Fluid Power Journal

Watts It All About

Watts It All About with Dan Helgerson

Welcome to a fluid power blog focusing on best practices, energy efficiency, and safety. The goal is to stimulate (not simulate) thinking, share knowledge, and promote professionalism. We welcome your comments as we share ideas, yours and mine.

Dan-HelgersonDan Helgerson, CFPAI, CFPS, sits on the International Fluid Power Society Board of Directors as treasurer and is the technical editor for Fluid Power Journal. He can be reached at Dan@DanHelgerson.com

Visit his website at www.DanHelgerson.com

Transforming Fluid Power: If Motors Could Torque…

Fluid power has become a vital component in our ability to perform work: it harvests our crops, takes our waste to the landfill, moves the landing gear, entertains and protects us, and all with a power density and flexibility that is unmatched in any other power transfer system. However, when it comes to efficiency, fluid […]

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Transforming Fluid Power: My Torque Isn’t Working

Fluid power has become a vital component in our ability to perform work: it harvests our crops, takes our waste to the landfill, moves the landing gear, entertains and protects us, and all with a power density and flexibility that is unmatched in any other power transfer system. However, when it comes to efficiency, fluid […]

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Flow Means “Go”…Well, Not Exactly.

Fluid power has become a vital component in our ability to perform work: it harvests our crops, takes our waste to the landfill, moves the landing gear, entertains and protects us, and all with a power density and flexibility that is unmatched in any other power transfer system. However, when it comes to efficiency, fluid […]

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Working Under Pressure

An Introduction to Fluid Power I’ve created a Powerpoint presentation to help demonstrate the “push” in fluid power. Click HERE to download the presentation.

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Pressure Compensated Pumps

I need a volunteer.  Ok, you with the shirt that has the official International Fluid Power Society logo on it; go to your stack of Fluid Power Journal magazines and get the March/April 2009 issue.  It’s the one with the picture of an excavator on the cover and really interesting article about Biohydraulic Oils.  Yes, […]

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Let’s Keep It Clean

It is well known within the Fluid Power Industry that the primary cause of failure in Fluid Power Systems is contamination.  So, how do you know if your fluid is clean? I went to see a customer to find out why his hydraulic gear pumps were failing so quickly.  I had opened up his pumps […]

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Kidney Loop

We are in the Fluid Power business.  We are convinced that Fluid Power is the right choice for transferring energy in this specific application.  We know that we can replace some electric motors with hydraulic motors and be more efficient. So, why do we use electric motors for our off line filtering and temperature control […]

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What in the World Do Those Numbers in the ISO Cleanliness Code Mean?

We have been talking a lot about filtration here at the steel mill. My predecessor, Scott McLoughlin, had done a remarkable job in educating by example, demonstrating the need for good control of the fluids in our hydraulic and lubrication systems. He had helped stop the leaks and had added well thought-out filtration systems that […]

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Outside the Box: Rethinking the Traditional Reservoir

This article will take a look at three alternatives to the traditional reservoir. First, we will look at a reservoir by Price Engineering that takes an entirely different approach to the use of the reservoir. Second, we will look at a Cylindrical Reservoir that was designed for a more efficient removal of contamination from the […]

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Begin at the End

I was recently at a conference addressing the issue of efficiency in fluid power systems, specifically in hydraulics.  The conference was focused on existing systems rather than designing new ones.  The question was asked, “How do we know if an existing hydraulic system is efficient?”  Now, in all my years (I won’t say how many) […]

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