Fluid Power World Magazine Articles

The Hydraulic Infinite Linear Actuator offers a new way to generate mechanical linear motion. Contributed by Magnus Landberg, Landberg Solutions AB and Magnus Sethson, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden In the forestry industry, robust and power-dense hydraulics have long played an important role in successful and cost-effective operations. Today, there is also a trend towards larger timber […]

In this pandemic, we’ve definitely learned to use online learning, networking and training to the fullest. And even with a gradual return to in-person events in sight, we’re continuing to offer plenty of online opportunities to get new insights on fluid power technology. Last year, we launched a series of eight YouTube Live sessions with…

Many companies talk a good game when it comes to climate change but for most, it’s not a top priority. Pneumatics manufacturer SMC, in contrast, is incorporating sustainability across its entire business, from the products it makes and how they are manufactured to reorganizing production facilities to minimize waste and CO2 emissions. According to Global…

Innovation in fluid power has had its fits and starts, at least here in the U.S. There have been countless stories of soldiers coming back from WWII to start fluid power manufacturing companies here. But in the decades that followed, it seemed that much of the high-level research in the industry was happening in other…

AUMAT Maschinenbau GmbH is a Solingen, Germany-based manufacturer of broaching and special machines. When the Iseo company — a lock system manufacturer — needed a suitable solution for the machining and testing of its newly developed lock cores, they came to AUMAT. After several months of development, AUMAT automated this process with a machining center…

Hydraulic reservoir design is critical in power unit performance, so selecting the right style elements will ensure efficient circuit design. If you have a hydraulic system, you have a reservoir. Full stop. Even “reservoir-less” systems still require an expansion tank to hold excess fluid. Aside from such unconventional designs, hydraulic reservoirs offer benefits above and…

Contributed by Andrew Johnson, President, ShelfAware LLC I began my industrial career young, having been born into a family-owned O-ring distributor and grown up with the business. I have watched as the technology boom has changed the landscape of our business and those businesses around us. Leveraging technology to innovate your distribution business is not…

Heat exchangers help remove heat from hydraulic power units, helping to maintain fluid viscosity and reduce wasted energy. For all its myriad benefits, hydraulics still has a fundamental downside — heat. Adhering to the Laws of Thermodynamics, we must accept that any energy conversion results in increased entropy. In other words, converting mechanical energy from…

At one of the National Fluid Power Association’s recent Future Leaders workshops, John Stenz, the CEO of FORCE America chatted with nearly 60 of the group’s members via Zoom, talking about the proper way to lead companies through a crisis — certainly a timely topic here in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has…

When New York City’s Metropolitan Opera (The Met) began its initial production development for a new double-bill program of Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, its team of engineers and set designers were stumped on how they could bring together a rotating hydraulic design with the power and data needs the show would require. One…

It’s the holiday season of 2020, which can mean a lot of things. We could stay focused on the negatives, worry about COVID-19, potential lockdowns, missing family, bicker about post-election drama and more. Or, we could look on the bright side of things and see that things are starting to look  up. In a recent…

Eliminating downtime and ensuring safety in mining — two benefits hydraulics provides consistently. By Josh Cosford, Contributing Editor More than almost any other industry appropriating fluid power, mining is where safety sits front and center from design to execution. Surface mining enjoys bragging rights to some of the most massive machines ever manufactured by humans. […]

Knowing which style of pressure gauge is right for your fluid power system is critical in ensuring consistent, efficient operation. Contributed by Carl Dyke, LunchBox Sessions Pressure gauges are unsung heroes in many hydraulic systems. They are neither directing flow nor controlling pressure. If the pressure gauge is damaged or goes missing, the machine may…

The knock against robots has always been that they “take away jobs.” The counter argument that’s offered is that robots create new jobs, and those are generally better jobs than the ones that vanish. Interviewing the great Dean Kamen a handful of years ago, I thought he put it better than anyone. He said: “There’s…

Since the dawn of the industrial revolution, manufacturers have tapped abundant natural resources to produce goods that lasted a few years and were then thrown away. Consumers go on to buy new ones and ensure the production cycle, and profits, continued. This “take-make-waste” model worked pretty well, in part because raw materials and energy were…

Contributed by Uno Sundelin, Manager, Mining & Materials Handling Hägglunds Products & Solutions – Bosch Rexroth LKAB Malmberget in Sweden is an impressive iron ore mine in many ways. First, it is a high-tech facility that houses an entire underground community, including roads, mining operations, offices and canteens. Second, the mine has several ore bodies…

In speaking to a few different fluid power manufacturers recently, one theme seems to run true for many — this COVID-19 pandemic has rattled confidence in the global economy and reliance on far-fetched supply chains may be decreased. Reshoring is a term anyone in the industrial world already knows well. In the past 10 years or…

A new hydraulic powertrain may pave the way for reliable and economical wind turbines. Offshore wind electricity generation has seen annual growth above 25% in recent years, as global consumers increasingly embrace renewable energy. The U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory predicts accelerated market growth in the next decade, with cumulative capacity rising to nearly 200…

Many economists say U.S. industry is headed into a recession. GDP growth is going negative, November’s ISM Manufacturing Index registered further contraction, and NFPA’s monthly statistics report continued decline in both fluid power shipments and orders. Flying in the face of all the gloom, demand for fluid power specialists is still robust. Just about everyone…

At this year’s FPDA/ISD Joint Industry Summit, Joe Ellers spoke on what customers really care about, and he challenged attendees to try and get inside their clients’ heads. Ellers explained that one of his favorite things is to go out and make customer calls with salespeople. “I get to get out and actually talk to…

Genetic testing has grown into a multi-billion dollar industry because it offers insight into your ancestry and, potentially, your future health. Likewise, it helps to understand fluid power’s DNA. In a recent keynote at the 16th Scandinavian International Conference on Fluid Power, Peter Achten of INNAS offered a thought-provoking presentation, “Fluid power genes and memes.”…

LunchBox Sessions, the Canadian-based online hydraulics training platform, continues to grow, now with 13,000 current users across 97 countries. I recently caught up with Carl Dyke, the longtime Fluid Power World contributor, whose company, CD Industrial Group, created the dynamic sessions. Dyke said that LunchBox Sessions is now being used on a regular basis in more…

This week, I visited longtime Fluid Power World contributor Carl Dyke at his Alberta-based business, CD Industrial Group. The company conducts industrial training programs all across North America, and also has developed the popular Lunchbox Sessions, an extensive series of online fluid power learning modules. One of the things that really impressed me was a large…

There were significant challenges when Roth Hydraulics needed to design and install a large new blow molding plant for plastic products at its production site in Watertown, New York. The project connected the manufacturer’s skills in two fields — hydraulics and plastics processing. The design of the new hydraulic accumulator system now permits high-speed production,…

One of the speakers at this month’s NAHAD Annual Meeting & Convention in Las Vegas was Denise Keating of DATAgility, who spoke about “The Amazon Effect” that many companies, from manufacturers to distributors have been experiencing. Is it possible for a company to keep its sales channels intact without being overcome by the multibillion-dollar behemoth…