DEBRE-MARKOS UNIVERSITY

Institute of Technology
School of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering

Fluid Power Systems

Chapter – 2
Components of Hydraulic System

Lecture II: Actuators

Prepared By: Seyfu T. (MSc.)
1 Dec,2022
 Actuators
Introduction
 Hydraulic cylinders and Hydraulic motors form the hydraulic circuit
component called the actuators.
 They extract energy from the pressurized fluid and convert it to
mechanical energy to perform linear or rotary motions.
 The mechanical power delivered to the load is managed by controlling
the fluid pressure and flow rate, by using various hydraulic control
valves.
The hydraulic actuators are classified into three main groups according to motion type:

1) Hydraulic cylinders - performing linear motion.

2) Hydraulic motors - performing continuous rotary motion.
3) Hydraulic rotary (semi-rotary) actuators - performing limited angular
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displacement.
 1. Hydraulic cylinders (Linear actuators)
 Hydraulic cylinders (linear actuators) extend and retract a piston rod to exert a force
on an external load along a straight line path.

 Cylinders are used in the majority of applications to convert fluid energy into
straight line motion. For this reason, they are often called linear actuators.

 It usually consists of a movable element, a piston and a piston rod operating within a
cylindrical bore.

3 Figure: Construction of a typical hydraulic cylinder

 Classifications of Hydraulic Cylinders
The hydraulic cylinders are classified into the following types:
 Single acting cylinder,
 Double acting cylinder,
 Tandem cylinder,
 Telescopic cylinder etc.
Single acting cylinder

 A single-acting cylinder can exert a force in only the extending direction as fluid

from the pump enters the blank end of the cylinder ( usually left side of the
piston).

 Single- acting cylinder do not retract hydraulically.

 Retraction is accomplished by using gravity or by the inclusion of a compression

spring in the rod end.

 The return stroke of the cylinder is accomplished by some external means. 4

 Symbol

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 Force during extension stroke is
 Velocity during extension stroke is

The force and velocity during retraction stroke depends upon spring
rate as single – acting cylinder do not retract hydraulically.

Example: 2/3 way, manually operated, spring offset directional control

valve ( DCV ) used to control the operation of a single – acting cylinder
(fig. below).
 When the valve is manually actuated the pump flow goes to the
cylinder blank end ‘A’ via DCV 1 position. This extends the
cylinder.
 At full extension, pump flow goes through the relief valve.
 Deactivation of the DCV allows the cylinder to retract as the DCV
shift into its spring – offset mode.

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Where: C = Single acting cylinder, P = Pump, E = Electric Motor, T = Tank, F =
Filter , R = Relief Valve, D =2/3 way DCV Manually operated and spring return

7 Fig. Control of Single -Acting Hydraulic Cylinder

 Double –Acting cylinder
 Double –Acting cylinders can be extended and retracted hydraulically. Thus, an
output force can be applied in two directions.
 Directional control valve alternately directs fluid to opposite sides of the piston.

It can be seen from the above 4 equations that force during extension
stroke and velocity of piston during retraction stroke are greater for the same
operating pressure and flow rate.
Extension velocity is less than retraction one. Why?

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 …Cont’d
 The power developed by a hydraulic cylinder for either the extension or retraction

stroke, can be found out by (velocity multiplied by force) or from ( flow rate
multiplied by operating pressure )

The most familiar double acting cylinder is the single rod end.
This type of cylinder provides power in both directions, with a pressure
port at either end.
Single rod end cylinders exert greater forces when extending than
when retracting, since the piston area on the blind end is larger than the
piston area on the rod end (due to the area covered by the piston rod).

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Figure below shows a circuit used to control a double – acting hydraulic cylinder.

 At the end of the stroke, there is no system

demand for oil.
 Thus, the pump flow goes through the
relief valve at its pressure- level setting
unless the four- way valve is deactivated.
 In any event the system is protected from
any cylinder overloads.

Group discussion
 Describe the operation principle of the above circuit.
 If the oil on the rod side was not allowed to leave the rod end of the cylinder, what
will happen?
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 …Cont’d
Cylinder external and cut-away

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 Tandem Cylinders
The tandem cylinder duplicates the pressure force, for the same barrel diameter. But the length
of the cylinder is more than a standard cylinder and also requires a larger flow rate to achieve a
speed because flow must go to both pistons.

Fig: A differential tandem cylinder.

Fig: A symmetrical tandem cylinder.

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 Telescopic Cylinders
 Telescopic cylinders are used in industrial and mobile equipment hydraulic systems.
 This class of cylinders provides long cylinder working strokes with relatively small
installation space.
 The telescopic cylinder may be either single acting or double acting.

Fig: Single-acting telescopic cylinder Fig: Double-acting telescopic cylinder

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 Methods of Applying Linear Motion Using Hydraulic Cylinders
• A cylinder must produce a force equal to the load the cylinder is required to
overcome. A cylinder may be placed with its axis vertical, horizontal or inclined
depending on the load to be actuated.
1. Vertical cylinder: In a vertical cylinder, the load to be actuated is in the vertical
direction as shown in Fig. Then the cylinder load F is equal to the weight W of
the object, acting in the vertical direction.

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2. Horizontal cylinder: In a horizontal cylinder, the cylinder load is theoretically
zero, because no component of the object’s weight acts along the axis of the cylinder.
However, when the object slides across the horizontal surface, the cylinder must
overcome the frictional force created between the object and the horizontal surface.

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3. Inclined cylinder: In an inclined cylinder as shown in Fig, the cylinder load equals
the component of the object’s weight acting along the axis of the cylinder and
frictional force.

The load the cylinder must overcome is less than the weight of the object to be moved if the
object does not slide on an inclined surface. But when the object has to be accelerated from
zero velocity to a steady-state velocity, an additional force called inertia force must be added to
the weight component and any frictional force involved

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 Mounting methods of cylinder
Various types of mounting permit versatility in the
anchoring of cylinders.
Various cylinder mounting are:
 Foot and centerline lug mount
 Rectangular flange mount
 Square flange mount
 Pin and Trunnion mount
 Clevis mount
 flash side mount
 Intermediate Trunnion mount
 Extended tie rod
 Double rode end

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Foot and centerline lug mounts

The side or lug mounted cylinder provides a fairly rigid mount.

This type of mount can tolerate a slight amount of misalignment
when the cylinder is fully extended, but as the piston moves
toward the blind end, the tolerance for misalignment decreases.

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 …Cont’d
Square and Rectangular flange mount

The solid flange mount is the strongest, most rigid method of mounting
a cylinder.

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 …Cont’d
Pin and Trunnion (pivot) mount

All pin and trunnion mounted cylinders need a provision on both

ends for pivoting.
This type of mounting is designed to carry shear loads and requires
that the trunnion or pivot pins are rigidly held by closely fit bearings
for the entire pin length.

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 …Cont’d
Clevis mount - U-shaped device for holding rod

Intermediate Trunnion mount

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 …Cont’d
Extended tie rod
When using tie rods extended on the rod end, the best application is a
tension load.
For a thrust load application, the tie rods should be extended on the
blind end of the cylinder.
Tie rod mounts are suited for many applications, but it should be
noted that they are not as rigid as flange mounted cylinders and often
require additional support for long stroke applications.

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 Applications of Linear Actuators
Linear actuators are used in:
 Mobile, medical, office and domestic applications machine
tools and industrial machinery,
 In computer peripherals such as disk drives and printers,
 In valves and dampers, and many other places where linear
motion is required.
 Hydraulic or pneumatic cylinders inherently produce linear
motion.
 Many other mechanisms are used to generate linear motion
from a rotating motor.

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 Example 1:
1) An 8 cm diameter hydraulic cylinder has a 4 cm diameter rod. If the cylinder
receives flow at 100 LPM and 12 MPa, find the
(a) extension and retraction speeds and
(b) extension and retraction load carrying capacities.
Solution
Let us first convert the flow in LPM to m3/sec before we calculate forward velocity
Qin=100 LPM = 100/(1000 × 60) =1/600 m3/sec.

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(b) Force during extension is given by

Force during retraction is given by

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 Example 2:
A pump supplies oil at 0.0016 m3/s to a 40 mm diameter double-acting hydraulic cylinder. If
the load is 5000 N (extending and retracting) and the rod diameter is 20 mm, find the
(a) Hydraulic pressure during the extending stroke.
(b) Piston velocity during the extending stroke.
(c) Cylinder kW power during the extending stroke.
(d) Hydraulic pressure during the retracting stroke,
(e) Piston velocity during the retracting stroke.
(f ) Cylinder kW power during the retracting stroke.
Solution:
Given:

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 2. Hydraulic motors (Rotary actuators)

 Hydraulic motors (rotary actuators) rotate a shaft to provide a torque

to drive the load along a rotary path. The rotation could be limited or
continuous.

 Hydraulic motors are rotary actuators that converts hydraulic or fluid

energy into mechanical power.

 A hydraulic motor is a device which converts fluid power into rotary

power or converts fluid pressure into torque.

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Differences between a hydraulic motor and a hydraulic pump

Hydraulic Motor Hydraulic Pump

It is a device for delivering torque at a given It is a device for delivering flow at a given
pressure. The main emphasis is on mechanical pressure. The main emphasis is on volumetric
efficiency and torque that can be transmitted. efficiency and flow.

Motors usually operate over a wide range of Pumps usually operate at high RPM.
speed, from a low RPM to high RPM.

Most motors are designed for bidirectional In most situations, pumps usually operate in
applications such as braking loads, rotary one direction.
tables.
Motors may be idle for long time (as in index Pumps usually operate continuously.
table).

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 …Cont’d
 Depending upon the mechanism employed to provide shaft
rotation, hydraulic motors can be classified as follows:
1. Gear motors.
2. Vane motors.
3. Piston motors:
 Axial piston-type motors.
 Radial piston-type motors.
 Gear motors are the least efficient, most dirt-tolerant and have
the lowest pressure rating.
 Piston motors are the most efficient, least dirt-tolerant and
have high pressure ratings.
 Vane and piston motors can be fixed or variable displacement,
but gear motors are available with only fixed displacement.
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 …Cont’d
Gear motor
 A gear motor develops torque due to hydraulic pressure acting
against the area of one tooth.
 There are two teeth trying to move the rotor in the proper
direction, while one net tooth at the center mesh tries to move
it in the opposite direction.
 In the design of a gear motor, one of the gears is keyed to an
output shaft, while the other is simply an idler gear.
 Pressurized oil is sent to the inlet port of the motor.
 Pressure is then applied to the gear teeth, causing the gears and
output shaft to rotate.

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 …Cont’d
 The pressure builds until enough torque is generated to rotate
the output shaft against the load.
 Most of the gear motors are bidirectional.
 Gear motors are normally limited to 150 bar operating
pressures and 2500 RPM operating speed. They are available
with a maximum flow capacity of 600 LPM.
 The gear motors are simple in construction and have good dirt
tolerance, but their efficiencies are lower than those of vane or
piston pumps
 Generally, they are not used as servo motors.

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 …Cont’d

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 …Cont’d
 Hydraulic motors can also be of internal gear design.
 These types can operate at higher pressures and speeds and
also have greater displacements than external gear motors.
 Gear motors work best at medium pressure and flows, and are
usually the lowest cost.
 When selecting a hydraulic motor, you need to know the
maximum operating pressure, speed, and torque the motor
will need to accommodate.

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 Vane motors
Vane motors offer medium pressure ratings and high flow, with a
mid-range cost.

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 Piston motors
At the most expensive end, piston motors offer the highest
flow, pressure and efficient ratings p

Piston motors are classified into the following types:

1. According to the piston of the cylinder block and the drive shaft,
piston motors are classified as follows:
a) Axial piston motors.(inline and bent axis design)
b) Radial piston motors
2. According to the basis of displacement, piston motors are
classified as follows:
a) Fixed-displacement piston motors.
b) Variable-displacement piston motors
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 …Cont’d
Axial Piston Motors
 the piston reciprocates parallel to the axis of the cylinder
block
 fixed-and variable-displacement design.
 They generate torque by pressure acting on the ends of
pistons reciprocating inside a cylinder block.
 the inline design- in which the motor, drive shaft and
cylinder block are centered on the same axis.
 Speed and torque depend on the angle
between the cylinder block and the drive
shaft.
 The larger the angle, the greater the
displacement and torque, and the smaller the
speed.
 This angle varies from 7.5° (minimum) to 30° (maximum). This
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type of motor is available in two types, namely fixed-displacement
type and variable-displacement type
 3. Semi-Rotary hydraulic actuators
• Hydraulic actuators are elements converting the hydraulic power into mechanical
power with a rotary motion of limited rotation angle.
• Used to convert fluid pressure energy into torque which turns through an angle
limited by the design of actuators.

Rack-and-pinion piston-type rotary actuator:

Parallel piston rotary actuator

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Limited angle rotary actuator
 Applications of rotary actuators
 Hydraulic motors have become popular in industries.
 Hydraulic motors can be applied directly to the work.
 They provide excellent control for acceleration, operating speed,
deceleration, smooth reversals and positioning.
 They also provide flexibility in design and eliminate much of bulk and
weight of mechanical and electrical power transmission.
 The applications of hydraulic motors in their various combinations
with pumping units are termed hydrostatic transmission

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 …Cont’d
A hydrostatic transmission converts mechanical power into fluid
power and then reconverts fluid power into shaft power.
Generally, the Applications include
 Material-handling equipment, farm tractors, railway
locomotives, buses, lawn mowers (machines for cutting grass)
and machine tools.
 For hydrostatic transmissions.
 Road machinery
 Aircraft systems
 Marine systems

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 Hydraulic motor efficiencies
• The three (volumetric, mechanical and overall) efficiencies are used to
evaluate the performance of motors as in pumps.
• Motors also have mechanical losses due to friction and volumetric losses due
to internal friction.
1) Volumetric efficiency:
Theoretical flow rate required to drive the motor
ηv = x100
Actual flow rate applied in to the motor

𝑄𝑇
ηv = 𝑥100
𝑄𝐴

𝐷𝑚 𝑁
ηv = 𝑥100
𝑄𝐴
𝐷𝑚 - Motor displacement per revolution, m3/rev
N-Motor speed, rpm 41
 2) Mechanical efficiency:

 Mechanical efficiency of a hydraulic motor is the ratio of the actual work

done to the theoretical work done per revolution.
Actual work done by the motor 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑣
η𝒎 =
Theoretical work done 𝑖𝑡 𝑠ℎ𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑑𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑣

2𝜋𝑇 Where
η𝒎 =
𝑃𝑚 𝐷𝑚 T- actual motor torque, Nm
𝑃𝑚 - pressure drop across the motor, N/m2

 Mechanical efficiency can also be calculated as

Actual power given by the motor
η𝒎 =
Theoretical power 𝑖𝑡 𝑠ℎ𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑑𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟
2𝜋𝑁𝑇
η𝒎 =
42 𝑃𝑚 𝑄𝑇
 3) Overall efficiency:
 Is the ratio of the actual power out put (mechanical power) given by the
motor to the actual power input (hydraulic power) delivered to the motor.

Actual power delivered by the motor (mechanical power)

η𝒐 =
Actual power delivered to the motor(hydraulic power)

2𝜋𝑁𝑇 𝑄𝑇 2𝜋𝑁𝑇
η𝒐 = =
𝑃𝑚 𝑄𝐴 𝑄𝐴 𝑃𝑚 𝑄𝑇

η 𝒐 = ηv . η𝒎

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 Example 3
1. A hydraulic motor has a volumetric displacement of 125 cm3 and a
pressure rating of 150 bars. It receives a theoretical flow rate of oil
of 0.0015 m3/sec from a pump. Find the motor:
a) Speed
b) Theoretical torque
c) Theoretical power.
Solution
Given:

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 Example 4
2. A hydraulic motor has a displacement of 150 cm3 and operates with a pressure of 120 bars

and a speed of 2500 rpm. The actual flow rate consumed by the motor is 0.0078 m3/s and the

actual torque delivered by the motor is 250 Nm. Find

a) Volumetric efficiency
b) Mechanical efficiency
c) Overall efficiency
d) Power delivered by the motor
Solution
Given:

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Motor speed, N = 2500 rpm
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 end of
Lecture -II
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