Hydraulic and

Pneumatic Power
Systems

Prof. Dr. Omar Badran

 ‫س ُك ْم ۚ أَفَ ََل ت ُ ْب ِص ُر َ‬
‫ون‬ ‫َو ِف ٓى أَنفُ ِ‬
‫التفسير الميسر ‪ :‬وفي خلق أنفسكم دالئل على‬
‫قدرة هللا تعالى‪ ،‬وعبر تدلكم على وحدانية خالقكم‪،‬‬
‫غفَلتم عنها‪،‬‬
‫وأنه ال إله لكم يستحق العبادة سواه‪ ،‬أ َ‬
‫فال تبصرون ذلك‪ ،‬فتعتبرون به؟‬
Hydraulic and Pneumatic Power Systems

30128443
Course Description

Introduction to fluid power, physical

properties of hydraulic fluid, Hydraulic
cylinder and cushioning devices, hydraulic
motors, hydraulic valves; hydraulic circuits
design and analysis; pneumatic: air
preparation and components; pneumatic
circuit and applications; control of fluid
power, computer applications.
Textbook

Fluid power with applications, Anthony Esposito , 8-th

edition 2014

References

http://www.hydraulicspneumatics.com

1. Lecture notes, course Pneumatic and Hydraulic Drives prepared by Dr.

Mohamad Alia.
2.Fundamentals of pneumatic control engineering . A test book from
FESTO. J.P. Hasbrink , R. Kobler, 1987, Germany
3. Hydraulics Basic Principles and Components. Didactic from Rexrroth
H.Exner, R.Freity and others.OMEGN,2002.Germany
Chapter 1
Learning Objectives

1. Explain what fluid power is.

2. Differentiate between the terms hydraulics and pneumatics.

3. Understand the difference between fluid power systems and fluid transport systems

4. Appreciate the history of the fluid power industry.

5. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of fluid power.

6. Describe key applications of fluid power.

7. Specify the basic components of fluid power systems.

8. Appreciate the size and scope of the fluid power industry.

9. Identify the categories of personnel who are employed in the fluid power
industry.
Introduction to Pneumatic and Hydraulic Drives

What is Pneumatic (from the Greek pneumn for wind or breath).?

Pneumatics is the discipline that deals with mechanical properties of gases such
as pressure and density, and applies the principles to use compressed gas as a
source of power to solve Engineering problems.

What is Hydraulic (from the Greek words hydra for water and aulos for a pipe)?

Hydraulics is the discipline that deals with the mechanical properties of liquids,
and applies the principles to solve engineering problems.
Pneumatic and Hydraulic Drives or Fluid Power?

What do we mean by Pneumatic and Hydraulic Drives ?

Pneumatic and Hydraulic Drives

- It is mainly considered with energy conservation or conversion[1]

- Converting pressure into force

- Converting of flow into speed

[1] lecture notes

 Fluid power

Fluid power is the technology that deals with the generation, control, and transmission
of power, using pressurized fluids.

Fluid power is called hydraulics when the fluid is a liquid

Fluid power is s called pneumatics when the fluid is a gas.

Thus fluid power is the general term used for both hydraulics and pneumatic&
Hydraulic systems

The terms “fluid power” and “hydraulics and pneumatics” are synonymous
Examples of fluid power
Steering and braking in automobiles
Spacecraft launcher

Applications include landing gear, brakes, flight controls, motor controls and cargo
loading equipment.
Harvests crop
Dental teeth drill
Food industry
Hydraulic Chain Saw
Pneumatic Chain Hoist
Fluid systems

Fluid transport systems

Fluid transport systems have as their sole objective the delivery of a fluid from one
location to another to accomplish some useful purpose

Example

pumping stations for pumping water to homes

Fluid power systems

Fluid power systems are designed specifically to perform work.

Example

Operating fluid cylinder or fluid motor

Type of Fluids

1. Hydraulic systems

A. Water Hydraulic system

- Water hydraulics is expected to become more prevalent.

- In Some applications water hydraulics should be used rather than oil ones.

Advantages Disadvantages

- abundance It freezes more readily

- friendly It is not as good a lubricant
- nonflammability
It tends to rust preventive
Improvement of water characteristics

The water contains additives to improve lubricity and rust protection and prevent
freezing where necessary.
B. Oil Hydraulic system

Petroleum oils and synthetic oils

The advantages and disadvantages of oil will be discussed later

Why Liquids

-Liquids provide a very rigid medium for transmitting power

-They can operate under high pressures to provide huge forces and torques to drive
loads with utmost accuracy and precision
Pneumatic systems
Pneumatic systems use air as the gas medium because air is very abundant and can be
readily exhausted into the atmosphere after completing its assigned task

Why Air?

- Spongy characteristics due to the compressibility of air.

- They are less expensive to build and operate.

- They can be used effectively in applications where Low pressures can be

used because the loads to be driven do not require large forces.
 HISTORY OF FLUID POWER

Ancient historical accounts show that water was used for centuries to produce
power by means of water wheels, and air was used to turn windmills and propel
ships.

Pascal’s law and Bernoulli’s law operate at the very heart of all fluid power.

Bernoulli Pascal
opening the temple’s gate (Pharaoh)
The usage of compressed air :
Reconstruction of the water organ of Ktesibios (Arens, 1960).
2. Glycerine Clock
Hydraulic jack
Beginning of Modern Era

- in 1906 when a hydraulic system was developed to replace electrical systems

for elevating and controlling guns on the battleship USS Virginia.
- In 1926 the United States developed the first unitized, packaged hydraulic
system consisting of a pump, controls, and actuator.
Today’s Fluid Power

- Computerized fluid- power drives are available

- Computer programming and bending process simulations are generated from

a 3D model of the desired panel using CAD/CAM software.

- microfluid power systems

- nanotechnology
Hydraulic and Pneumatic systems and nanotechnology

large-scale integrated microfluidic comparator containing 256 subnanoliter

reaction chambers and 2056 microvalves
Electrical , pneumatic and hydraulic systems

Let us consider the following task

The task considered is how to lift a load by a distance of about 500 mm. Such tasks
are common in manufacturing industries.

Direction
Load
A
Electrical solution
Basic choices;
- solenoid: the solenoid produces a linear stroke directly
but its stroke is normally limited to a maximum distance of around 100 mm.

- DC and AC motors : DC and AC motors are rotary devices and their outputs
need to be converted to linear motion by mechanical devices such as
wormscrews or rack and pinions.

• The choice of motor depends largely on the speed control requirements.

• A DC motor fitted with a tacho and driven by a thyristor drive can give excellent
speed control, but has high maintenance requirements for brushes and
commutator.
•An AC motor is virtually maintenance free, but is essentially a fixed speed
device (with speed being determined by number of poles and the supply
frequency).
• Speed can be adjusted with a variable frequency drive, but care needs to be
taken to avoid overheating as most motors are cooled by an internal fan
connected directly to the motor shaft.
• We will assume a fixed speed raise/lower is required, so an AC motor driving a
screwjack would seem to be the logical choice.
 Electrical solution, based on three phase motor

Operation
a mechanical jack driven by an AC motor controlled by a reversing starter.
Auxiliary equipment comprises two limit switches, and a motor overload
protection device. There is no practical load limitation provided screw/gearbox
ratio, motor size and contactor rating are correctly calculated.
Hydraulic solution
A solution using hydraulic system can be realized using a hydraulic
linear actuator (arm).
It consists of a movable piston connected directly to the output shaft
If fluid is pumped into pipe A the piston will move up and the shaft will extend; if
fluid is pumped into pipe B, the shaft will retract.

Hydraulic cylinder
Physical components
 - The maximum force available from the cylinder depends on fluid pressure
and cross sectional area of the piston.

- The system requires a liquid fluid to operate; expensive and messy and,
consequently, the piping must act as a closed loop, with fluid transferred from a
storage tank to one side of the piston, and returned from the other side of the
piston to the tank. Fluid is drawn from the tank by a pump which produces fluid
flow at the required 150 bar.
- Cylinder movement is controlled by a three position changeover valve.
- Speed control is easily achieved by regulating the volume flow rate to the
cylinder (discussed in a later section).
- Precise control at low speeds is one of the main advantages of hydraulic
systems.
- Travel limits are determined by the cylinder stroke and cylinders, generally, can
be allowed to stall at the ends of travel so no overtravel protection is required.

- The pump needs to be turned by an external power source; almost certainly an

AC induction motor which, in turn, requires a motor starter and overload
protection.
- Hydraulic fluid needs to be very clean, hence a filter is needed to remove dirt
particles before the fluid passes from the tank to the pump.
- One final point worth mentioning is that leaks of fluid from the system are
unsightly, slippery (hence hazardous) and environmentally very undesirable A
major failure can be catastrophic.
 Pneumatic solution

-The basic actuator is again a cylinder

- The maximum force on the shaft being determined by air pressure and piston
cross sectional area.
- Operating pressures in pneumatic systems are generally much lower than those in
a hydraulic systems;
- Pneumatic systems therefore require larger actuators than hydraulic systems for
the same load.
- The valve delivering air to the cylinder operates in a similar way to its hydraulic
equivalent.
- One notable difference arises out of the simple fact that air is free; return air is
simply vented to atmosphere.
- Air is drawn from the atmosphere via an air filter and raised to required pressure
by an air compressor (usually driven by an AC motor).
- The air temperature is raised considerably by this compressor.
- Air also contains a significant amount of water vapour.
- Compressibility of a gas makes it necessary to store a volume of pressurised gas
in a reservoir, to be drawn on by the load.
The air treatment unit is thus followed by an air reservoir.
- Pressure control is much simpler.
- The general impression is again one of complexity
Comparisons of electrical, hydraulic and pneumatic systems
ADVANTAGES OF FLUID POWER
1. Ease and accuracy of control.

Stopping

Starting

Speed control

Position
2. Multiplication of force.

A fluid power system can multiply forces simply and efficiently from a fraction of
an ounce to several hundred tons of output.
3. Constant force or torque.

- Only fluid power systems are capable of providing constant force or torque
regardless of speed changes.

-Instantly reversible motion

- automatic protection against overloads

- infinitely variable speed control.

- the highest power-per-weight ratio of any known power source.

Drawbacks of Fluid Power

Oil leakage from the hydraulic system into the surroundings.

Hydraulic pipeline can burst due to excessive oil pressure if proper system design
is not implemented

In pneumatic systems, components such as compressed air tanks and accumulators

must be properly selected to handle the system maximum air pressure.

level of noise in the vicinity of fluid power systems.

COMPONENTS OF A FLUID POWER SYSTEM
Basic hydraulic system with Linear hydraulic actuator (cylinder).
Basic hydraulic system with rotary hydraulic actuator
There are six basic components required in a hydraulic system

1. A tank (reservoir) to hold the hydraulic oil

2. A pump to force the oil through the system

3. An electric motor or other power source to drive the pump

4. Valves to control oil direction, pressure, and flow rate

5. An actuator to convert the pressure of the oil into mechanical force

or torque to do useful work.

6. Piping, which carries the oil from one location to another

There are six basic components required in Pneumatic System

1. An air tank to store a given volume of compressed air

2. A compressor to compress the air that comes directly from the atmosphere

3. An electric motor or other prime mover to drive the compressor

4. Valves to control air direction, pressure, and flow rate

5. Actuators, which are similar in operation to hydraulic actuators

6. Piping to carry the pressurized air from one location to another

THE FLUID POWER INDUSTRY
Size and Scope

- Over half of all U.S. industrial products have fluid power systems or components
as part of their basic design.
- About 75% of all fluid power sales are hydraulic and 25% are pneumatic.
Personnel
1. Fluid power mechanics.

- Workers in this category are responsible for repair and maintenance of

fluid power equipment.
- They generally are high school graduates who have undertaken an
apprenticeship training program.

2. Fluid power technicians.

-These people usually assist engineers
-They generally are graduates of two-year technical and community

3. fluid power engineers.

- developer, designer of new fluid power components or systems.

- The fluid power engineer typically is a graduate of a four-year college
program.