AFRL design competition spurs engineering solutions

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WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  During the week of April 14, 17 universities and three service academies came together for the Air Force Research Laboratory's third annual Collegiate and Service Academy Engineering Design Competition.

This year's challenge centered on a problem routinely faced by Air Force pararescuemen and other military units -- lifting up of heavy armored vehicles to rescue fellow soldiers pinned or trapped inside.

Student teams were tasked with producing a single-man-portable solution that would effectively lift a 45,000-pound vehicle to allow retrieval of trapped personnel.

The team from Auburn University delivered a solution that met the objective while also achieving significant progress in many of the additional design constraints. The solution consisted of a mixed air bag system built from Kevlar and Vectran.

The team from Utah State finished second. It developed a hydraulic solution which included repackaging of an electrically-driven, high-pressure portable pump.

Among the military academies, the Air Force Academy designed and built a seven-stage hydraulic lift that used vegetable oil to transfer power.

The competition revolves around an engineering challenge each year that fosters innovative and creative solutions from the Mechanical Engineering departments of participating schools. In 2014, universities included: Arizona State, Auburn, Brigham Young, Colorado State, Michigan Tech, Ohio State, Texas A&M, Utah State, Prairie View A&M, Purdue, Tennessee State and Wright State. Also taking part were Johns Hopkins, the University of Akron, University of Dayton, University of Minnesota Duluth, University of North Carolina Charlotte as well as the Air Force Academy, Naval Academy and the U.S. Military Academy.

Devon Parker, a senior Air Force mechanical engineer at the Arnold Engineering Development Complex, Arnold AFB, Tenn., was the host and manager for the national competition on behalf of AFRL.

"Portions of each entry offered further opportunity for creative development," Parker said. "There were mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic, and hybrid solutions developed and demonstrated. Engineering designs and team creativity were all put to the test.

"Regardless of individual results, every team came away with a more profound understanding of why it is essential that engineers get out from behind their desks and get their hands dirty when working on a problem," Parker continued. "It is this first-hand experience that enables engineers to fully comprehend the scope of any problem, and allows them to work more effectively as part of any product development or problem solving team."