Past Fluid Power Challenge Events
2013 NFPA Fluid Power Challenge
2012 NFPA Fluid Power Challenge
2011 NFPA Fluid Power Challenge
2010 NFPA Fluid Power Challenge
2009 NFPA Fluid Power Challenge
2008 December NFPA Fluid Power Challenge
2008 May NFPA Fluid Power Challenge
2013 NFPA Fluid Power Challenge
January 2013
On January 7, the Center for Compact and Efficient Fluid Power sponsored a Challenge event at the University of Minnesota in St. Paul, MN. Sixteen teams competed, and
Team 18, Royalton High School from Royalton, MN was the Overall Champion.
2012 NFPA Fluid Power Challenge
December 2012
On December 7, Daman Products Company, Inc. sponsored a Challenge event at the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, IN, with 13 teams competing. The Overall Champion was Clay Intermediate Center, Team 4.
The Milwaukee School of Engineering held a Challenge event on December 7,
with a record-high 20 teams competing. The Overall Champion was Mitchell
Middle School, Team B. .
. .Read more
October 2012
On October 26, Deltrol Fluid Products sponsored a
Challenge event at Harper College in Palatine, IL. A record 63 teams
competed, topping last year’s event. Two competitions were held at the same
time, resulting in two Overall Champions—Marlowe Middle School, Team 5 (red
flight) and Jerling Junior High, Team 3 (blue flight).
Video of
Marlowe Middle School, Team 5 (red flight)
Video of
Jerling Junior High, Team 3 (blue flight)
May 2012
On May 8, Wojanis Supply Company, Inc. sponsored a
Challenge event at the Community
College of Allegheny County in Oakdale, PA.
The overall winner was the all-girls Moon Area
Middle School Team 1.
April 2012
The Purdue College of Technology in Columbus, IN held its annual Boiler Tech Challenge on April 20. During the
Boiler Acres event, high school students learned how to use fluid power for irrigation.
2011 NFPA Fluid Power Challenge
December 2011
On December 2, Daman Products Company Inc. sponsored a Challenge event at the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, IN, with 13 teams participating. The overall winner was the all-girls Team 6 from Jackson Intermediate Center.
The Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) held its fourth Challenge event on December 9, with 15 teams competing. The overall Champion was Mitchell Middle School, Team A.
.
. .Read more
November 2011
On November 18, Deltrol Fluid Products sponsored a Challenge event at Harper College in Palatine, IL. Fifty-six teams competed in this biggest Challenge ever! To facilitate the judging, two competitions were held simultaneously, resulting in two overall Champion winners—Frost Junior High School
Team 1 (Red Flight) and George Washington Middle School (Blue Flight).
Frost Junior High School Team 1 (Red Flight)
George Washington Middle School (Blue Flight).
June 2011
During the last two weeks of June, Central Community College in Columbus,
Nebraska held its Project SHINE-MI Mission Impossible Academic Camp. During
the event, which included one week for boys and one week for girls,
participants constructed fluid power models as part of the Energy and Fluid
Power section.
.
. .Read more
May 2011
On May 10, 2011, Allderdice High School in Pittsburgh, PA held its
first-ever Fluid Power Challenge. The event was facilitated by Wojanis
Supply Co., Inc. Congratulations to the winning teams: Bethel Park
Independence Middle School (Overall and Portfolio Champions), Pittsburgh
Science and Technology Academy (Design Champion) and Moon Area Middle School
(Teamwork Champion).
April 2011
The Purdue College of Technology in Columbus, IN held its annual Boiler
Tech Challenge on April 15, 2011. During the event, high school teams
constructed a launcher-type ride using Fluid Power Challenge kits. .
. .Read more
March 2011
On March 18, 2011, teams from Bay View High School, Bradley Tech High
School and Fritsche Middle School in Milwaukee, WI competed in their 2nd annual Fluid Power
Challenge.
.
. .Read more
Watch
the video
2010 NFPA Fluid Power ChallengeDecember 2010
On December 13, the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE)
in Milwaukee, WI held a Fluid Power Challenge, with ten teams competing. The
Overall Champion winner was Starbuck Middle School, Team B, from Racine, WI.
.
. .Read more
On December 9, Deltrol Fluid Products hosted a Challenge at
Harper
College in Palatine, IL. Sixteen teams competed altogether, and Heineman
Team 2 was the winner.
On December 3, Daman Products Company, Inc. sponsored a
Challenge event at the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, IN.
Sixty-four eighth graders from the South Bend (IN) Community School
Corporation participated. Greene Intermediate Center received the Overall
Champion Award.
. . .Read more
April 2010
NFPA's Fluid Power Challenge was part of the inaugural
Boiler Tech Challenge 2010 held at the Purdue College of Technology in Columbus, IN on April 23. Over 160 high school students from the area participated and competed in this Project Lead the Way-affiliated event.
During the Boiler Tech Challenge, students worked in teams of four on a variety of engineering-oriented challenges—Build It, Design It, Invent It, Survive It and Tape It—which included fluid power. They used imagination, teamwork and problem solving to provide innovative solutions to complex engineering challenges.
March 2010
On March 19 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, two teams from
Fritsche Middle School competed against three teams from Bay View High
School. The competition was featured in a story on Fox 6 by Gus Gnorski, Fox 6
Reporter.
2009 NFPA Fluid Power Challenge
In 2009, the NFPA Fluid Power Challenge was expanded to four locations:
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Marquette University
Milwaukee, WI |
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, MN |
Harper College
Palatine, IL |
Milw. School of Engineering
Milwaukee, WI |
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Marquette University
Overall
Champion
Brookfield Academy
Brookfield, Wisconsin |
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Milwaukee School of Engineering
Overall Champion
Mitchell Middle School, Team A
Racine, Wisconsin
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Altogether, 47 teams competed—a total of 200 eighth grade students from 26 middle schools. At workshops in early November, the students were given the assignment of designing and constructing a fluid power mechanism to perform a defined task. The mechanisms were required to use fluid power (hydraulics and pneumatics) to pick up weighted objects, and then place them on a platform for various point totals.
After working for five weeks, the teams came together again to compete against each other in a two-minute competition. Engineers from area companies served as judges, who graded the teams and presented awards in five categories—Overall Champion, Design Champion, Teamwork Champion, Portfolio Champion and Team Challenge Champion.
"We learned that it is fun to design
and
build things and to work as a team,"
said one student after the competition. |
This video highlights the winning team, Highland Park
Junior High, in
the 2009 NFPA Fluid Power Challenge held at the University of Minnesota
and hosted by the Center for Compact and Efficient Fluid Power.
Thank you
2009 NFPA Fluid Power Challenge sponsors!
2008 December NFPA Fluid Power Challenge
The 2008 NFPA Fluid Power Challenge was held at the Milwaukee School of Engineering on
November 14, 2008, Workshop Day, and December 12, 2008, Challenge Day. At the Workshop
Day, twenty teams from throughout Wisconsin and northern Illinois learned about fluid power
and built a pneumatic lifter.
Participating schools included:
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Overall
Champion
Starbuck Middle School – Team A
Racine, WI |
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Portfolio
Champion
Starbuck Middle School – Team B
Racine, WI |
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Design Champion
Hmong American Peace Academy
Milwaukee, WI |
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Teamwork
Champion
Heineman Middle School
Algonquin, IL |
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Team
Challenge Champion
Fritsche Middle School – Team A
Milwaukee, WI |
Fritsche Middle School, Milwaukee, WI
Hartford University School, Milwaukee, WI
Heineman Middle School, Algonquin, IL
Hmong American Peace Academy, Milwaukee, WI
Luxemburg-Casco Middle School, Luxemburg, WI
Marlowe Middle School, Lake in the Hills, IL
New Berlin Eisenhower Middle School, New Berlin, WI
Starbuck Middle School, Racine, WI
Vieau Middle School, Milwaukee, WI
During the weeks between the Workshop Day and Challenge Day, the teams were busy at work designing, building and testing their fluid power prototypes.
On the Challenge Day, the teams again met at the Milwaukee School of Engineering.
The nineteen remaining teams competed to solve a fluid power challenge by designing and constructing a mechanism that used hydraulics technology to pick a canister from one platform, rotate, and place it on another platform. The teams were evaluated on the number of pick-and-place cycles their machine completed as well as a review of each team's design, portfolio and teamwork.
Everyone, teachers, students, parents, and NFPA member company sponsors were excited and enthusiastic about the program. Teacher comments from the feed backform included:
“Kids loved it. Their attention has never been this focused in class!”
Scott Jex,
Hmong American Peace Academy
“Real world experience. Engineering at it's best.”
Joe Kempke,
Luxemburg-Casco Middle School
“WOW! Critical thinking and problem solving skills help in everyday life & the kids rose to the challenge.”
Elaine Lorinczi,
Marlowe Middle School
Student comments about the Challenge included, “exciting,” “very fun,” “educational,” “really cool” and “opening doors for me to learn more.” One student said he would recommend the Challenge to any 7th grader he knew “so they can have the same fun I did today (Challenge Day).”
A parent who attended the program said it was “perfect. The teams (and students) were totally focused.”
The NFPA Fluid Power Challenge provides Middle School students with information about fluid power technology and hands-on experience building a fluid power mechanism with real world applicability.
Thank you to the Canadian Fluid Power Association
and the following businesses for their support of
the December 2008 Challenge.
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2008 May NFPA Fluid Power Challenge
The very first National Fluid Power Association (NFPA) Fluid Power Challenge,
was held on Friday, May 9th at the Kettle Moraine High
School (Wales, WI).
The 2008 competition, attended by three teams from three Wisconsin Middle
Schools, was won by the team of grade eight students from
Luxemburg-Casco
Middle School (Luxemburg, WI).
View
Slide Show
The three teams designed and constructed a mechanism that used hydraulics technology to perform a defined task. The students were asked to design and build fluid-power mechanisms for picking an object from one platform, rotating, and placing it on another platform. The teams were evaluated on the number of pick-and-place cycles a school's machine completes as well as a review of each team's design approach documented through the use of a design portfolio.
Kettle Moraine Middle School and Hmong American Peace Academy
(Milwaukee, WI) were runners up. Ryan Nihoris, a student on the Kettle Moraine team, said
“This opens up more opportunities for engineering and careers kids aren't aware of. It's fun...you develop teamwork and leadership skills and meet kids from different schools.”
To see these teams compete, click on these video
links:
The NFPA Fluid Power Challenge is intended to provide Middle School students with information about fluid power technology and hands-on experience building a fluid power mechanism with real world applicability, as well as opening their eyes and those of their teachers to the world of engineering and fluid power careers.
NFPA hopes to encourage students to select more mathematics and science courses in their high school curricula to keep their options open for technology-based post-secondary studies.
NFPA would like to thank the Canadian Fluid Power Association
and the following businesses for their support of
the May 2008 Challenge.
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To learn more about the Challenge, please contact
Carrie Tatman Schwartz, Program Manager at ctschwartz@nfpa.com
or (414) 778-3347.