A hydraulic valve is often specified by thread, pressure rating and nominal bore; and while these details matter, they don’t automatically answer the harder circuit question: what should the valve allow your engineer to do once the system is built? An inline valve, ball valve or diverter valve is not only a component in […]
Poor contamination control is one of the fastest surefire ways to shorten the life of a fluid power system, and this makes filtration the first line of defence in many applications. Read on as we explore five things that every engineer should know about hydraulic filtration, and how the right choices can improve both design […]
A hydraulic replacement can look straightforward until the component in question is held against the machine. Then the real questions appear, such as ‘will the ports face the right way’, ‘will the hose route still work’, ‘is there enough access to tighten the fitting’, and ‘will the replacement behave the same under the current duty?’ […]
In practice, cavitation is more often recognised through its symptoms than caught at the moment it begins. However, the warning signs are easy to miss if inlet conditions are not being measured. By the time a pump is stripped and the internal surfaces show pitting or erosion, the system may have already spent time running […]
Replacing a hydraulic hose fitting is a sealing-geometry decision before it is a thread-size decision, because two fittings can measure close enough across the thread to look interchangeable on a bench, yet seal in completely different ways once they are tightened into a port or hose end. The important check is therefore whether the thread […]
When ordering a replacement hydraulic hose assembly, a lot rides on getting the decision right, so what information do you need before sourcing the replacement? We find that a replacement hydraulic hose assembly is easiest to specify accurately when the failed hose is treated as evidence, not as the whole specification. By this, we mean […]
In the UK, net energy consumption stood at 128.1 million tonnes of oil equivalent in 2024, with the industrial sector accounting for 19.5 mtoe – the lowest level in over 50 years – as efficiency measures and structural changes reduced energy use in industry. Even so, hydraulics remain a major power consumer in infrastructure and […]
Hydraulic faults become easier to isolate when pressure is read alongside flow and temperature under the same operating conditions. Pressure tells you the resistance being generated at a point in the circuit; but it does not prove that useful oil volume is reaching the actuator, that the pump is delivering its expected output, or that […]
All hydraulic systems are built to deliver power, but performance ability comes from how efficiently this power is used. When a hydraulic circuit runs efficiently, with minimal restriction and manageable heat levels, you get more power output from the same energy input. When it doesn’t, even a well-designed system can consume excess power, waste fluid […]
Fluid power is something of an ‘evergreen’ industry, with many core technologies and processes having been used successfully for many decades or even centuries. Nevertheless, the last couple of decades have seen significant developments in hydraulic engineering, with innovations marching in step with the increased demand among customers for greater efficiency and a lower carbon footprint, among other factors.
