FLUID POWER SYSTEMS

ACCUMULATORS
 Hydraulic accumulators are used for temporarily storing pressurized oil.
 The oil enters a chamber and acts against a piston or bladder to raise a weight, compress a
spring or compress a gas. The stored potential energy in the accumulator is a quick
secondary source of fluid power capable of doing useful work as required by the system.
 Accumulators are the equivalent to a capacitor in an electrical system and to a spring in a
mechanical system.

Accumulators form an energy store in a hydraulic system and have two common uses

 To provide a source of energy that may be required over a short period of time.
 To smooth out pressure fluctuations in a system e.g. variations in pump delivery
and transient pressures due to sudden changes of fluid velocity in the system.

There are three basic types of accumulator used in hydraulic system. They are:

1. Weight — Loaded, or gravity type

2. Spring -Loaded type
3. Gas — Loaded type

1. Weight — Loaded Accumulator:

 The weight-loaded type is historically the oldest. This type consists of a vertical, heavy-
wall steel cylinder, which incorporates a piston with packing to pressure leakage
 A dead weight is attached to the top of the piston. The force of gravity of the dead weight
provides the potential energy in the accumulator. This type of accumulator creates a
constant fluid pressure throughout the full volume output of the unit regardless of the rate
and quantity of output.
 The main disadvantage of this type of accumulator is extremely large size and heavy
weight which makes it unsuitable for mobile equipment.

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2. Spring Loaded Accumulator:

 A spring loaded accumulator is similar to the weight loaded type except that the piston is
preloaded with a spring as shown in fig.
 The spring is the source of energy that acts against the piston, forcing the fluid into the
hydraulic system. The pressure generated by this type of accumulator depends on the size
and pre-loading of the spring.
 In addition, the pressure exerted on the fluid is not a constant. The spring-loaded
accumulator typically delivers a relatively small volume of oil at low pressures. Thus,
they tend to be heavy and large for high- pressure, large volume systems.
 This type of accumulator should not be used for applications requiring high cycle rates
because the springs will fatigue and lose its elasticity. The result is an inoperative
accumulator.

3. Gas Loaded Accumulator

 Gas-loaded accumulators have been found to be more practical than the weight- and spring-
loaded types.
 The gas-loaded type operates in accordance with Boyle's law of gases, which states that for a
constant temperature process, the pressure of a gas varies inversely With its volume. Thus, for
example, the gas volume of the accumulator would be cut in half if the pressure were doubled.
The compressibility of gases accounts for the storage of potential energy. This energy forces
the oil out of the accumulator when the gas expands due to the reduction of system pressure
when, for example, an actuator rapidly moves a load.

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Gas loaded accumulators fall into two main categories:

a. Non-separator type

 The non separator type of accumulator consists of a fully enclosed shell containing an oil Port
on the bottom and a gas charging valve on the top. The gas is confined in the top and the oil at
the bottom of the shell. There is no physical separator between the gas and oil and thus the gas
pushes directly on oil.
 The main advantage of this type is its ability to handle large volume of oil.
 The main disadvantage is absorption of gas in the oil due to the lack of a separator.
 Absorption of gas in the oil also makes the oil compressible, resulting in spongy operation of
the hydraulic actuators. This type must be installed vertically to keep the gas confined at the top
of the shell.

b. Separator type
 The commonly accepted design of gas-loaded accumulators is the separator type. In this type,
there is a physical barrier between the gas and the oil. This barrier effectively unitizes the
compressibility of the gas.

The three major classifications of the separator accumulator are:

Piston type

 In the piston accumulators, the fluid area is separated from the gas area from a metal
piston fitted with gas tight seals. The gas area is filled with nitrogen.
 The fluid zone is connected to the hydraulic system, so any increase in the resulting
in compression of the gas. Vice versa, at every drop of pressure in the circuit, the
compressed gas contained in the accumulator expands and the accumulator delivers
the fluid to circuit.
 The piston accumulators can operate in
any position, but it is preferable to mount
them with the gas area upwards in order
to prevent that solid contaminants
contained in the fluid settle by gravity on
the piston seals.

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Bladder type

 In the bladder accumulators, the fluid area is separated from the gas area by a
flexible bladder.
 The fluid around the bladder is in contact with
the circuit, so any increase In pressure causes the
entry of the fluid into the accumulator and
thereby compresses the gas. Vice versa, every
drop of pressure in the circuit causes the
expansion of the gas, resulting in delivery of the
fluid from the accumulator to the circuit.
 Bladder accumulators can be installed in vertical
position (preferable), in horizontal one and,
under certain operating conditions, also in an
inclined one.
 The bladder accumulators include a pressure
welded or forged vessel, a flexible bladder and the fittings for gas and oil.

Diaphragm type

 Accumulators are made of a steel pressure-resistant vessel, usually cylindrical or

spherical in shape, inside which is mounted a flexible material diaphragm as
separating element.

Diaphragm accumulators are manufactured in two versions:

 Screwed execution
 Welded execution

In the screwed version, the diaphragm is blocked by a metal ring

fitted between the lower shell and upper shell of the body.

In the welded accumulators, the diaphragm is pressed into the

bottom before the welding of two steel shells.

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 FLUID POWER SYSTEMS

Selection procedure
When selecting an accumulator for a particular application, both system and performance criteria
should be taken into account. To ensure long and satisfactory service life, the following factors
should be taken into account.

1. Flow rate
2. External forces
3. Fluid type
4. Safety
5. Sizing information
6. Shock suppression
7. Temperature effect
8. Failure modes
9. Response time
Applications of accumulators
The main sectors and areas of application are industrial hydraulics, process technology and
mobile systems.

1. Die casting machinery

2. Plastic machinery
3. Steel industry
4. Machine tools
5. Cranes vehicles
6. Energy power plants
7. Chemical industry
8. Construction mobile machinery
9. Automotive applications
[Link] machinery

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 FLUID POWER SYSTEMS

Intensifiers (Hydraulic pressure boosters)

 A pressure intensifier is used to increase the pressure in a hydraulic system to a value above
the pump discharge pressure. It accepts a high volume flow at relatively low pump pressure
and converts a portion of this flow to high pressure.
 They always work powered by a pump, which is operating at a set pressure and from this the
intensifier simply generates a higher output pressure.

Types of Intensifiers
1. Simple Hydraulic Intensifier
 A common piston rod connects the pistons of two cylinders of different bore. Lower-
pressure fluid, acting on the larger piston, exerts a force that is transferred mechanically
by the rod to the smaller piston.
 The smaller piston generates a higher pressure in the fluid in its bore: the pressure ratio is
inversely proportional to the areas ratio.

2. Co-axial type intensifier

 Another form of intensifier is the coaxial type the arrangement consists of a fixed
cylinder, a movable hollow cylindrical ram and a fixed
ram. Initially, the low-pressure liquid enters through
the fixed ram and enters into the hollow of the
movable ram. This pushes the sliding ram onwards till
it reaches its full stroke length. Now the low pressure
inlet valve is closed and the low pressure liquid supply
is let into the fixed cylinder that pushes the sliding ram
(downwards in the figure) causing the liquid in it to
escape through the fixed ram to the outlet. The action
is similar to that of syringe. This action causes the out
flowing liquid to have a higher pressure. The ratio of
the area of outer fixed cylinder to the area fixed ram is
the intensification ratio. Note that the co axial
intensifier described is single acting, as it supplies high
pressure during downward stroke only. The other design available is double acting, which
provides continuous supply of high pressure liquid.

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Location of Accumulator and Intensifier

 In a hydraulic system operating a machine, the intensifiers are located after the accumulator
and before the machine.
 The hydraulically driven machine (such as a press, crane, winch) is supplied with pressure
liquid from the supply reservoir through the action of a pump. The pump is driven by an
electric motor or an IC engine. Accumulators and intensifiers are provided on the main line in
the sequence as shown in the figure. Normally, the pump runs continuously and the working
of the accumulator and intensifier is based on the load on the machine.

Pressure switches

 A pressure switch is an instrument that automatically senses a change in pressure and opens
or closes an electrical switching element when a predetermined pressure point is reached.
 Bellow or diaphragm is used to sense the change of pressure. The two main types of
pressure switches used in fluid power system industry are available in either contact or non-
contact versions.
 Contact means the unit is physically placed within the unit to gauge the pressure, while
non-contact means the unit uses advanced technology to measure the pressure based on
other types of sensors while remaining outside of the container.
 Bellows or Diaphragm is used to expand or contract in response to increase or decrease of
pressure. When the pressure is applied at the inlet and when the preset pressure is reached,
the diaphragm expands and pushes the spring loaded plunger to make/break contact.

Temperature switches/sensor
 Temperature switches automatically senses a change in temperature and opens or closes an
electrical switch when a predetermined temperature is reached.
 This switch can be wired either normally open or normally closed. Temperature switches
can be used to protect a fluid power system from serious damage when a component such
as a pump or strainer or cooler begins to malfunction.
 Temperature sensors such as bimetallic strips, thermocouples, thermistors are widely used
in fluid power industry.

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Level sensor
 A level sensor is a device for determining the level or amount of fluids, liquids or other
substances that flow in an open or closed system.
 Level sensors are widely used in fluid power industry. They can also be found in industrial
storage tanks, for slurries, and in household appliances such as coffee machines. There are
two types of level measurements, namely, continuous and point level measurements.
 Continuous level sensors are used for measuring levels to a specific limit, but they provide
accurate results. Point level sensors, on the other hand, only determine if the liquid
Level is high or low.
 The level sensors are usually connected to an output unit for transmitting the results to a
monitoring system. Current technologies employ wireless transmission of data to the
monitoring system, which is useful in elevated and dangerous locations that cannot be
easily accessed by common workers.

The following are the major types of level sensors:

1. Ultrasonic Level Sensors

2. Capacitance Level Sensors
3. Optical Level Sensors

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 FLUID POWER SYSTEMS

ACTUATORS

 Pumps perform the function of adding energy to a hydraulic system for transmission to
some remote point. Fluid power actuators just do the opposite. They extract energy from the
fluid and convert it to a mechanical output to perform useful work
 A hydraulic or pneumatic system is generally concerned with moving, gripping or applying
force to an object. Devices which actually achieve this purpose are called actuators.
 Hydraulic actuators are installed to drive loads by converting the hydraulic power into
mechanical power. The hydraulic actuators are classified into two main groups according to
motion type:

1. Linear actuators (Cylinders), as the name implies, are used to move an object or apply a
force in a straight line.
2. Rotary actuators (Motors) are the hydraulic and pneumatic equivalent of an electric
motor.

Hydraulic Cylinders

Introduction

 The hydraulic cylinders convert the hydraulic power into mechanical power, performing
rectilinear motion. Cylinders are linear actuators that can push and pull, and when mounted
around a joint, can actuate rotary motion. The pressure of input oil is converted into the
force acting on the piston.

The Construction of Hydraulic Cylinders

 The construction of hydraulic and pneumatic linear actuators is similar. However they differ
at their operating pressure ranges. Typical pressure of hydraulic cylinders is about 100 bar
and of pneumatic system is around 10 bar.

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 It consists mainly of the piston, a piston rod, cylinder barrel, cylinder head, and cylinder
cap.
 The piston rod is extruded through the cylinder head. The piston carries a convenient sealing
assembly to insure the required internal tightness, while the cylinder head is equipped with
convenient seals to resist external leakage.

There are 2 types of cylinders:

 Single-acting
 Double-acting

Single-acting
 A single-acting cylinder can exert a force in only the extending direction as fluid from the
pump enters the blank end of the cylinder hence they are named as single acting cylinders.
 Single acting cylinders do not retract hydraulically. The cylinder retracts due to either
gravitational force or assisted by a spring.

Double acting cylinder

 The main parts of a hydraulic double acting cylinder are: piston, piston rod, cylinder tube,
and end caps.
 The piston rod is connected to piston head and the other end extends out of the cylinder.
 The piston divides the cylinder into two chambers namely the rod end side and piston end
side.
 The seals prevent the leakage of oil between these two chambers. The cylindrical tube is
fitted with end caps. The pressurized oil, air enters the cylinder chamber through the ports
provided.
 In the rod end cover plate, a wiper seal is provided to prevent the leakage of oil and entry of
the contaminants into the cylinder. The combination of wiper seal, bearing and sealing ring is
called as cartridge assembly.
 The end caps may be attached to the tube by threaded connection, welded connection or tie
rod connection. The piston seal prevents metal to metal contact and wear of piston head and

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the tube. These seals are replaceable. End cushioning is also provided to prevent the impact
with end caps.

Mounting arrangements

 Cylinder mounting is determined by the application. Two basic types are shown in Figure.
The clamp of Figure 2.29a requires a simple fixed mounting. The pusher of Figure 2.29b .
Requires a cylinder mount which can pivot.
 Figure 2.30 shows various mounting methods using these two basic types. The effects of side
loads should be considered on non-centreline mountings such as the foot mount. Swivel
mounting obviously requires flexible pipes.

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Cylinder Cushioning
 The extension and retraction speeds of hydraulic cylinders are managed by controlling the
inlet or exit-oil flow rates.
 When reaching its end position, the piston is suddenly stopped. In the case of high speed
and/or great inertia, the sudden stopping of the piston results in a severe impact force. It
affects both the cylinder and the driven mechanism. Therefore, a cushioning arrangement
might be necessary to reduce the piston speed to a limiting value before piston reaches its end
position.

Working

 Cushions may be applied at either end or both ends. They operate on the principle that as the
cylinder piston approaches the end of stroke; an exhaust fluid is forced to go through an
adjustable needle valve that is set to control the escaping fluid at a given rate.
 This allows the deceleration characteristics to be adjusted for different loads. When the
cylinder piston is actuated, the fluid enters the cylinder port and flows through the little check
valve so that the entire piston area can be utilized to produce force and motion.
 A typical cushioning arrangement is shown in Fig

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Introduction to Hydraulic motors

 The function of hydraulic motors is the reverse of that of the pump. A hydraulic motor is a
device which converts fluid power into rotary power or converts fluid pressure into torque.
They perform continuous rotary motion. The displacement of a hydraulic motor is the
volume of oil needed to rotate the motor shaft by one complete revolution. The motor speed
depends on the flow rate.

Classification of Hydraulic Motors

Depending upon the mechanism employed to provide shaft rotation, hydraulic motors can be
classified as follows:

1. Gear motors.
2. Vane motors.
3. Piston motors:
a) Axial piston-type piston motors.
b) Radial piston-type piston motors.

Gear motors are the least efficient, most dirt-tolerant and have the lowest pressure rating. Piston
motors are the most efficient, least dirt-tolerant and have high pressure ratings. Vane and piston
motors can be fixed or variable displacement, but gear motors are available with only fixed
displacement.

1. Gear Motors:
 Gear motors are very similar in design to the gear pumps, but motors are usually designed to
have a case drain port and a reversible direction of rotation.
 A gear motor develops torque due to hydraulic pressure acting against the area of one tooth.
There are two teeth trying to move the rotor in the proper direction, while one net tooth at the
center mesh tries to move it in the opposite
direction.
Working
 In the design of a gear motor, one of the
gears is keyed to an output shaft, while the
other is simply an idler gear. Pressurized oil
is sent to the inlet port of the motor.
Pressure is then applied to the gear teeth,
causing the gears and output shaft to rotate.
The pressure builds until enough torque is
generated to rotate the output shaft against
the load. The side load on the motor bearing

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is quite high because all the hydraulic pressure is on one side. This limits the bearing life of
the motor.
 Schematic diagram of gear motor is shown in Fig.

2. Vane Motors

 A rotary vane motor consists of

circular chamber in which there is an
eccentric rotor with sliding vanes in
the slots provided on the rotor. The
rotor is placed eccentrically with the
housing. Fluid enters from the inlet
port, rotates the rotor and thus torque
is produced.

Balanced Vane Motor

 Figure shows the balanced vane motor. The radial bearing load problem is eliminated in this
design by using a double-lobed ring with diametrically opposite ports.
 Side force on one side of bearing is canceled by an equal and opposite force from the
diametrically opposite pressure port. The like ports are generally connected internally so that
only one inlet and one outlet port are brought outside. The balanced vane-type motor is
reliable open-loop control motor but has more internal leakage than piston-type.

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3. Piston Motors
 Piston motors are the most like their pump counterparts and incorporate only minor changes
to effect the conversion. Piston motors are classified into the following types:
a) Axial piston motors.
b) Radial piston motors.

Axial Piston Motors

 In axial piston motors, the piston reciprocates parallel to the axis of the cylinder [Link]
motors are available with both fixed-and variable-displacement feature types. They generate
torque by pressure acting on the ends of pistons reciprocating inside a cylinder block.
 Figure illustrates the inline design in which the motor, drive shaft and cylinder block bfloek
are centered on the same axis.
 Pressure acting on the ends of the piston generates a torque that against an angled swash
plate. This causes the cylinder block to rotate with torque that is proportional to the area of
the pistons. The torque is also a function of the swash plate angle. The inline piston motor is
designed either as a fixed- or a variable-displacement unit.
 The swash plate determines the volumetric displacement. In variable-displacement units, the
swash plate is mounted on the swinging yoke. The angle can be varied by various means
such as a lever, hand wheel or servo control. If the offset angle is increased the displacement
and torque capacity increase but the speed of the drive shaft decreases.
 Conversely, reducing the angle reduces the torque capability but increases the drive shaft
speed.

Bent-Axis Piston Motors

 A bent-axis piston motor is shown in Fig.. This type of motor develops torque due to pressure
acting on the reciprocating piston. In this motor, the cylinder block and drive shaft mount at
an angel to each other so that the force is exerted on the drive shaft flange.
 Speed and torque depend on the angle between the cylinder block and the drive shaft. The
larger the angle, greater is the displacement and torque, and results in smaller speed. This

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angle varies from 7.5° (minimum) to 30° (maximum). This type of motor is available in two
types, namely fixed-displacement type and variable-displacement type.

Radial Piston Motors

 In radial piston-type motors, the piston reciprocates radially or perpendicular to the axis of
the output shaft. The basic principle of operation of the radial piton motors is shown in Fig.
Radial piston motors are low-speed high-torque motors which can address a multifarious
problem in diverse power transfer applications.

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