How Hydraulic Cylinders Work

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This Is How Hydraulic Cylinders Work

Hydraulic cylinders are part of hydraulic systems used in special machinery designed to lift heavy loads, operate, push, support or press. If you work closely with those machines, you need to know how hydraulic cylinders work and how important they are for your business.

Generally, heavy machinery is used in medium or large companies with high production volumes. For that reason, any company owner dedicated to manufacturing, construction, or mechanics must know how the pieces of their equipment work in order to identify a problem in time and thus be able to receive support from experts in the field.

In this blog, Core Hydraulics will teach you how hydraulic cylinders work and what benefits they can have for the operation of your company.

What Is A Hydraulic Cylinder?

Although cylinders are a tool that is not visible to the naked eye, they definitely cannot be missing as part of your heavy machinery hydraulic system.

In a hydraulic system, cylinders are tubes that produce a linear movement using pressure from the hydraulic fluid.

They work as linear actuators; without them, that unidirectional force that comes from pressurized hydraulic fluid (generally oil) could not be generated.

How Do Hydraulic Cylinders Work?

(https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/pascals-law).

The “Pascal law” states that a confining pressure applied to fluid will be transmitted without a change in magnitude of the walls of the container, and the pressure at any point in the liquid will be equal in all directions.

More in detail, this is how hydraulic cylinders work:
The entire hydraulic system consists of a cylinder board with an end cap that maintains fluid pressure when oil is pumped into the cylinder. And another cylinder head is attached to the other end of the barrel.

The piston rod extends from the cylinder through the head, transporting the force from the cylinder to the gear. That piston is attached to the piston rod and divides the cylinder into two compartments; then, it moves back and forth when pressure develops on both sides of the cylinder chamber.

A set of circular sealing rings is used at the metal interface to prevent fluid contamination.
When a specific force is applied to a small piston section, the pressure is transmitted to the fluid. Then, that fluid creates power directed into the hydraulic cylinder through valves that help its direction and pressure to be well distributed to all the rest of the components of the hydraulic system.

So, just as Pascal’s principle explains, for the movement of a force to exist, there must be a structure that contains it, in this case, the hydraulic cylinders being in charge of that function.
This is a more graphic example of how hydraulic cylinders work:

Types Of Hydraulic Cylinders

Hydraulic cylinders generally come in two types:

Single Acting Hydraulic Cylinder
In a single-acting cylinder, only one chamber receives the pressurized hydraulic fluid, meaning that it can only be ruled in one direction, and the fluid spread by a pump or compressor enters from one end only.

The equipment’s intended use determines the side in which the chamber will be.

Double Acting Hydraulic Cylinder
Unlike the single-acting cylinder, the double-acting one can be moved in two directions by sliding back and forth along its access.

This system is more used for the movement of any type of equipment.

Benefits Of Hydraulic Cylinders

Besides hydraulic cylinders, other pneumatic and electromechanical actuators can be used in hydraulic systems. However, hydraulic cylinders offer greater advantages such as:

● Efficient power-to-weight ratios
● Easy and flexible transfer of hydraulic energy
● Variable speed control
● They can be controlled either manually or with modern electronics
● Simple to design, manufacture, install, repair, or rebuild

How Can A Well-Maintained
Hydraulic Cylinder Help You Grow Your Business?

Now that you know in a general way accurate information on how cylinders work in machinery, you have probably already started to think that your production would be significantly affected without this hydraulic system component.

Hydraulic cylinders are so vital to many commercial or industrial manufacturing businesses that they can positively or negatively influence an entire industrial process.

Maintaining and repairing your hydraulic systems, cylinders, and seals on time can assure you an increase in the performance, efficiency, and general reliability of your system and your company.

Trust The Hydraulic Professionals

Although having the correct cylinder helps a lot, there are always occasions when your cylinder can fail, and it may need a hydraulic cylinder rebuild or repair, which is when Core Hydraulics comes into action.

Core Hydraulics is your go-to option for hydraulic cylinder repair, rebuilding, and resealing. With us, you can find fast response, with under one hour ETA for on-site repairs, maintenance, and replacements seven days a week, 24 hours a day.

Our main objective is to create business-to-business relationships by offering grassroots efforts and solutions for mechanics, small business owners, and construction workers.
If you are looking for a reliable, efficient, and result-oriented company, you can be sure that Core Hydraulics has your back.