Fluid Power Journal

Walking Beam Cylinder Drifting Up

A processing plant in Pakistan had a walking-beam system that would move coils of finished product to shipping for processing. Several “pot-belly” …

Missing Rod Seal Back-up Ring

A casting company had a large heat treat furnace used in its process of making knuckles and suspension components for major automakers. These …

Problem: Extending and Retracting Forces

What are the extending and retracting forces? Deadline past. Not available for submissions. Winner: John Krebsbach, Fluid Power Engineering, Inc., Milan, IL …

Overheating of Press with Heated Platen

Click on image to enlarge A small heated platen press for an aerospace parts manufacturer would close and hold pressure for 1 to 3 hours based on the part …

Steel Mill Accumulator

Years ago we built the complete hydraulic system for a continuous steel caster at a steel producer. The HPU had a 300-gallon reservoir with 6 pumps each driven …

Problem: Minimum Pressure

What would be the minimum pressure required to hold the given load on the pneumatic cylinder? Think you know the answer? Submit …

Gear Pump Load Sense

A hydraulic distributor hired a sales engineer for a new territory they were moving into. The first customer the engineer visited requested a quote on a …

Problem: Cylinder Retraction

Neglecting pilot line sizes, approximately how many seconds after pushing the start button will the cylinder start to retract? This teaser is printed in the …

Aerated Oil on a Log Splitter

I loaned my log splitter to a friend whose tree fell after a storm. The tree was a blue spruce evergreen about 30-ft. tall. It surprised me that the tree’s …

Elevator Stopping

A simple circuit was designed to lift a service elevator up from the basement to the third floor. The HPU had a pressure-compensated pump and a three-position …