Design of a Transparent Hydraulic Educational Demonstrator Utilizing Electrically Controlled Valves

This Innovative Practice Full Paper presents the development of a hydraulic demonstrator used to illustrate simple mechanical and electrical concepts to high school and undergraduate students. The system utilizes a remote controller which communicates with a microcontroller, used to open and close electrically controlled valves allowing fluid to transfer, extending and retracting hydraulic cylinders. Once actuated, each hydraulic cylinder will rotate individual components of the mechanical arm to mimic the motion of typical industry standard excavating equipment. This arm is composed of a unique multi-layered Lexan design permitting the system to be transparent. One major advantage of this transparent design is having a demonstrator which allows students to easily observe fluid power systems, their functions, and the mechanics of the arm. The arm is assembled using quick disconnect pins making the mechanical arm easy to assemble and disassemble for storage and portability purposes. This allows the arm to be used in a wide range of learning settings, including outreach opportunities, recruiting events, and classrooms, where it can be used to teach multiple concepts using a variety of different laboratory experiments. The courses that would benefit from this demonstrator range from, but are not limited to, fundamental engineering courses such as statics and dynamics or advanced courses such as fluid power and data acquisition courses.