Contents

10.1 Introduction to Hydraulic Systems ................................................................................................ 10.2

10.2 Hydraulic Press ............................................................................................................................... 10.2
10.3 Hydraulic Accumulator ................................................................................................................... 10.3
10.4 Hydraulic Intensifier ........................................................................................................................ 10.4
10.5 Hydraulic Crane ............................................................................................................................... 10.5
10.6 Hydraulic Lift ................................................................................................................................... 10.5
10.7 Hydraulic Ram ................................................................................................................................. 10.6
10.8 The Fluid or Hydraulic Coupling ..................................................................................................... 10.7
10.9 Hydraulic Torque Converter............................................................................................................ 10.8
10.10 Air Lift Pump .................................................................................................................................... 10.9
10.11 References ..................................................................................................................................... 10.10
10.1 Introduction to Hydraulic Systems
A hydraulic system is a circuit in which the forces and power are transmitted through a liquid. The hydraulic
system may be divided into two groups: 1) Hydrostatic System and 2) Hydrodynamic System.
In the hydrostatic system, the force and power will be transmitted by the hydrostatic pressure of the fluid.
In the hydrodynamic system, the force and power will be transmitted by changing the velocity and direction
of the fluid.

10.2 Hydraulic Press

Function:
“The hydraulic press is a device used for lifting
heavy weights by the application of a much smaller
force.”

Principle:
The hydraulic press is based on Pascal's law,
which states that the intensity of pressure in a
static fluid is transmitted equally in all the
directions.

Construction & Working: Fig.10.1 – Hydraulic Press

It consists of two cylinders of different diameters.

The cylinder with a larger diameter has a sliding ram, the load to be
raised or lowered is placed on it.
The cylinder with a smaller diameter has a plunger that moves
upwards or downwards when a force is applied to it as shown in
Fig.10.1. Sometimes a lever arrangement is used to increase the
mechanical advantage as shown in Fig.10.2.
The two cylinders are interconnected at the bottom and are filled with
a liquid (i.e oil) through which pressure is transmitted.
Let,
Fig.10.2 – Lever arrangement
𝑊 = Weight to be lifted
𝐹 = Force applied on a plunger
𝐴 = Cross-sectional area of the ram
𝑎 = Cross-sectional area of the plunger
𝑃 = Intensity of pressure produced inside the cylinder
When a small force (𝐹) is applied on the plunger in the downward direction, a pressure (𝑃) is produced on
the liquid in contact with the plunger, this pressure is transmitted equally in all directions and acts on the
ram in the upward direction and the heavier weight placed on the ram is lifted. Thus,
𝐹 𝑊
𝑃= =
𝑎 𝐴

Prof. Bhavin J. Vegada, Department of Mechanical Engineering

10.2 Fluid Mechanics & Hydraulic Machines (3141906)
Unit-10 Hydraulic Machines
 𝑎
∴𝐹=𝑊
𝐴
Since 𝐴 is greater than 𝑎, the load raised (𝑊) is always greater than the force (𝐹).

Applications:
Hydraulic presses may be employed in metal presswork, bending and straightening any metal piece, cotton
press, forging press, plate press, packing press, etc.

10.3 Hydraulic Accumulator

Function:
“The hydraulic accumulator is a device which stores or
accumulates the energy of the fluid in the form of
pressure energy when it is not needed and supplies the
energy for any sudden or intermittent requirement.”
The hydraulic accumulator works like the flywheel of
an engine or electric storage batteries.

Construction & Working:

 The hydraulic accumulator consists of a sliding
ram, which slides in a fixed vertical cylinder. A
heavy weight is placed on the ram as shown in
Fig.10.3.

 The inlet of the cylinder is connected to the

pump, which continuously supplies fluid under Fig.10.3 – Simple Hydraulic Accumulator
pressure to the cylinder and the outlet of the
cylinder is connected to the machine (which may be lift, crane, etc.).
 When the machine connected with the accumulator is idle and the pump is running, the high-
pressure liquid enters the fixed cylinder from the bottom and it raises the ram.
 This flow of liquid continues until the ram reaches its extreme upper position. As the load is applied
on the ram, pressure of the liquid is maintained. Thus the maximum amount of pressure energy is
accumulated.
 When the need arises the accumulated energy is discharged to the machine by lowering the ram.
When the machine needs the maximum amount of energy it receives pressurised fluid from the
pump and accumulator both as discussed above.

The capacity of Accumulator:

“It is defined as the maximum amount of hydraulic energy stored in the accumulator.”
Let,
𝐴 = Area of the sliding ram
𝐿 = Stroke or lift of the ram
𝑃 = Intensity of water pressure supplied by the pump, and
𝑊 = Total weight of ram and load

Prof. Bhavin J. Vegada, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Fluid Mechanics & Hydraulic Machines (3141906) 10.3
Unit-10 Hydraulic Machines
  An upward force acting on the ram,

𝑊 =𝑃×𝐴
 The energy stored in the accumulator or the maximum work done in lifting the ram or capacity of
accumulator is given by,
= 𝐹𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒 × 𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒
=𝑊×𝐿
=𝑃×𝐴×𝐿
Applications:
Generally, the stored energy is used to run hydraulic machines like the hydraulic crane, hydraulic lift, etc.
where a high-pressure liquid is needed to supply the energy for lifting the load in upward directions.

10.4 Hydraulic Intensifier

Function:
“It is the device, which is used to increase the intensity of
pressure using the hydraulic energy available from a large
quantity of fluid at low pressure.”
The intensifier is located between the pump and the machine
(press, crane, lift, etc.) that needs high-pressure liquid for its
operation.

Construction & Working:

 A hydraulic intensifier consists of a fixed cylinder and the
other moving cylinder. It also consists of a fixed ram. The
sliding cylinder slides between a fixed ram and the fixed
cylinder as shown in Fig.10.4.
 Fixed ram has a central passage through which the fluid
under high pressure flows to the machine.
 A hollow inverted sliding cylinder, containing fluid under
high pressure is mounted over the fixed ram; which is
surrounded by another fixed inverted cylinder which
contains fluid from the main supply at low pressure.
 A large quantity of fluid at low pressure from supply
enters the inverted fixed cylinder. The weight of this fluid
moves the sliding cylinder in the downward direction.
 The fluid in the sliding cylinder gets compressed due to
the downward movement of the sliding cylinder and its Fig.10.4 –Hydraulic Intensifier
pressure is thus increased. The high-pressure fluid is
forced out of the sliding cylinder through the fixed ram, to the machine.

Applications:
It is used to run the hydraulic machines such as hydraulic press, lift and crane; which requires fluid at very
high pressure; which cannot be obtained from the main supply directly.

Prof. Bhavin J. Vegada, Department of Mechanical Engineering

10.4 Fluid Mechanics & Hydraulic Machines (3141906)
Unit-10 Hydraulic Machines
10.5 Hydraulic Crane

Function:
“Hydraulic crane is a device, used for
raising or transferring heavy loads.”

Construction & Working:

 A hydraulic crane comprises two
elements: Craning arrangement
and the hydraulic jigger.
 Craning arrangement consists of
a mast, tie, jib and guide pulley as
shown in Fig.10.5.
 The jib and tie are attached to the
mast; the jib can be raised or Fig.10.5 –Hydraulic Crane
lowered to decrease or increase the radius of action of the crane.
 The mast along with the jib can revolve about a vertical axis and thus the load attached to the rope
can be transferred to any place within the area of the crane's action.
 The hydraulic jigger, which consists of a movable ram sliding in a fixed cylinder, is used for lifting
or lowering the heavy loads.
 One end of the ram is in contact with the fluid (water or oil) and the other end is connected to set
of movable pulley block and another pulley block, called the fixed pulley block is attached to the
fixed cylinder.
 The pulley block, attached to the ram, moves up and down while the pulley block, attached to the
fixed cylinder is not having any movement.
 A wire rope, one end of which is fixed to a movable pulley is taken round all the pulleys of the two
sets of the pulleys and finally passes over the guide pulley, attached to the jib as shown in Fig.10.5.
 The other end of the rope is provided with a hook, for suspending the load.

 For lifting the load by the crane, the fluid under high pressure is admitted into the cylinder of the
jigger.
 This fluid forces the sliding ram to move vertically up and due to the movement of the ram in the
upwards direction, the movable pulley block attached to the ram also moves upward.
 This increases the distance between two pulley blocks and hence the wire passing over the guide
pulley is pulled by the jigger and thus raises the load attached to the hook.

Applications:
• It is used in warehouses, workshops, docks, etc. to lift heavy weights.

10.6 Hydraulic Lift

Function:
“The hydraulic lift is a device used for carrying passenger or goods from one floor to another in the multi-
storeyed building.”

Prof. Bhavin J. Vegada, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Fluid Mechanics & Hydraulic Machines (3141906) 10.5
Unit-10 Hydraulic Machines
Construction & Working:
 A hydraulic lift comprises two
elements: Cage and the hydraulic
jigger.
 Cage is suspended from a wire
rope using guide pulleys as shown
in Fig.10.6.
 The hydraulic jigger, which
consists of a movable ram sliding
in a fixed cylinder.
 One end of the ram is in contact
with the fluid and the other end is
connected to set of movable pulley
block and another pulley block,
Fig.10.6 –Hydraulic Lift
called the fixed pulley block is
attached to the fixed cylinder.
 A wire rope, one end of which is fixed at ‘A’ and the other end is taken round the movable and fixed
pulley blocks and finally passes over the guide pulleys.
 The other end of the rope is provided with a hook, for suspending the cage.

 For lifting the cage by the lift, the fluid under high pressure is admitted into the cylinder of the jigger.
This fluid forces the sliding ram to move towards left and due to the movement of the ram, the
movable pulley block attached to the ram also moves towards left. This increases the distance
between two pulley blocks and hence the wire passing over the guide pulleys is pulled by the jigger
and thus the cage is to be lifted.
 For lowering the cage, water from the fixed cylinder is taken out; thus the sliding ram moves
towards the right and hence movable pulley blocks and the cage is lowered due to increased length
of the rope.

10.7 Hydraulic Ram

Function:
"The hydraulic ram is a device which is
used to lift a small quantity of water to a
greater height using the energy of a large
quantity of water available at low heads.”
It works on the principle of the water
hammer effect.

Construction & Working:

 Fig.10.7 shows the construction
of a hydraulic ram. It consists of
a supply pipe, closed chamber,
waste valve (B), delivery valve Fig.10.7 –Hydraulic Ram
(C), air vessel and a delivery pipe.

Prof. Bhavin J. Vegada, Department of Mechanical Engineering

10.6 Fluid Mechanics & Hydraulic Machines (3141906)
Unit-10 Hydraulic Machines
  When the inlet valve fitted to the supply pipe opens, water starts flowing from the supply tank to
the chamber, and the level of water rises in the chamber and waste valve ‘B’ starts moving upward
and the stage comes, when the waste valve ‘B’ suddenly closes.
 This sudden closure of waste valve ‘B’ creates high pressure inside the chamber and this high-
pressure force opens the delivery valve ‘C’; thus the water from chamber enters the air vessel and
compresses the air inside the air vessel.
 This compressed-air exerts a force on the water in the air vessel and a small quantity of water is
raised to a greater height.
 When the water in the chamber loses its momentum, the waste valve ‘B’ opens in the downward
direction and the flow of water from supply tank starts flowing to the chamber and the cycle will
be repeated.

Advantages:
• No moving parts
• No power requirement
• Inexpensive & less maintenance cost
• Pumping continuously over a longer period of time.

10.8 The Fluid or Hydraulic Coupling

Function:
“The fluid or hydraulic coupling is a device used for
transmitting power from driving shaft to driven shaft
with the help of fluid; without any mechanical
connection between the two shafts.”

Principle:
It works on the principle of change in the velocity of the
working fluid.

Construction & Working:

 It consists of a radial-pump impeller mounted
on a driving shaft ‘A’ and a radial flow reaction
turbine mounted on the driven shaft ‘B’ as
shown in Fig.10.8.
Fig.10.8 –Hydraulic Coupling
 Both the impeller and runner are identical in
shape and they together form a casing which is completely enclosed and filled with oil. There is no
mechanical connection between driving and driven shaft.
 In the beginning, both the shafts ‘A’ and ‘B’ are at rest; when the driving shaft ‘A’ is rotated, the oil
will pass through the impeller blades and will flow radially outwards with high energy.
 The fluid will then strike the turbine runners and, while flowing radially inwards, transfer power to
the turbine blades.
 With the increase in the speed of shaft ‘A’, sufficient head is developed in the fluid at the outlet of
pump impeller so that the power transferred to the turbine rotor becomes high enough to set the
driven shaft ‘B’ in motion.

Prof. Bhavin J. Vegada, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Fluid Mechanics & Hydraulic Machines (3141906) 10.7
Unit-10 Hydraulic Machines
  The oil from the runner then flows back into the pump impeller, thus having a continuous
circulation.
 Due to slip, the two shafts rotate at different speeds. If both shafts rotate at the same speed, the
circulation of oil stops, oil circulates in the system due to the difference of centrifugal force set up
in the driver and the driven.
 The slip of the fluid coupling is given by,
𝑁1 − 𝑁2
𝑆=
𝑁1
 The efficiency of fluid coupling is given by,
𝑂𝑢𝑡𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑇2 𝜔2
𝜂= =
𝐼𝑛𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑇1 𝜔1
Where,
𝑁1 , 𝜔1 & 𝑇1 = Speed, angular velocity and torque of the pump impeller
𝑁2 , 𝜔2 & 𝑇2 = Speed, angular velocity and torque of the turbine runner
 The efficiency of fluid coupling is about 98%.

Applications:
• It is used when the driven shaft is required to run at a speed close to that of the driving shaft.
• The large initial loads are involved and smooth free operations are required.
• It is used in automobiles, marine engine and ropeway cable drive units.

10.9 Hydraulic Torque Converter

Function:
“The hydraulic torque converter is a device used
for transmitting increased or decreased power
from driving shaft to driven shaft with the help of
fluid.”

Principle:
The main difference in the principle of operation
between a fluid coupling and fluid torque
converter is that while the coupling transmits
power with the same torque on driving and a
driven shaft, the converter provides for torque
multiplication with the same power (neglecting
the losses) on driving and driven shaft.

Construction & Working: Fig.10.9 –Hydraulic Torque Converter

 In a torque converter, a stationary guide
vane (stator) is incorporated between the pump impeller and the turbine rotor as shown in Fig.10.9.
 The function of the stator is to increase the torque produced by the driving shaft and then to
transmit the increased torque to driven shaft.
 The stator consists of a series of guide vanes through which the fluid flows.

Prof. Bhavin J. Vegada, Department of Mechanical Engineering

10.8 Fluid Mechanics & Hydraulic Machines (3141906)
Unit-10 Hydraulic Machines
  For a greater torque on the driven shaft, the change in angular momentum in the turbine runner
should be greater than that in the pump.
 The stationary blades are so shaped that they increase the angular momentum of fluid and thus it
multiply the torque.
 The efficiency of the torque converter is 85 – 87%. The operation of the torque converter is
analogous to that of a gearbox in an automobile.
 The increase of torque depends on the design of stationary blades and the speed ratio.

Applications:
It is used in diesel locomotives, earthmoving machinery and automobile power transmitting units.

10.10 Air Lift Pump

Function:
“It is used to lift water from a deep well or
sump by using compressed air.”

Principle:
The compressed air is mixed with water and
hence the density of the air-water mixture is
reduced. The density of this air-water
mixture is very much less than that of pure
water. Hence a very small column of pure
water can balance a very long column of the
mixture. This is the principle on which the air
lift pump works.
Fig.10.10 –Air Lift Pump
Construction & Working:
 It consists of 1) an air compressor to supply the compressed air, 2) an air pipe fitted with one or
more air nozzles and 3) the delivery pipe as shown in Fig.10.10.
 The lower portion of the delivery pipe dips into well and water gets discharged from the upper end
of the delivery pipe.
 The compressed air from the compressor is introduced at the bottom end of the delivery pipe
through one or more nozzles.
 In the delivery pipe, a mixture of air and water is formed. The density of this air-water mixture
becomes very less compared to the density of pure water. Hence a small column of pure water will
balance a very long column of the air-water mixture.
 This air-water mixture will be discharged out of the delivery pipe. The flow will continue as long as
there is a supply of compressed air.
Let,
ℎ = Height of the static water level above the tip of the nozzle
𝐻 = Height to which water is lifted above the tip of the nozzle
 The (𝐻 − ℎ) is known as a useful lift. For best results, the useful lift (𝐻 − ℎ) should be less than
the height of static water (ℎ).
Prof. Bhavin J. Vegada, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Fluid Mechanics & Hydraulic Machines (3141906) 10.9
Unit-10 Hydraulic Machines
Advantages:
• It has no moving parts below water level and hence there are no chances of suspended solid
particles damaging the pump.
• It can raise more water through a borehole of given diameter than any other pump.
• Compare to centrifugal pump it is:
✓ Robust, versatile and flexible
✓ Substantially cost-effective (≈50-70% in energy savings)
✓ Lower capital, operation and maintenance costs
✓ Lower operating noise and vibration

Disadvantages:
• It has very low efficiency, only 20 to 40% energy available in the form of useful water horse-power.
• It cannot lift water when the level of water in deep well goes down below the limit.
• Quantity of air to compress is high compared to the liquid flow required.
• Suitable only if the head is relatively low. To obtain a high head, one has to choose a conventional
pumping system.

Applications:
• Mostly used in agriculture.

10.11 References
1) R. K. Bansal, “Fluid Mechanics & Hydraulic Machines”, 3 rd Edition, 2007, Laxmi Publications (P) Ltd.
2) V. L. Patel & Dr. R. N. Patel “Fluid Power Engineering”, 4th Edition, 2010-11, Mahajan Publishing House.
3) S. K. Som & G. Biswas, “Introduction to Fluid Mechanics and Fluid Machines”, 2nd Revised Edition, 2008,
McGraw-Hill Education (India) Pvt. Ltd.
4) D. S. Kumar, “Fluid Mechanics & Fluid Power Engineering”, S. K. Kataria & Sons.

Prof. Bhavin J. Vegada, Department of Mechanical Engineering

10.10 Fluid Mechanics & Hydraulic Machines (3141906)
Unit-10 Hydraulic Machines