Graduate students win “Ingenuity and Novelty” award at Parker Hannifin challenge

Mechanical and aerospace engineering graduate students Nick Badger and Andrew Smith competed in the Parker Hannifin Corporation’s 2012 “Chainless Challenge,” in which students designed and built a human-hydraulic hybrid bicycle. The competition was held April 12-13 in Irvine, Calif.

Instead of a direct chain link from the pedals to the wheel, the rider pumps and pressurizes hydraulic fluid to power the bike. Badger and Smith’s recumbent design, complete with a hydraulic infinitely variable transmission, won the Ingenuity and Novelty award at the competition.