Institute of Hydraulics and Automation (IHA)

Tampere University of Technology

Director: Professor Matti Vilenius
tel. +358 3 31152267
fax  +358 3 31152240
matti.vilenius(at)tut.fi

Centre of Excellence Homepages

The Unit's research focuses on fluid power and automation. The aim is to combine these two elements so that they complement each other in machines and equipment. Fluid power is used for power transmission, while automation technology is used for controlling the system. The main areas of research are water hydraulics and mobile hydraulics.

Water is used in water hydraulics as a pressure medium, which enables the design of a clean, environmentally friendly and hygienic system that is protected against fire and explosion. Modern water hydraulics is a new area of research within mechanical engineering and the Unit is one of the world's leading research institutes in this area. The main focus of the Unit's research is on systems and components, the effect of the pressure medium and water-hydraulic motion control.

Mobile hydraulics concentrates on the hydraulics of mobile machines such as forest machinery, tractors, excavators, drilling machines, etc. The aim is to improve the efficiency of fluid power systems and to develop new methods for design and control.

The Unit has a staff of five professors, four laboratory technicians, one laboratory engineer, one secretary and some 50 researchers and research assistants (in total some 60 persons).