UNIT-III

DESIGN AND SELECTION OF HYDRAULIC COMPONENTS

Design of speed control circuits

• The speed of the hydraulic cylinder is determined by the fluid flow rate and the
piston area.
• These dimensions are generally taken as standard fixed one and so speed is
controlled by only adjusting the flow to the hydraulic cylinder.
There are three speed control circuits which are given below:
1. Meter - out circuit
2. Meter - in circuit
3. Bleed - off circuit

Meter out circuit

• If the extension speed circuit is commonly used in is to be controlled, then this
machine tools which require meter out circuit is used. This precise control of the

the discharge (or) exhaust side of the cylinder (i.e., during extension out).
• Thus, the meter out circuit provides a controlled extension speed and full
retraction speed.
• For this, a compensated flow control valve is used to measure and meter the fluid
before entering into the blank, end of the cylinder.
• Milling cutters and drills passing through the work piece often tend to drag the
entire tool unit forward. Considerable force is required to push the tool during the
cutting cycle.
• Metering and controlling the flow of fluid into the blank end of the cylinder
prevents this break through condition from affecting the speed of drill feed.
During retraction stroke, the fluid is forced through integral check valve to the
tank and results in a repaid travel of the tool to the starting position and hence
become ready for the next cycle.
Bleed oft circuit
 • Bleed off circuit is used to control the flow of fluid in both directions of flow (or)
on a specific line and limits speed in only one direction of the cylinder travel. The
bleed off circuit is shown here.

• Here the compensated fl6w control valve is connected in the pressure line. Hence
it can control the flow of fluid in both directions of the y travel.
• If the compensated flow control valve is connected to the cylinder line (i.e. above
the DCV), then it can control the speed of extension stroke (or) retraction stroke.
• Bleed off circuits are widely used in broaching machines, shaping machines,
planning machines, and similar types of machines where a fairly large quantity of
fluid is used.
• For large flows, the degree of accuracy of bleed off circuits is adequate. But, this
circuit may not be sensitive enough to compensate for very small flows such as
those encountered in precise boring operations.

Regenerative circuit
• Regenerative circuit is used to increase the speed of the extension stroke of the
double acting hydraulic cylinder.
• In the DCV, the port B is blocked. Instead, by pass connection is made to connect
the rod end of cylinder and pressure line.
• When the DCV is in the right envelope mode, the flow from pump forces into the
rod end of cylinder through by pass connection. (Because port B is blocked) The
speed of this retraction stroke is normal and same as that of a regular double
acting cylinder.
• Fluid in the blank end flows back to the tank as the cylinder retracts.
• When the DCV is shifted to the right envelope mode, the cylinder extends. The
speed of the extension stroke is greater than that of a regular double acting
cylinder.
Counter Balance Valve Circuits
• The following circuit shows the use of a counter balance valve to keep a vertical
cylinder in the upward position while the pump is stopped. The cylinder supports a load
W and the load is held in that position.
• This is done by the counter balance valve set for a force slightly above the
external load W. When the load is to be. lowered, the fluid is forced to the blank
end of the piston through DCV.
• The increased pressure causes the counter balance valve to open in order to lower
the load. A check valve is provided in the circuit to allow free flow for raising the
load.

• The important function of a reservoir is to store the hydraulic fluid. A reservoir

serves not only as a storage space but also as the principal location where the fluid
is conditioned.
 • The reservoir is the location where sludge, water, metal chips are allowed to settle
down and air picked up by the oil is allowed to escape. The heat is also dissipated
in properly designed reservoir.
1. Hydraulic reservoir
2, Filters and strainers
3. Sealing
4. Hydraulic accumulators
5. Pressure intensified (or) Boosters

The following are the important auxiliary components used in the hydraulic circuits.

1. Oil storage: The oil level will fall and rise when the piston extends and retracts. The
reservoir must be supplied with oil to makeup for the oil lost from the system due to leaks
and spills.
Hence the reservoir serves as a mounting base for other components and in addition,
serves the following important functions.
2. Oil cooling: Heat is developed in the hydraulic system in several ways like friction in
pumps, hydraulic actuators and bearings. A large part of the hear so generated is carried
by the flowing oil to the reservoir. For small system, the reservoir can be designed to
release the heat. For large system, a heat exchanger must be provided to remove the heat
from oil.
3. Dirt precipitation: Dirt generated in the system is carried to the reservoir. Oil velocity
in the reservoir must be reduced so that the dirt can settle. The larger the reservoir, then
lower the oil velocity in traveling through it. A guideline is available for different
reservoir size.
4. Air purging: Entrained air and foam can escape from the oil if it is retained in the
reservoir for short time before being picked up and recalculated. If the reservoir is large,
then the oil should have to purge air and foam for long time.

Construction of a simple reservoir

A simple reservoir construction is shown in fig.

• Welded steel plates are used to construct the reservoir. The inside surfaces are
painted to prevent rust.
• The bottom plate contains a drain plug at its lowest point to drain out the oil
when required. Removable covers are used for easy cleaning.
• Air breather cap and fitter are also included to allow the tank to breathe as oil
level changes due to system demand requirements. By this arrangement, the tank
is always vented to the atmosphere.
• The electric motor and pump can be installed at its top surface. The return line
should enter the reservoir on the side of the baffle plate that is opposite from
pump suction line.
• The pump suction strainer should be well below the normal oil level in the
reservoir. A sight glass is also included to permit visual check of the fluid level.
 • A baffle plate is provided to separate the pump inlet line from the return line in
Order to prevent the same fluid from recirculation continuously within the tank.
• A reservoir should have capacity of three times the volumetric flow rate of the
pump for most of the hydraulic system where average demands are expected.

Filters and strainers

• Filters and strainers are used to remove the dirt and contaminants from the fluid.
• Filters are used to remove very fine particles (in microns) where strainers are used
to Remove larger particles only.
• Filters returns the insoluble contaminants from fluid by means of some porous
medium.
• A strainer known as coarse filter is constructed by means of wire screen. Since
these strainers have low pressure drops, they are usually installed in the pump
suction.
• Dirt in a hydraulic system causes contamination of fluid and results in sticking of
valves, failure of seals and premature wear.
• Even small particle of 20 micron size is Enough to contaminate the fluid.
Contamination is in the form of a liquid, gas or solid.
• The metal chips, bits of pipe threads, tubing burrs, pipe dope, sheds of plastic
tape, bits of seal material, welding beads, bits of hose and dirt cause the
contamination during component maintenance and assembly
 • The moisture due to water condensation inside the reservoir, entrained gases,
scale caused by rust, bits of worn seal materials, particles of metal due to wear,
and sludge’s and varnishes due to oxidation of the oil cause the contamination
during operation of a hydraulic system.
• To remove iron and steel particles from the fluid, a magnetic plug is installed in
some reservoir. But the filters and strainers are playing important role for making
the fluid clean.

Filtering methods and positions

There are three methods to filter the fluid in the hydraulic system.
1. Mechanical filtering method
2. Absorbent filtering method
3. Adsorbent filtering method

Position Of Filters

Inlet line filter

• Inlet line filters part the pump by being installed in between the pump and
reservoir.
• This filters must be designed to give a low pressure drop.

021
• Pressure line filters are installed after the pump to protect valves and actuators
and can be finer and smaller.
• They must be designed to withstand the maximum system pressure without
damage.
Sealing

• Sealing is. used to prevent the oil leakage in a hydraulic system. Oil leakage
reduces the efficiency and increases power losses.
• Most of the hydraulic components have clearances which permit small amount of
internal leakage .
• When the clearance between the mating parts increase due to wear, the leakage
increases. If the leakage increases, then the part of the pump’s output is wasted
and the actuators will not operate properly.
• To prevent this leakage, seals are used. Also, the seals are used to keep out
contaminated particles. Seals are designed as positive or non-positive type and
can be designed for static and dynamic applications.
• Positive type seals will not allow any leakage. Non positive type seals will allow
clearance to provide a lubricating oil film between the mating parts and hence
they will permit a small amount of internal leakage.
• Static seals are assembled between the mating parts which are not moving relative
to each other. Flange gaskets and seals are the examples of this type and they are
compressed between two rigidly connected (or fastened) parts.
• Dynamic seals are assembled between mating parts which move relative to each
other. Hence, the dynamic seals are subject to wear fast because one of the mating
parts rubs against the seal.

The following are the important types of seals.

1, 0-rings
4. Piston rings 5.
2. Compression packing (V and U shapes) 3. Piston cup packing Wiper rings which are
shown in figures.
Hydraulic Accumulators:
• Hydraulic accumulators are already discussed in the last chapter. Hydraulic
accumulators are used to store the hydraulic fluid under pressure and release
pressurized fluid to the system on demand.
• The potential energy is stored in the accumulator and act as a secondary (or)
auxiliary power source to do useful work whenever required by the system.
• Accumulators improve the system efficiency by reducing the pump requirement.
Various types of accumulators namely weight (or) gravity type, spring loaded
type and gas loaded type are already studied.
• Among them, the gas loaded separator type accumulators are very much widely
used in the hydraulic circuits which are given below.

Gas load spearator type accumulators are classified as:

1. Piston type 2. Diaphragm type 3. Bladder type

Piston type gas loaded accumulator

• The piston type consists of a cylinder and piston with proper seals. The piston is
the separator (barrier) separating the oil and gas.
• A threaded lock ring is used for safety purpose, to prevent the operator from
disassembling the unit while it is precharged with gas.
• The advantage of the piston type accumulator is that it can handle very high (or)
low temperature of system fluids through the utilization of compatible 0-ring
seals.
• The main disadvantage of the piston ty accumulators are that they are expensive
to manufacture and have practical size limitations. Also, leakage of gas occurs
over a long period of tithe and hence they should be precharged frequently.
Diaphragm type accumulator
• The diaphragm type accumulator consists of a steel shell diaphragm, shutt off
button, screw plug and seal ring.
• The diaphragm is secured in the steel shell and acts as an elastic barrier separating
the oil and gas.
• A shut off button is secured at the base of the diaphragm and is used to prevent
the diaphragm from being pressed into the opening during the precharge period.

• High pressure oil is forced into he accumulator by the hydraulic pump. In the
accumulator, when the pressure increases, the volume of gas decreases and the
hydraulic energy is stored in the gas.
 • When the system pressure is down and when additional oil is required in the
hydraulic circuit, the gas expands, the oil from the accumulator is forced into the
system to make up the pressure drop in the system.
• The advantage of this type is that it has small weight-to-volume ratio and hence it
is most suitable for air borne applications.

Bladder type accumulator

• A bladder is an elastic barrier and is fitted in the bladder type accumulator to act
as a separator between the oil and gas.
• The bladder is fitted in the accumulator by means of a vulcanized gas-valve
element and can be installed or removed through the shell-opening at the poppet
valve.
• The poppet valve closes the inlet when the accumulator bladder is then expanded.
This prevents the bladder form being pressed into the opening.
• A shock absorbing device protects the valve against the accidental shock during
quick opening.
• The advantage of this type of accumulator is that it provides positive sealing
between the gas and oil chambers.

Pressure Intensifiers (or) Boosters

A pressure intensifier is used to increase value above the pump discharge pressure.

Hydraulic coolers and heaters (Heat exchangers)

• In smaller hydraulic systems, the reservoir itself is designed to dissipate the heat
from the fluid, but in larger systems, additional cooling is required with the help
of hydraulic coolers.
• The following table shows approximate amount of heat losses from various sizes
of reservoirs.
 • The relationship between volume and heat loss is non-linear and it is cubic
because the volume increases as the cube.
• Heaters are used to heat the oil in the reservoir in cold weather conditions. It
prevents the oil from freezing. The symbol for cooler and heater are shown here.

Coolers and heat exchangers

• Water cooling is most common in hydraulic systems. The normal form of a shell
and tube heat exchanger is shown here.
• This is the counter flow type in which the cooling water flows in the opposite
direction.
• This is fitted in the return line to the tank.
 • It is similar to automobile indicator but has very high pressure rating. The fan
blows air through the radiator matrix.
• But air cooling is noisy and it occupies more space than a water cooler. But it
does not have the contamination from leakage inside a water cooler.
• Air cooling is also common which is shown here

Selection Of Hydraulic Components

Selection of inlet pipe line and outlet pipe line

• The size of pipe and hose for small size is used, then oil velocity and generates
heat in the oil. On the the losses will be low and the power time for installation
will be more.
• a hydraulic system is very much important.
• If too will be too high. This creates excessive power loss other hand, if the pipe
size is larger than necessary, transfer will be good but the cost of materials and
Selection of pump and estimating input power to a hydraulic system
• The input to a hydraulic system is normally mechanical power from an electric
motor or an engine.
• First of all, this mechanical power should be converted into fluid power by a
pump, and a certain amount of it will be lost due to friction and flow resistance in
the pump.
• Next, the fluid power should be transmitted through pipes and valves, and some
additional part of it will be lost due to flow resistance.
• Finally, the power should be re-converted into mechanical power before it can be
used. This conversion is by means of a hydraulic cylinder (or) hydraulic motor,
and some of it will be lost in mechanical friction.
• All of these power losses should be taken into account when calculating the
amount of input power required to produce the mechanical output power required.
Output force:
• The first step in designing any hydraulic system is to calculate the amount of
output force needed to move the load.
• By choosing a suitable cylinder bore size, the fluid pressure to produce the output
force can be calculated
 • While selecting a cylinder, there will be many number of combinations of bore
diameter and pressure level which will produce the amount of force needed to
balance the load resistance.
• The designer can choose the bore and pressure combination which seems most
appropriate for the job.

Pump pressure:
• The pressure produced by the pump should be higher than the pressure calculated
to just balance the load resistance.
• Oil cannot move through the hydraulic circuit from pump to cylinder unless there
is enough additional pressure to push it through the flow resistance of piping and
valves.
• For designing new circuit, it is difficult to accurately calculate the pressure
needed to overcome flow resistance.
• A designer should• make a educated guess on the first prototype model.
• After the first model has been tested for performance, the specifications on pump
pressure and input horsepower can be adjusted to more accurate values. Normally,
an additional pressure of minimum 15% to maximum 25% above the load
resistance pressure should be allowed.
• On automobile equipments, an allowance of about 30% can be given because
there are usually higher flow losses in a mobile system.
• When the oil is flowing through components such as pressure reducing valves,
flow dividers, flow combiners, pressure compensated flow control valves, another
5% pressure should be added for each such component. On the first model, it is
recommended to give a generous allowance on pump pressure so that the system
will not end up with under power.
Cylinder speed: Using the cylinder bore previously selected, the oil flow rate necessary
to produce the desired speed from the cylinder can be calculated using the following
formula.
Compare these circuits. One of them is conventional hydraulic circuit and other is a
circuit using an accumulator.
• They both produce the same cylinder force and speed. But the accumulator circuit
is cheaper to build.
• In conventional circuit, (fig A), the cylinder is in motion about 20% of the time.
During the other 80% it is stopped, waiting for the operator to unload and reload
the machine. But the pump and electric motor should be sized large enough to
produce full horsepower on a continuous basis even though it is being used only
20% of the time. This is a waste of 80% of the potential capacity of the pump and
electric motor.
• In accumulator circuit (fig B) the cylinder will produce the same force and speed
but can operate with an electric motor and pump as large, supplemented with oil
flow from an accumulator.
• Oil discharged from an accumulator adds to the steady flow from a pump to
produce a cylinder speed faster than is possible with the pump alone.
• Hydraulic systems using accumulator are usually designed for a working pressure,
with accumulator fully charged, of 200 bar kPa.
• At this pressure, the maximum capability of the accumulator can be utilized and
the system will produce the maximum capacity.
• The problem of accumulator is that it is starting with full pressure charge and then
its pressure falls as oil is discharged. Hence, the starting pressure should be high
enough so that the necessary force can still be produced at the lowest pressure to
which accumulator will fall during its discharge.

The required capacity of accumulator depends on

1. The bore and stroke of the cylinder
2. The time allowed for the working stroke (normally extension stroke is assumed)

3. The minimum pressure which should be available at the end of the cylinder stroke.
The above chart shows the volume of oil recovered from a 1-gallon size accumulator (1
gallon capacity means 1 = 3.785 liters/sec. 1 = 0.0631 litres/sec.) as it discharges from a
fully charged pressure of 200 bar to the lower pressure levels shown in the left column. A
2 gallon accumulator will deliver twice these amounts, a 6 gallon accumulator will
deliver 6 times and so on.

How to select Accumulator size: Assume that the accumulator discharge will be used
only on the extension stroke (working stroke) and that the cylinder will be allowed to
retract by pump oil alone. A fully discharged pressure of 200 bar is also assumed.

Step 1: Select the bore of the cylinder for sufficient force i.e., 200 bar
Step 2: Calculate the volume of oil needed to fill the cylinder to its bore and forward
stroke (V
Step 3: Using stop watch, find the time in seconds allowed for the forward stroke and
calculate the volume of oil V which will be delivered from the pump during this time
interval.
Step 4: Find V —V This is the volume of oil which must be supplied froth the
accumulator.
Step 5: Using the chart, find the amount of accumulator oil which could be supplied from
a 1-gallon size before its pressure dropped below the acceptable lower pressure. Divide
this figure into the total volume needed for the application, and this will be the minimum
gallon capacity for a suitable accumulator. Choose a next larger standard size
accumulator.

Selection Of Heat Exchanger

First of all, find the capacity of a heat exchanger which can be applied to the existing
system to reduce oil temperature from an undesirable higher level to a desired lower
level.

Three measurements should be taken before using the chart.

1. Measure the oil temperature using thermocouple on the side wall of the reservoir
below the oil level.
2 Measure the temperature of atmospheric air surrounding the reservoir
3. Measure the reservoir area of all metal surfaces, including top, bottom and sides of
reservoir, and cylinder walls which radiate heat. The plumping and valve surfaces are
also taken into account.
The chart shown below is used to find the amount of heat which is radiated from the over
heated system.