Hydraulic & Pneumatic

Power systems, the four families, and why hydrostatic hydraulics.

How pressure on an area becomes force — the hydraulic force multiplier.

How the flow into a cylinder sets how fast it moves.

Power = pressure × flow — putting force and speed together.

Reading and drawing standard hydraulic circuit diagrams.

The four jobs the oil does at once, the fluid families, and how to choose one.

Viscosity made exact — the oil's resistance to shear and the law that measures it.

Mass per unit volume — small and nearly constant, but it sets the oil's inertia.

ν = μ/ρ — what datasheets and ISO grades actually quote, and how oil is chosen.

Oil does squeeze a little — bulk modulus sets system stiffness; air wrecks it.

Heat trapped oil with nowhere to expand and the pressure rockets — a burst hazard.

Where pressure drops too low the oil boils or takes in air — bubbles that destroy pumps.

The number-one cause of failure is dirty oil — what gets in and how to keep it out.

The plumbing that carries the oil — what to use where, and why every bend costs pressure.

One short calculation: pick a speed from the recommended band and the flow fixes the bore.

Smooth layers or churning chaos? One number tells you — and sets the friction cost.

The Darcy equation puts a number on friction — and shows why diameter matters most.

Losses at bends, tees and valves — add them all for the pressure the pump must supply.

A pump makes flow, not pressure — displacement × speed sets how much, minus leakage.

The torque the motor must twist and the drive power the pump needs once losses are counted.

Three ways to trap and push oil — low cost, medium duty, or high-pressure piston.

Fixed or variable displacement, how to pick a pump for the job, and why variable saves energy.

The system's pressure ceiling — normally closed, dumps the surplus to tank, and the heat it wastes.

Four more pressure valves on the same spring-and-pilot idea — reduce, sequence, unload and hold a load.

Steer the oil — ways/positions, the P, T, A, B ports, centre types and how a valve is switched.

One-way flow from a ball on a seat — and pilot checks that lock a cylinder with no drift.

Set the speed by squeezing flow through an adjustable orifice — the orifice equation, and its catch.

Meter-in, meter-out and bleed-off — and the compensated valve that finally holds the speed steady.

Split one pump's flow into set shares so two actuators move together — and the intensifier trick.