PARKER HANNIFIN CORP. YSU gets grant for hydraulic research

This is the second research grant the company has given to YSU.
YOUNGSTOWN -- A technology business awarded a $100,000 grant to Youngstown State University for research on a hydraulic system the company is developing.
Parker Hannifin Corp., a manufacturer of motion and control technologies and systems, provided the funds to YSU's Hydraulic Research and Education Center to conduct research on flow analysis and virtual prototyping of a piston pump and hydraulic system being developed by the company.
Parker Hannifin is based in Cleveland. In 2000, it purchased Commercial Intertech Corp., a Youngstown company, and maintains Commercial's operations on Logan Avenue under the Parker Hannifin name.
Four YSU faculty members in the mechanical engineering program at the Rayen College of Engineering and Technology along with two graduate assistants and two undergraduate assistants will conduct the research.
More student assistants will be hired shortly, said Shawn Kim, the mechanical engineering program's chairman and director of the Hydraulic Research and Education Center at YSU.
"The collaboration effort is a fine example of a unique and successful partnership between academia and industry," Kim said.
Double benefit
Academic-business partnerships provide research opportunities for both parties, and benefit the community, industries and the university, said Cynthia Hirtzel, Rayen College of Engineering and Technology dean.
The research project is expected to be finished by Sept. 16, but it could be extended, depending on the outcome, Kim said.
Becky Grove, one of the undergraduate students working on the project, said the work is "a practical application of what I'm learning in the classroom."
During the past two years, Parker Hannifin donated more than $100,000 worth of equipment, such as hydraulic and pneumatic trainers and an industrial-size hydraulic test stand, to YSU and gave a $62,000 grant to the university for research last year.