Eastland FFA member named national runner-up for Agriscience Fair project

EASTLAND, Texas ( KTAB/KRBC ) – Eastland FFA member Shelby Hatton has been named the Division 3 national runner-up for the Power, Structural, and Technical Systems Agriscience Fair Project at the 97th Annual National FFA Convention and Expo in Indianapolis, Indiana.

The National FFA Agriscience Fair acknowledges students who engage in hands-on, real-world experiences in agricultural fields. Participants are required to apply scientific principles and new technologies to address problems related to agriculture, food, and natural resources. Students can participate individually or as part of a team in one of six divisions.

Hatton's project, titled "Cloudy with a Chance of Gear Failure: Effects of Water on Hydraulic Systems," aimed to assess how various levels of water contamination impact hydraulic fluid temperature, RPM, and PSI.

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"My experiment was conducted by using a mobile lift conveyor, with a capacity of 30 gallons of hydraulic fluid, which was filled with new fluid," said Hatton. "The equipment had a 15 gal/min hydraulic gear pump attached. The objective of this experiment was to test the hypotheses by running the conveyor for 30 minutes at each concentration, taking measurements of RPM, PSI, and fluid temperatures for 21 trials."

The tests revealed no significant difference in the mean temperatures of the fluid. However, statistically significant differences were found in the PSI and RPM measurements.

"Water contamination prevention in hydraulic systems is important, and farmers should visually inspect hydraulic fluid for cloudiness," said Hatton. "Water contamination has been shown to cause long-term issues causing damage through corrosive oxidation of internal parts."

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