Over the course of the trade show week, I averaged almost 17,000 steps per day. Indeed, the 2026 CONEXPO/CON-AGG exhibition was absolutely massive, but I took advantage of their (slow and infrequent) lot shuttles. In most cases, it would have been faster to walk, but I made the rookie error of wearing dress shoes on […]
Who wants to be featured at CONEXPO?
My priority when visiting the CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2026 next month is to learn about advanced new technologies, especially those related to fluid power and its machinery. This, despite my desire to find the management team at AEM and convince them to change the show’s name, which has all the appeal of trans-fat-laden square tubs of oleo […]
When should you use hydrostatic pumps?
The term hydrostatic refers to the fundamental concept we hold dear in fluid power, which is that confined hydraulic fluid under pressure exists in equilibrium and balance. Although hydraulic fluid does no more than hold objects stationary without the active application of force through a pumping device, the concept is entirely different than hydrodynamics, which […]
How is telematics used on mobile machinery?
In many ways, Industry 4.0 has yet to achieve widespread proliferation throughout fluid power machinery as it seemed we were promised. Baby Boomers are still waiting for their flying cars as promised by the Jetsons. It’s been nearly sixty years since the Jetsons got our hopes up, so I hope it doesn’t take so many […]
You can’t get something for nothing
I once had a customer call to request I visit them at their own customer’s site to help with a “breakdown.” I’m always down to help a customer, so I gladly paid a visit. Arriving on-site, many looming pieces of machinery greeted me in a heavy equipment yard. An excavator sat atop a float trailer […]
Designing with HPUs for mobile machinery
Mobile machinery design has its challenges, but it has many benefits as well. A hydraulic pump need not mount near a hydraulic reservoir, and in fact, could be many feet away. A pump may be near the transmission of the vehicle or at a PTO shaft near the truck’s front bumper. As well, valves and […]
Top 5 reasons to attend the 2020 IFPE show
Let me start with by saying I will not be attending the 2020 IFPE Show this March 10-14. When the show begins, I’ll just be returning from my trip to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. I will have been just married on the sunny beach to my beautiful soul mate, Caryes Allan. Three weeks out of […]
What makes mobile hydraulics different from industrial hydraulics?
The need for lower weight, size and costs mean that mobile machinery often sets the stage for power density improvements in fluid power. All hydraulic machinery should be similar in scope and design, one would think. After all, the point of fluid power is to transmit force. Why should any given mobile machine be vastly […]
How is electronic control of fluid power evolving?
Electrohydraulic or hydroelectric? It’s odd how similar those two compound words are, yet they’re obviously entirely different in meaning. Hydroelectric refers to the production of electricity by way of converting the potential kinetic energy found in conjoined bodies of water of varying height, into electrical energy used by everyone and their hamster. Electrohydraulic is the […]
Why are accumulators so scary?
By Josh Cosford Compared to many of you reading this, I am young in this industry, and as such, my fluid power career is sophomoric at best. Depending on your perspective, I am lucky (cursed) enough to experience the slow movement of time. Time does not fly for me, so the year 2006 seems a […]
