What Is Hydraulic Equipment?
Hydraulic equipment refers to any equipment that operates using hydraulic pressure.
Often consisting of a hydraulic pump and hydraulic cylinder (actuator), they are installed in many large machines such as forklifts, dump trucks, and tractors as a drive source.
Using Pascal’s principle, discussed below, a larger force can be transmitted through hydraulic pressure.
Controlling the pump and cylinder has the advantage of making it easy to adjust the size, speed, and direction of the force applied.
Uses of Hydraulic Equipment
Hydraulic equipment is used to drive many types of construction equipment, industrial vehicles, and agricultural machinery. Typical examples include excavators, forklifts, tractors, and dump trucks.
They are also used in industrial machinery, such as iron and steel making machinery, machine tools, and injection molding machines.
Since these large machines need to exert power efficiently with less power, the power output technology using hydraulic equipment has become indispensable in today’s industrial field.
Principle of Hydraulic Equipment
Hydraulic equipment uses the power of hydraulic pressure to generate physical pressure that is difficult to produce by human power.
This mechanism is explained by Pascal’s principle.
Pascal’s principle states that when pressure is applied to a liquid enclosed in a sealed container, the pressure propagates equally throughout the liquid.
Since a constant pressure propagates, the larger the cross-sectional area that the liquid touches, the greater the applied force.
For example, two pistons with different cross-sectional areas are connected by a tube, and the liquid is enclosed in the tube.
When the piston with the smaller cross-sectional area is pushed into the liquid, the pressure propagates through the liquid and the piston with the larger cross-sectional area is lifted. As a result, a larger force is applied to the larger piston.
Thus, even if less force is applied, a greater output can be obtained. Hydraulic equipment uses a similar principle.
Since oil is used as the medium, the direction of force can be freely changed according to the shape of the hydraulic cylinder. It is also easy to divert the flow in piping. Furthermore, the size and speed of the force can be easily adjusted.