraulics, noth­ing can be done alone”, adds Éric Noppe, who, among the Chair’s recent research con­tri­bu­tions, cites the cre­ation of a minia­tur­ized hydraulic ser­vo-valve that did not exist on the mar­ket. A need jus­ti­fied by the hydraulic drone. “But the main con­tri­bu­tion has been made by all the engi­neers who have grad­u­at­ed from UTC and gone on to swell the ranks of indus­tri­al users of hydraulics after their time with the Chair.”

KD