Annexure-I

Fundamentals of Fluid Power

COURSERA
A training report
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of degree of

B.Tech
(Aerospace Engineering)
Submitted to
LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY
PHAGWARA, PUNJAB

SUBMITTED BY

Name of student: Athul Krishna s

Registration Number: 11901890

Signature of the student:

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 Annexure-II: Student Declaration
To whom so ever it may concern
I, ATHUL KRISHNA S , 11901890, hereby declare that the work done by me
on “Fundamentals of Fluid Power” from May, 2021 to July, 2021, is a record of
original work for the partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the
degree, degree name.

Name of the Student (Registration Number)

ATHUL KRISHNA S
11901890

Signature of the student

Dated:30/09/2021

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3
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I take this opportunity to present my votes of thanks to all those

guideposts who really acted as lightening pillars to enlighten my
way throughout this project that has led to successful and
satisfactory completion of this study.

I am grateful to LPU for providing me with an opportunity to

undertake this project and providing me with all the facilities. I am
highly thankful to Amit Kumar thakur sir, HOD of aerospace
department for his active support, valuable time and advice, whole-
hearted guidance, sincere cooperation, and pains-taking involvement
during the study and in completing the report of preparing the said
project within the time stipulated.

I am grateful to my parents and family members who had provided

me with high-speed internet and great learning atmosphere in this
pandemic situation and provided me with a very calm and quiet
atmosphere to learn in my comfort zone.

Lastly, I am thankful to all those, particularly the various friends,

who have been instrumental in creating proper, healthy and
conductive environment and including new and fresh innovative
ideas for me during the project, without their help, it would have
been extremely difficult for me to prepare the project in a time
bound framework. And finally, I would like to thank God almighty
for all the blessings I have.

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 INTRODUCTION OF THE PROJECT UNDERTAKEN

Fundamentals of Fluid Power

Fluid power is the use of a confined, pressurized fluid to transmit force or motion. we're
transmitting force to the fluid; it's transmitting the power for us. Hydraulics, which use a
liquid like mineral oil or water, and pneumatics, which use a gas like air or other gases, are
the two types of fluid power. Fluid power systems are normally contained within a single
building or mobile equipment but compressed-air and water-pressure systems were earlier
used to deliver power from a central source to industrial users over long distances. A
pressurised fluid bearing directly on a piston in a cylinder or in a fluid motor performs work
in fluid power systems. A fluid cylinder generates force that causes linear motion, whereas a
fluid motor generates torque that causes rotating motion. Cylinders and motors (also known
as actuators) perform the work in a fluid power system. The system is regulated by control
components such as valves. A fluid power system has a pump that transforms mechanical
energy into fluid energy and is driven by a prime mover (such as an electric motor or internal
combustion engine). Valves control and direct pressurised fluid into an actuator device, such
as a hydraulic cylinder or pneumatic cylinder for linear motion, or a hydraulic motor or
pneumatic motor for rotating motion or torque. The rotational motion might be continuous or
limited to one revolution.
In comparison to electrically driven systems, fluid power systems can provide high power
and high forces in small amounts. Gauges and metres can simply monitor the forces that are
exerted within a system. Fluid power systems, in comparison to systems that generate force
using electricity or fuel, are known to have extended service lives if properly maintained. The
cooling of a fluid motor is essentially provided by the working fluid, whereas an electric
motor must be cooled separately. In hazardous regions containing flammable gases or
vapours, fluid motors do not emit sparks, which can cause ignition or explosions.
Fluid power has a lot of mobile uses. Hydraulically or pneumatically operated brakes are
found on nearly every self-propelled wheeled vehicle. Bulldozers, backhoes, and other
earthmoving equipment employ powerful hydraulic systems for digging and propulsion. The
automatic transmission seen in many vehicles, which contains a hydraulic torque converter, is
a relatively compact fluid power system.

 Industrial (also known as fixed)

o metalworking
o injection moulding

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 o controllers
o material handling
 Aerospace
o landing gears
o brakes

Aviation hydraulics is one of the few applications of hydraulic systems that can be called
mission critical. The reason is straightforward: many human lives are at risk. An airplane's
hydraulic systems must be both trustworthy and dependable, and they must be able to operate
for long periods of time without failure.
Aviation hydraulic systems are low-cost to install, low-maintenance, and, most significantly,
can perform effectively in even the most demanding in-flight situations. As a result, many
flight-critical components on today's aircraft are controlled by hydraulic systems. Hydraulic
brakes were used on early aircraft as well. However, as hydraulic system engineering
progressed and technology for these systems improved, aircraft designers began to
incorporate hydraulic systems into a variety of other aircraft operations. One of the qualities
of an aircraft hydraulic system is its dependability. The components are usually small, light,
and simple to install and examine. Hydraulics are also nearly 100 percent efficient, with very
little fluid loss owing to friction. This is due to their fundamental design and utilisation of
fluid dynamics. Aviation hydraulics vary in complexity depending on the size of the aircraft
and the application for which it is employed, even though they share most of the same
fundamental components. Depending on the hydraulic system's application, it may be
essential to add redundant systems to ensure the aircraft's safe operation in the case of a
hydraulic system failure.

The basic components of any hydraulic system are essentially as follows:

Pump – The pump is the power-generating device that pressurizes the system.
Reservoir – The reservoir is the vessel that stores the hydraulic fluid used by the system.
Actuating Cylinder – The actuating cylinder is where the work of the hydraulic system is
performed. For example, the actuating cylinder would be connected to the flaps of the
airplane so that they can be positioned according to the pilot’s control inputs.
Pressure Relief Valve – The pressure relief valve protects the hydraulic system against over
pressurization.
Heat Exchanger – The heat exchanger maintains the hydraulic fluid in the system at the
proper temperature.
The basic principle of aviation hydraulics is to move a specific section of the aeroplane from
one position to another using a pressurised liquid. The operating pressure in the hydraulic
system can range from a few hundred pounds per square inch in jumbo jets to more than 5000
pounds per square inch in enormous cargo planes, depending on the size of the aircraft and
the precise function being performed. Pascal's Law is the core concept of any hydraulic

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system — the science that makes it operate. Simply put, Pascal's Law states that applying
pressure to a liquid anyplace within an enclosed system causes equal pressure to be dispersed
throughout the system.

The procedure is actually quite straightforward. With an input from a switch or flight control
device, the pilot or crew member activates a specific hydraulic system. The pump is turned
on, pressurising the system and causing the actuator to move. The actuator's movement is
conveyed immediately to the control surface or other device – such as landing gear, brakes,
or a cargo ramp – which is subsequently moved into the required position. Pressure is
released from the system to reverse the movement, and the opposite occurs. Hydraulic
systems respond to control inputs very rapidly and efficiently. Because aeronautical flying is
so dangerous, accurate control of the aircraft is a top priority for safety. The pilot must be
able to perform flight control operations without worrying about whether or not they will
occur or how long they will take, especially in critical flight scenarios. This type of
functionality is provided by aircraft hydraulic systems. Another significant advantage of
hydraulic systems is that, unlike air, hydraulic fluid does not compress as a result of climatic
change. Because of the dynamic pressure changes that occur as an aircraft gains or drops
altitude, this is a significant factor. These modifications have little effect on the hydraulic
fluid, but they would have a big impact on similar systems that use gas instead of liquid.
Hydraulic systems are completely faultless. All aspects of aircraft hydraulics must be
maintained on a regular basis to ensure that the system runs smoothly. In fact, preventative
maintenance must be performed on a regular and systematic basis for any hydraulic system to
function properly. Despite the fact that aviation hydraulics are inherently simple, it is critical
that individuals in charge of maintaining them are specialists in the subject. Hydraulic
systems are extremely stable and reliable components of any aircraft platform when properly
maintained. Allow FlyTek GSE to take care of your preventative maintenance with our
highly qualified and experienced personnel who knows how to maintain the systems.
Industry-leading aircraft manufacturers, ground support equipment manufacturers, MROs,
and corporate aviation departments trust the integrity and experience of the FlyTek GSE
team.

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 Brief description of the work done
Week 1
Defining Fluid Power
The use of a confined pressurised fluid to transmit force or motion is known as fluid power.

Figure 1

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Why Fluid Power is Significant
There's been estimates that over 100 quads, which is a quadrillion BTU of energy used each
year in the United States. Of that, two to three quads are used to drive fluid power machines.
So, that's a significant amount of the energy used in the United States that is transmitted by
fluid power. Now, that fluid power on the other hand is only about 21% efficient. What that
means is that if you improve the efficiency of fluid power by just 5%, you could save about
$8 billion a year.

Fluid power is everywhere

Let's see few examples.
log splitter where you need to split a log and you don't want to use a lot of effort to do so.
You can take the power from a gasoline engine, use that to drive the hydraulics and split the
log
A commercial mowing machine where hydraulics are used to do the steering and to drive the
wheels.

backhoe loader

 braking system: This one happens to be on a bicycle where hydraulics are used to transmit
the force from the lever that the user's operating to the disk brake of the vehicle.

Why we need Fluid Power

very high force density and high-power density, a lot of force or power in a very small
package. Force per weight much higher than electric motors
High power density, Power can be released quickly
High bandwidth, fluid power systems can move at high speeds
Precise control motion, Because oil is stiff, enables precision
Power can be piped, Flexible hoses enables power to be snaked around corners and across
joints

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Hydraulics Pneumatics
Fluid power has two main categories, pneumatics and hydraulics. And it has to do with the
type of fluid. Hydraulics is, when the fluid is a liquid, or in most cases, oil, like the one that I
have in the glass. And pneumatics, the fluid is air. Now, hydraulics, for example, is very stiff
because the fluid is stiff. So when I push down on one piston, in my one hand, the other
piston goes up as the fluid goes through the tube to the other piston. And, and vice versa. And
hydraulics is used in common applications such as the car jack. Where inside the car jack,
there's a hydraulic fluid that is going through the passage ways into the cylinder that's raising
the part that lifts up your car. One of the things about pneumatics, is that it's very good for on
off control. Because pneumatics has very high power density. So when we blow up a balloon
can release that energy very quickly. for hydraulics, which is liquid fluids the very high
pressure you can get. You can get much higher pressures with hydraulics than you can with
pneumatics, means much higher forces. And because that oil is stiff, it means you can achieve
very precise control. But on the other hand. This oil is toxic, if you have a hydraulic
machinery that's agricultural application like a combine, you have to be very careful that this
stuff doesn't get on your crops. And then, same thing, the leaks are quite messy. Whereas neu,
with pneumatics, because that air is springy, it makes precision control very difficult. But,
one of the nice things about pneumatics is that when I'm releasing the air out of the cylinder
to make it go back down, I can release the air to the atmosphere. Just releasing the air this
way, which means I don't need a return line to contain it. And the third advantage is that,
unlike the oil. The air is free.

Fluid Power Applications

• Automotive
• Aerospace
• Construction industry
• Lawn and garden
• Agriculture
• Robotics
– Rescue
• Biomedical
• Mechanical testing
– components / materials
– structure
• Manufacturing
– steel
– injection moulding

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Advantages
• Precise Control
• Flexibility
• Robust
• Low-cost

Disadvantages
• Leakage
• Non-linear
• Fire Hazard
• Contamination
• Efficiency

Challenges
• Compact Energy Storage
• Compact Power Sources
• Efficiency
• Noise/
Vibration
• Leakage

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Week 2
Fluid Power Schematic Diagrams

Line Types

Figure 2

In this diagram, the working lines, which are the solid lines. And they can either be pressure
lines, such as this one coming out of the pump, or return lines going back to the reservoir.
Dash blinds, which you see on this diagram, can be control lines such as this pilot line on our
relief valve, or this line coming out of a motor that goes back to the reservoir which is a drain
line.

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Cylinder

Figure 3

Here's the diagram for a cylinder, that has the basic components of a cylinder indicated. So
it's got, parts that indicate the piston, the rod, and then two ports because in this case it's a, bi-
directional cylinder that can go in two directions.

Rotating Components

Figure 4

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Rotating components are indicated by circles, and the triangle in the circle points in the
direction of the flow, so the one that you see here is a pump. For a triangle that points the
other way, it indicates a hydraulic motor

There are embellishments that you add to the schematic symbol, in order to indicate specific
features of the pump. So here's one that show the pump is bi-directional, that is the pumps in
two directions.
we have a arrow that going through the symbol which indicates the pump is variable
displacement, and that control can either be. Through a manual lever or it can be through a
through a power control, or it can be through an electronic control. But it all cases, it controls
the displacement of that pump.
Another embellishment that you can add to the symbol is, an indication of the power input.
So, that shaft symbol sticking out on the right shows. The motor, either a diesel engine or
electric motor that's driving the pump. And then the last one I got here shows a case drain.
And that's because hydraulic motors and pumps leak fluid through their seals, and it collects
in the case, and there has to be some place for that fluid to go. So on many pumps and motors
there's a case drain that takes that fluid back to the reservoir, and you notice that it's indicated
with a dotted line to indicate case strain

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Valves

Figure 5

The basic symbol for a Valve is a rectangle. Arrows are added to show the flow direction of
the fluid, and boxes are added to show multiple positions of the Valve. The one I have on the
diagram is a pressure relief Valve, which is put into a circuit to avoid overload conditions. it's
got an input line and an output line. And then, the flow path is indicated by the arrow. And
then, the dash line is a pilot line, so that pilot line, notice how it's connected to the input side.
And, the way that it works is that if the input line gets over a certain pressure, then the pilot
line. Forces the Valve into the other position. So now the central arrow is lined up with the
inlet and the outlet, and then, flow can go from the inlet to the outlet, which in this case, the
purpose is to relieve the pressure in that inlet. So and then finally the arrow on the right,
indicates that this particular pressure relief Valve. Is an adjustable Valve, so you can set the
pressure with which it triggers its action.

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Directional Control Valve

Figure 6

here's one box that indicates each position of the Valve, so this is a three position Valve. And
then, there are four lines that connect to this Valve, so this is a, a four way Valve as well. So
let's take a look at the, the middle position. And the middle is always drawn where the Valve
is at it's neutral position. So, the four lines in this Valve. One, the P indicates the pressurized
line. The T indicates the tank line or the reservoir line so it's a low pressure one, and then the
two outputs are, are A and B. So in this middle position, there's no connection between any of
the ports which means the Valve is essentially in a completely off, or closed, position. If you
actuate the valve, and slide it to the right, then you can, kind of, see that from the directions
of the arrows, that the P is connected to the A line, and the B line is connected to the T. So
that would put the pressurized fluid to the A line, and the return line would be B. And then if
you switch over and actuate the valve in the other direction, then the flow paths are reversed,
so now the pressure will be going to the, the B Valve.

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Directional Circuit

Figure 7

Over on the left, we've got a pump that's connected to the reservoir, so it's pumping fluid out
of the reservoir. We got a pressure relief valve over here in case the pressure in this line gets
too high, then the relief valve will open and bring the fluid back into the reservoir. Then
we've got our Directional Control Valve. And then it's actuating a cylinder. So this is, you
know essentially this circuit of a log splitter, that you'll see in another unit in the course. And
the purpose of the circuit it has a cylinder, be able to go in one direction. In this case up. Or
able to go in the other direction. So with the valve in the current position then everything's
off, the cylinder not going to move. If you switch the valve in the down position then the
pressurized line will come through and into this part of the cylinder, cylinder will go down.
Then if you reverse and flip the directional valve up, then the lines will be reversed. Now the
pressurised line will go into the other port of the cylinder and the cylinder will go up. If you
take a look at that full schematic for the mowing machine, see if you can spot Directional
Control Valves on the schematic because there are several.

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 Fluid Viscosity
formally, viscosity is the ratio of sheer stress to the velocity gradient

Figure 8

So the image you see here is a ideal situation where at the bottom is a fixed plate and at the
top is a moving plate and a fluid is in between the two. And you can see how the, you can see
how this line. Represents the the velocity of the fluid going from zero to the velocity of the
plate at the top u, and varying along the way. And along the top there's a force that's pushing
the plate to move against the fluid. Now in a pipe. You don't have that top plate moving that
way. So on the right is more the situation you have in the pipe where again the velocity is
zero down on the pipe wall and then goes up to roughly a uniform velocity down in the
middle of the pipe. So the fundamental equation for viscosity. Is that it's the ratio of the shear
stress to the velocity gradient.SI unit of viscosity is pascal [Pa s]
There's actually two different ways to think about viscosity. The one we've been talking about
so far is the absolute viscosity indicated by the Greek letter Mu. But it's, common to think
about this other constant of kinematic viscosity of which really relates to how the fluid would
flow under the influence of gravity. So that kinematic velocity which is the Greek letter Mu is
the absolute viscosity divided by the density of the fluid. So this, this is common because it's
easier to measure and often you'll see fluids in hydraulic fluids specified in terms of their
kinematic velocity compared to the absolute velocity. It's SI units come out to be meter
squared divided by seconds, but the more common unit is the centistoke which is ten to the
minus six meter square per second. So for example water is about one centistoke and
common hydraulic oils are between 20 and 70 centistokes.

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 Saybolt viscosimeter

Figure 9

one way of measuring the kinmatic, viscosity, which is with a saybolt viscosimeter. And on
this device, you put the fluid you want to measure in the middle and because the viscosity is
temperature dependent you surround it with an oil bath at a very controlled temperature. And
then, you let the fluid run through a precision orifice, into a cup and time how long it takes to
fill up 60 millileters. And the amount of time is the viscosity of that fluid in sable universal
seconds, so sometimes you'll see the viscosity in SUS units.

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Ideal viscosity

Figure 10

Now, the ideal viscosity turns out to be a trade off. In other words, there is no ideal viscosity
for a fluid that you want to use in a fluid power system. So this plot shows the viscosity. On
the x-axis compared to the efficiency on the y-axis. And the red line plots the mechanical
efficiency. So what's this saying is as the fluid gets thicker and thicker, it becomes harder to
push it through small orifices, just like I showed you with the honey. Which means that the
overall efficiency of the system goes down because you're losing a lot of your mechanical
energy to friction as this fluid is moving through the orifices. So this would say that you want
a low viscosity fluid. But on the other hand, the volumetric efficiency, which is the blue line,
that efficiency goes up as the fluid gets thicker and the volumetric efficiency is very low as
the fluid gets thinner. And what's going on there is that you have a very thin fluid, then it's
going to leak by all your seals. So for example if you have the piston that we talked about
with seals around the edge, and you have a very thin fluid, all the fluid is not going to be
pushed by the piston, it's just going to leak by the piston. The overall efficiency which is in
the green line is shown here. And what you want is a fluid, that kind of, is in this region here.
That's the right, range and the right trade off between the volumetric efficiency and the
mechanical efficiency.

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Viscosity Changes with Temperature

Figure 11

viscosity changes with temperature. And certainly, in fluid power systems, the temperature
can change a lot, both with the environment that the system is in, but also, as it, over time, it
can, it can heat up. And you know that for the honey I showed you earlier, when it gets hard
to, squeeze out of the tube, you stick it in the microwave to heat it up and viscosity goes way
down. The viscosity index is a dimensionless number that indicates how much that fluid
viscosity changes with temperature. So, a high viscosity, index as indicated by the red line in
this chart, is a fluid that doesn't change much with temperature. And a low viscosity, fluid is
one that changes a lot with temperature. So, what you're looking for, is a high viscosity fluid.
Particularly if your equipment's running over a wide temperature range.
Engine motor oil is an example of a high viscosity fluid because its multi-grade, and it can
handle winter starts and summer traffic jams. So, for example, the SAE 10W30 oil that you
might likely have in your car. Is one viscosity at a low temperature. Because so temperature
goes down. You don't want it to get too thick. And then it's a little bit thicker at a high
temperature so it doesn't get too thin and leak by all your seals

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Pressure Drop in Pipes
For the fluid to flow there must be a pressure difference. And the relationship between the
pressure and flow is determined by, the resistance of the pipe or fitting or valve that the fluid
is flowing through. What you want is low resistance, but that actual resistance is a function of
the diameter of the pipe or its bore, the pipe length, the pipe roughness, the viscosity of the
oil. And then the, pressure drop is also, a function of the amount of flow that goes through the
pipe.

Reynolds number

So if you've got a Reynolds number of, less than about 2,300 the flow is going to be Laminar
in a pipe and if you've got a Reynolds number of, over 4,000 the flow is going to be
Turbulent and this is going to become important when you are, setting yourself up to
calculate the pressure drop in a pipe.

Hydraulic fittings

Figure 12

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Here's a typical hydraulic fitting, which is a 90-degree elbow. And you will use this if you
want to bring a hose and connect it up to, say, a cylinder, and have the hose run alongside the
cylinder. So, one of the things about this fitting, it's convenient because it allows you to take
the 90 degrees turn. But as we saw earlier, because of that 90 degree turn, the fluid flow is
going to become turbulent, and the fitting is going to resist the fluid flow. So anytime you
have an abrupt change in direction. Or in an abrupt change in diameter, you're going to get a
turbulent flow, and you're going to get some pressure loss. Precise predictions of exactly how
much pressure loss you have requires computational fluid dynamics. But there are some
approximation equations that are useful to allow you to calculate the overall pressure losses
in your hydraulic, system.

Equation 1

it shows that the pressure loss Delta p is a function of k, which is the loss coefficient. And the
density of the fluid and the velocity of the fluid. And over here on the right we've got it in
terms of the flow rate. So, you can see the pressure loss goes to the flow rate squared. The
area is the area of the fittings, so that would be the area of the circular bore. And then this K,
is loss coefficient

Week 3
Valves
So valves are used in nearly every hydraulic circuit, either to direct flow, or to control
pressure, or to control flow. There are hundreds of different styles of valves. And the
directional control valve is simply what were grabbing onto and shifting the positions to drive
the hydraulic cylinder to one direction or the other. And so, as we move it to the top position,
this is how we would retract the cylinder and vice versa as we move it to the other position.
Now, when we then started to control the, the velocity of the hydraulic cylinder, that's when
we started using this throttling or needle valve right here. And, the purpose of this was then to
restrict the flow. And, so what was happening is, we were building up pressure upstream of
this valve. from the outlet of the pump, through the directional control valve to the inlet of
this pressure re, relief valve. And so what happen is we exceeded the pressure, the pressure

23
relief valve, we cracked the spring open, and then had our additional flow go across that
pressure relief valve. Therefore slowing down the hydraulic cylinder.

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Figure 13

basically, one style is a spool style and so this would be a manually operated valve where I
have a lever that's able to move this spool back and forth and on the slide you see two
different positions of this, of a, a similar type of valve. And this is what we refer to as a four-
way valve. Meaning there are four different ports that we are connected to. Four different
paths that the, the flow can move through. And so in the, the top position I'm connecting my
pressure to the A port. And the tank to the B port. And then that would cause the cylinder to
move in one direction. And then, as I shift the valve to another position, I would then shift
and, and connect the pressure to the B port and the tank to the A port. And so, just by moving
the spool back and forth we can control the direction of the flow and hence a directional
control valve
Directional Control Valves are classified as :
• Number of flow paths (ways)
• Number of position of valve
• Actuation method

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 • Centre condition

Bernoulli’s Equation

Figure 14

Equation 2

First term here is the pressure.

The second term is rho-gh. Well, remember when we were talking about Pascal's law and the
gravitational limitations of it. This is the potential energy or the gravitational potential.
The final term is one half row v squared, this is the kinetic energy of the fluid.

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Orifice Flow

Figure 15

Equation 3

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Equation 4

Pressure Drop is Sensitive to Diameter. If diameter decreases 2X, Pressure drop increases
16X

check valve.

Figure 16

check valve is a valve that allows flow in one direction but prevents reverse flow. We have
used one of these whether it's changing a flat tire or doing some vehicle maintenance, this is a
hydraulic jack.
So, as you see in this, in this circuit diagram, anytime that I am going to be moving the piston
in the upwards direction, I will be having flow coming from tank through this check valve.

28
And then, as soon as I start to move the piston downwards, Then, the flow is going to be
going

through this other check valve, and into the main cylinder. So these one way valves allow this
pumping action, and any time we get a pressure gradient that is against the natural direction
of flow, it prevents flow through these valves.

Check valve architectures

Ball Style

Figure 17

Where we have a ball that is pressed by a spring into a seat and when the pressure on the
upstream side is greater than the downstream side the ball moves, in this case, to the right.
And allows flow past the ball, but when the pressure on the downstream side becomes greater
than the upstream side the ball re-seats and prevents the reverse flow. So, fairly simple
concept, but a very useful valve here.

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Poppet Style

Figure 18

as I push this, I have a poppet that is moving here. And so as the pressure right here becomes
greater than the downstream side it will move the poppet, and when the pressure on the
downstream side is greater than the upstream side, it will re-seat.
Now in both valves we have springs, and these springs have adjustable spring rates, so we
can set what's called the cracking pressure of the valve, which is the pressure differential
across the valve required to cause it to open, so that's our cracking pressure and that's how we
often classify one of these check valves, is what the cracking pressure is.

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Pilot-Operated Check Valve

Figure 19

Figure 20

Essentially this is again a poppet style valve, and the only difference now is that I have a
piston that can push this check valve pop it out of the way. And we have a third port in this
valve, and whenever we send pilot pressure to this port, it will drive this cylinder, push the
check valve out of the way, and allow bidirectional flow through the check valve. If we
release that, that additional cylinder, that additional pilot pressure. Now this functions again
as a standard check valve. So, again, it allows me some flexibility in designing this. There are
also pilot to close check valves, where we can force this valve to stay closed. And, so we
have a lot of different ways that we can create logic in our system, by modulating these pilots
operated opening and closing check valves. So, it, it allows us quite a bit of flexibility. But
still acts as a as a passive valve in its standard operating case.

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Week 4
Simulation
why simulate
The reason is that even a simple circuit like the one shown here with a pump and a pressure
relief valve, and a directional valve and a cylinder can get complex. So, for example, what
happens in the 10 milliseconds after that valve changes position. And what's the time course
of that cylinder expanding against the load? And so very quickly you run out of the ability to
use, write the equations by hand, and use those to solve some of the detailed properties of the
food power system

Physical System Simulation

So a physically based simulation, is based on the physics of the system and the, the
simulation objects rather than being first rule of equations are the actual objects themselves.
So for example, in a object based simulation you'd pull down a block that represented the
mass, and then internally when a mass would be constitute loft which is at as you apply our
force to the mass it accelerates. And then you pull down an object that's a spring, and it's
internally got its constitute of law which is that the displacement of the spring is
proportionately positioned, and then in the simulation you interconnect these two elements to
say one end of the spring is connected to the mass. So you do that for the whole system, and
when you run the simulation internally, that physical system simulation makes use of the
interconnection laws, and the constitutive laws, in order to in, internally bring that into a set
of equations, that can be, that can be stimulated. So it's very powerful, because it's almost
rather than you having to do the

work, then the system does the work for you, it’s particularly useful when you have nonlinear
systems, fluid pressure drops it can entrain bubbles as a cavitate, so that can be simulated or,
as your, flow across a valve, Is a nonlinear property of the pressure drop across the valve, so
these physical system simulations are great for fluid power.
Basics of SimHydraulics
• Simscape extends Simulink/MATLAB and adds physical modelling
• Foundational library of components
• Modelling language for creating custom components
• Add-on libraries of components
– SimMechanics
– SimDriveline

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– SimElectronics
– SimHydraulics

Week 5
Introduction to Hydraulic Fluids
Now the most common hydraulic fluid is a petroleum-based mineral oil, and we're going to
find that there's a lot of different additives that can be added here that will change the
properties fairly significantly, so let's dive in and start talking about, first of all, what are the
roles of hydraulic fluid. Well, the primary role simply of fluid power is to transmit power, so,
pressure times flow rate, transmitting power so, that's the role of the hydraulic fluid. Now,
that said, there's a, many secondary roles., first, is that this fluid is acting as a lubricant, so we
have hydraulic pumps, and cylinders, and other components where we have metal to metal
coming very close to each other, and this is acting as a lubricant between those components.
Next, is that it's also sealing so again, a piston to a cylinder or other, other locations where we
have small a small clearance. Well, the fluid provides enough viscosity, that we are sealing
those small gaps in our system, and then also provides heat transfer because as we know we
have inefficiencies in hydraulic systems, and we need to transmit that heat out of our circuit
some way, well, the fluid is what carries the heat out of our system. So those are our primary
and secondary roles of the hydraulic fluid, but what about the properties? What should we
pay attention to as we're picking a hydraulic fluid? Well, the first thing you look at is what is
the Viscosity of the hydraulic fluid? So, normally this is rated at 40 degrees C, what's the
Viscosity? So this one happens to be 60 centistokes at 40 degrees C, and we can pick a large
different varieties of viscosities at that temperature. Now, now we have the viscosity at that
temperature, but viscosity is a function of temperature, so, as the temperature increases, our
viscosity drops as the pressure increases, the viscosity goes up

Any fluid, any, whether it's a gas or a liquid, is going to have some compressibility, and as
we add air to our system, and that would be some entrained air. And then also the density of
the hydraulic fluid, because this is the mass or the inertia of the fluid moving through our
lines.
Some secondary fluid properties are heat capacity, how much heat can we, can we carry with
the fluid what's the vapor pressure of the fluid? The reason that this is important is because,
normally, we have an atmospheric pressure in our reservoir and then, as we're intaking fluid
into a pump, often that pressure drops. And if the pressure drops below the vapor pressure,
then we're going to get the oil turning into a vapor, and then vapor cavitation, where we are
compressing that, that vapor in our hydraulic pump, and then those vapor bubbles collapse
and cause microjets, which cause major component wear. So, we have to pay attention where
the vapor pressure is, the lubricity, again, we have tight clearances where we often have
components nearly touching and sometimes a boundary lubrication regime in the, and the
fluid needs to provide lubricity there. We need to pay attention to fire potential, so flash point
is one measure of that, and this is the temperature that the fluid can combust with an ignition

33
source. Things like oxidation and foaming, and again foaming is related to how much air
does this hold and how easily does it release that air.

Specialty Fluids and Additives

• Mineral Oil Additives
– Oxidation and Corrosion Resistance
– Foaming Reduction
– Lubricity
– High Viscosity Index
• Fire Resistant Fluids
– Oil / Water Emulsions
– Synthetic Fluids (Phosphate Esters)
• Biodegradable Fluids
– Vegetable Oil Base
– Polyglycol Base
– Synthetic Ester

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Water Hydraulics
It has 100 times higher vapor pressure than a mineral based oil. So, this means that water
based hydraulic systems are very prone to cavitation at the inlet to a pump or other locations
where we're seeing a drop in pressure, and this is especially true as you start to raise the
temperature of the water. Have poor lubricity, and again if we get into a boundary, lubrication
type of regime, that will become a problem, and as I mentioned, we'd have to decrease the
clearances in our seals, to seal this, this, low viscosity fluid, so we might get into a boundary
lubrication regime, so we must pay attention to that. And corrosion of our parts, so while it
sounds like a great thing, it can be very challenging to use water hydraulics, and there's not a
whole lot of components that are commercially available that do use water hydraulics today,
but it would be a great option. So, hopefully this quick scratching the surface introduction to
hydraulic fluids, gives you an appreciation that there are drastically different properties that
hydraulic fluids can have, and we can modify those properties by adding a variety of
additives to the fluid, and not only can we have mineral based oils, but we can also have
synthetic based oils, or oils that have water added to them for fire protection.

Hydraulic Fluid is Compressible

Figure 21

We have been considering our hydraulic fluid as incompressible. Now we'll start to explore,
when the fluid is compressible. Or when we consider the compressibility effects to be
important in our system. So, I've mentioned that it's, that it's compressible, and, just the, the
bulk fluid itself is slightly compressible, but when it becomes much more compressible, is
when we have entrained air in the fluid. In other words, if we, are agitating this and we get
little air bubbles in here, then those air bubbles become very spongy and add to the

35
compressibility. So, we described the, the fluid compressibility through the bulk modulus.
That's how we define it. And, I have it here, in a, in a way you can think about the bulk
modulus as really, what is the pressure required to cause a given volume of fluid to change
volume by a certain amount. So. Lots of, lots of derivatives here. And a very nice thing about
this equation is we can use it now to model the pressure in a given volume, dynamically,
given an input flow rate, an output flow rate, and perhaps a moving wall, or a moving,
moving volume. So, This is a very useful equation for a variety of, of situations. To give you
a feeling of what the values are of a bulk modulus, well, first, think about the units here.
Notice that the denominator of the bulk modulus equation is, unit-less, dV / V, so the
numerator must be the same as, or I'm sorry, the, the, the bulk modulus has to be the same as
the numerator or pressure. So, we're in units of pressure here. And typically hydraulic oils are
1.5 to 1.9 gigapascal. Water is typically 2.2 gigapascal. And again, this changes greatly with
the amount of entrained air. It's also a function of pressure. So, to give you a feeling of what
that looks like, here's a plat of the bulk modulus on the x-axis of pressure. And then the, the
different curves are for, different amounts of trained air so when I say that hydraulic oil might
have 1.6 gigapascals of bulk modulus, that is what it plateaus to, but, as we add air to that and
as we decrease the pressure the bulk modulus drops and so to do a really good job of
modelling this, we would ideally have a pressured dependent and. And trained air ration
dependent bulk modulus term.

Compressibility Can Be Important

it's important for systems where we need to precise positioning. So, consider that I have a
hydraulic cylinder and I'm trying to very precisely position this end effector and perhaps
there's a lot of mass attached to this and, I don't want to have much compliance to my system.
I want it to be very stiff and, that can be an issue if our fluid is compressible, especially if
there's a lot of air trapped in the system. So, we have to be aware of that.
Second is resonance the fact that we can get dynamic resonances of square root of k over m,
sort of term. And having that, influence our system, especially with high frequency systems,
often several hydraulic systems are running at very high frequencies, getting into the resonant
frequency of the hydraulics.

Compressible energy loses, If we look at a hydraulic pump we were looking at the piston
cylinder interface. Now, in that piston cylinder we have. When the piston comes up to the top
dead centre position, we still have some dead volume in the chamber. Well, that fluid was
compressed previously, and now we're going to open a valve to tank pressure. And so, the
energy that went into compressing that fluid, is exhaust in the tank, and then we're going to
do that cycle after cycle. And this is happening, you know, for 3600 RPMs. This is happening
60 times a second. So, it ends up being a significant amount of energy loss over time if we
have a large amount of dead volume in our cylinders. So, again, different areas where the
small amount of compressibility does add up over time and does become important

36
Fluid Inertia

Figure 22

37
Equation 5

Frome the equation for Highest Inertia we need Long Slender Pipe

Week 6
Accumulators
The main purpose of a Accumulator is to store energy. They are the potential energy element
for food power systems. And you can store that energy in a raised way. You can store it by
compressing a steel string. Or most commonly, you can store that energy by compressing a
gas. And there's a, a couple of purposes for Accumulators. One is to provide pressurized fluid
during brief high-powered demand periods. And the second main reason for it is to smooth
out the pulsations that you get in the fluid. And those pulsations come. Typically from the
pump as it rotates, puts pulsation into the pressure surges into the fluid and you don't want
those pressure surges to profligate through down to the cylinder.

Accumulator in a Hydraulic System

Figure 23

38
Figure 24

So down here(figure 31) is the schematic with an accumulator where you can store energy.
It's equivalent to a capacitor in an electrical system and if you add that accumulator into the
system, then it's going to smooth out the pulsations coming from the pump. Now one of
things you want to do in a practical system is to locate this accumulator physically. As close
to the input of the valve as you can so that the input pressure to the valve is as smooth as
possible.
Ankle Power

Figure 25

This is a power of your ankle while you walk. Where along the. Our horizontal axis is one
walking step. And this shows the power that your ankle produces. What happens is, right
when you push off on your toe, your power peaks to about 200 watts. While the average

39
power in your ankle is only about 13 watts. So in some of our research, we're doing
exoskeletal ankles

for use by individuals who've lost the power in their ankles, and we're using tiny hydraulics to
do that. So this would be a perfect application for an accumulator, because the average power
that you're putting our is relatively low, but you need this brief burst of power.

Types of Accumulators

Figure 26

Now this was the original type of accumulator, and it's no longer used, and the main reason
it's no longer used is that the weight must be pretty heavy to get reasonable energy stored, so
these things are big and bulky

40
Figure 27

In spring loaded accumulator Same principle as the weight loaded one where there's a piston
that is moving up and down, responds to the fluid, but now that piston is compressing a
spring. So here the energy is stored in the compressed steel spring. This can store quite a bit
of energy, but again it's of limited use because once we have a big enough spring to store a
lot of energy, that spring ends up being quite heavy, so this one isn't used very much either

Figure 28

are the two that are used more often and here the energy is stored by compressing a gas, an
inert gas, and typically its nitrogen. So again, on the left we've got a piston that moves up,
and as it moves up it compresses the nitrogen gas shown in yellow at the top of this cylinder.
You can pre charge the cylinder through the top and so typically you pre charge it to
somewhere around half the working pressure. Now this gas charge piston is good because it
can have a big compression ratio, up to 10 to 1. And you can have a long stroke to it. The

41
downside of it is that it's somewhat inefficient because you have to have very tight seals
around the piston in order to keep your compressed gas from escaping.
Over on the right, is a bladder type of accumulator, which is the most common type. And
here rather than in a piston, there's an internal bladder that separates the nitrogen gas from the
fluid. So, as the pressurized fluid comes in, it compresses the bladder and the gas within the
bladder, and this is very efficient because now you have no sliding seals. You do have to be a
little bit careful about the design of these. Accumulators because the bottom material must
one where the nitrogen gas doesn't over long periods leak through it. And it must be a
material that can withstand the oils that are against the other side. And, and over time the
nitrogen gas will diffuse. Across the Bladder, but that can be days or months or after years of
service and, again, at the top, there's a gas valve that you can use to pre-charge the nitrogen
gas.

42
Bladder Accumulator Operation

Figure 29

So here we've got it fully the bladder fully extended and full of the gas, that is pre-charged
pressure. And here, the system pressure. The fluid is below that pre-charged pressure, so the
bladder fully fills the system. Now you raise the system pressure above the preload pressure
and fluid can enter the system through the poppet valve and compress the gas, the nitrogen
gas. Now, the pressure of that nitrogen gas in this. Situation is almost the same as the fluid
pressure. And this'll become important when we start to look at the equations that cover the
physics. And then as the system pressure drops then the gas can provide energy to the to the
fluid. And releases stored energy to provide needed food flow to the system.

43
Inside of an accumulator

Figure 30

44
Figure 31

45
Calculating the Stored Energy in an accumulator
Adiabat Case

Figure 32

Figure 33

46
Summary
• Accumulators store energy
• Use to provide energy bursts, or to smooth Out ripples
• Physics are dictated by compressed gas laws
• Have high power density, but modest energy density
• Because they are energy storage elements, time history matters

Hydraulic Hybrid Vehicle

what is a hybrid vehicle? It's simply a vehicle that has two sources of power. One of them
that allows for energy storage or energy regeneration. So, when we think about what energy
domains allow that, we first look at what's being done right now with electric hybrids, where
we're using electric motor generators to apply tractive force to the wheels, and to absorb
power from the engine, and then storing that energy in batteries. Well, we can do the same
thing in hydraulic systems, by using hydraulic pumps and motors, to apply tractive loads to
the ground and absorb power from the engine. And store energy in Hydro-Pneumatic
Accumulators. Now, there's many other ways we can store energy as well, but we're going to
focus on hydraulic systems in these couple of classes. And we'll see that hydraulics fit a
vehicle quite well, or at least specific classes of vehicles.

Why Hybridize a Powertrain

both for efficiency reasons and for a performance reason. From the efficiency stand point,
first of all we can recover energy that would otherwise be dissipated to the brakes, during
descending a grade or stopping at a traffic light. Second, is that we can turn off the engine
when we're stopped. And not only turn it off. But we can re-start the vehicle from our energy
storage device and not have to wait for the engine to re-start fully before we apply traction to
the ground. So, we can make that a little more practical. We can also run its, the engine, at the
peak efficiency, and de-couple the engine from the wheels and Now we can run the engine at
it's most efficient condition, sometimes making more power than what we need. We store a
portion of that, and then we can power the wheels separately from that, so the engine speed is
not dictated by the wheel speed. And finally, from a performance aspect we can run at very
high power levels, higher power that what the engine might be able to provide at a certain
time, and we do that by drawing energy out of our energy storage device.

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Figure 34

Best Applications for Hydraulic Hybrid

Typically Large Vehicles

48
Hydraulic Hybrid Vehicle Architectures

Hybrid Drive Train Architecture

Figure 35

There are really three that we see most commonly. The Parallel, the Series, and the Power-
Split. And there are a couple different configurations of the Power-Split. The one that's
easiest to conceptualize from the standpoint of retro fitting a vehicle is a parallel system.

Hybrid Architecture-Parallel
a parallel system we retain the existing power train and mechanical power train, so we have
the engine, an automatic transmission. Some sort of a drive shaft going out to the wheel of
the vehicle., And then what we do is we add a hydraulic pump motor in line with the, the
axles, or the drive shaft. And then, this allows us to do energy storage during braking events
or store some energy from the engine as well. So, the benefits are that it's a simple system,
easy to retro fit. We don't have a lot of extra cost associated with it and we have a very
efficient power path through the mechanical transmission. So, we are not losing a lot of
energy, say for highway cruising. Where we have a very efficient mechanical path, we don't
have to send all our power

49
through a hydraulic path. Now one of the downfalls of this, the parallel system is that we are
forcing the engine speed to be coup, coupled to the wheels. And so, it no longer can we
operate the engine at any condition that we want to. We have to run the engine at a specific
speed. And so, we don't get the efficiency improvements that the engine side that we would
otherwise have.

Figure 36

Hybrid Architecture-Series
the next option is to go to a fully hydraulic transmission, and this is really the next step from
the, the hydrostatic system that we were looking at earlier. Well, we are now adding energy
store. And so, we have the engine which is driving a hydraulic pump and then the hydraulic is
driving a hydraulic motor which is the tractive motors driving the wheels of the vehicle. And
we can also then store energy here with our hydro pneumatic accumulator. So, we can store
either directly from the engine pump or we can store it during breaking events. So now, we
can completely decouple the engine from the wheels of the vehicle. So, we can run the engine
at any condition we want to. And we can even shut off the engine as we're driving and propel
the vehicle from our storage device. So, we get the benefits of decoupling the engine, but we
don't have the efficient mechanical power path. Instead, we have to send all of our, all of our
power from the engine through the hydraulic transmission, which suffers the inefficiencies of
those multiple conversions. So, we, we win in one way, but again, we, we suffer these, these
inefficiencies. But one of the more famous, examples of this transmission is this, UPS truck.
Which was a partner project with the EPA where there, they, were able to achieve 70%
improvement in fuel economy. And a 40% reduction in CO2 emissions. So, very impressive

50
what they're able to do with this. And the hybrid forklift is an example of a series hybrid as
well.

Hybrid Architecture-Power Split

Now a power split system. Is, is a little bit different in that we've got the engine which is now
driving a hydraulic pump and two power paths. One is the hydraulic power path which looks
very much likes a series system and then the mechanical power path which looks like the
parallel system. And we recombine them in this planetary differential. And the benefits of
this is we can have a very efficient. Direct path through the mechanical transmission, but we
can decouple the engine speed from the wheel speed through the hydraulic branch of this
transmission and have our energy storage in that branch as well. Now, you can imagine that
we could have quite a few different modes of, of operation where we could make this operate
as a series system or, or a parallel system. Or a hydro static system as well. So quite a lot of
mode switching that can happen in a power split like this.

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Figure 37

Conclusion

Fluid power has the highest power density of all conventional power-transmission
technologies. Learned the benefits and limitations of fluid power, how to analyse fluid power
components and circuits, and how to design and simulate fluid power circuits for
applications. In this course, i learned about to the fundamental principles and analytical
modelling of fluid power components, circuits, and systems. I learned the benefits and
limitations of fluid power compared with other power transmission technologies; the
operation, use, and symbols of common hydraulic components; how to formulate and analyse
models of hydraulic components and circuits; and how to design and predict the performance

Reference

https://www.coursera.org/learn/fluid-power/home/welcome
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluid_power

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