Fluid Power World Magazine Articles

Protecting and transporting nuclear waste is serious business. The idea of carrying spent nuclear fuel across political boundaries in the U.S. was rejected years ago in favor of storing it locally, but safe handling is still an issue. The radioactive material is isolated long-term in concrete casks, which are stored at independent spent fuel storage…

Clamping is critical when machining parts. Without proper clamping, the slightest wrong move turns a potential part into scrap. An option for clamping is the NSMD clamping module, which ensures clamping in a variety of applications. The clamping module uses a three-phase motor and frequency converter to power the constant delivery pump. Radial piston pumps,…

Large hydraulic systems, like those found in bascule bridges, are mostly driven by oil hydraulic systems. These systems tend to require more opening and closing times, which affects traffic flow. One way to better manage the effects on traffic is through an understanding of the dynamic behavior and properties of the hydraulic drive connected to…

“The first great leap we’ve seen in pneumatics for years,” may seem too good a proclamation to be true, but those are the words of one of the beta customers that tried out IntelliSense, a new predictive intelligence system for pneumatics. Just introduced in September by Bimba Manufacturing Co., University Park, Ill., the smart technology…

Brand’s Stackable Electronic Flow Control (SEFC) valve can be used in many different applications including fertilizer and salt/sand vehicle spreaders. The valve is used to provide electronic proportional control to spinners and product conveyors. Spinner RPM’s are maintained regardless of the material amount poured onto the spinner heads. This electronic control valve also allows the…

Variable motors are an addition to the fixed displacement bent axis piston motor range, available in displacements from 5cc (0.3 cu.in.) up to 180cc (9.79 cu.in.). Also suitable for continuous working pressures up to 450 bar (6525psi), LEDUC motors are suited for demanding applications, such as providing a source of eccentric vibration for vibros and…

We’re excited about the inaugural issue of Fluid Power World. Although our sister publication, Design World, has covered both hydraulic and pneumatic technology from its inception, we’ve had increasing feedback over the past year to launch a publication entirely focused on fluid power. Our team—with well over a century combined in serving the fluid power industry—is…

Buderus Schleiftechnik, a producer of compact and flexible machining systems, approached the German sales team at Eaton with a 12-week project timeline for a new CNC machine designed to produce high-precision transmission parts for a U.S. automobile manufacturer. Because of cost pressure within the automotive industry, the machine had to be efficient enough to keep…

Over the last 30 years, many predicted the demise of hydraulics, as they expected to see electric drives gain in popularity in industrial settings. There was a misconceived notion that hydraulics were dirty and dumb. But the power density advantage and growth of intelligent hydraulics—the combination of electrical controls and hydraulics—helped to ensure this demise…

Typical hydraulic systems consisting of pumps, hydraulic lines, valves, and actuators all have inefficiencies. Even a well-designed hydraulic system will have inefficiencies when converting mechanical energy into fluid power. These issues, in addition to design and operational inefficiencies, transform some of the input power into heat. The entire system will overheat if this heat load…

The Fluid Power Educational Foundation (FPEF) awarded 20 scholarships totaling $40,000 for the 2014 school year to students pursuing fluid power technology fields of study. “A minimum GPA, an essay, and three letters of recommendation were required from each applicant. The Board of Trustees is pleased to award these scholarships to students of such high…