Leakage is the bane of any engineer working with a fluid power system. It can easily be avoided by proper system design and setup, as well as the specifying of the proper parts. But in the real world, mistakes happen, maintenance and installation may be shoddy, and a thousand other things can go wrong. This […]
Mobile Hydraulics Blog
Math + Science = More fluid power knowledge
By Josh Cosford Complete understanding of fluid power (or any vocation for that matter) really does require the general—yet finely honed—macroscopic lens, as well as intimate comprehension of details. So get out your “macroscope,” unfold your lawn chair, pop a squat and aim your optics this way, because I’m about to kick your hydraulic brilliance […]
A look at variable volume technology for hydraulic reservoirs
Hydraulics is a mature industry, so it’s not everyday that you see creative new products come along. So it was interesting to hear about the new Variable Volume Reservoir (VVR), a compact hydraulic reservoir created by Smart Reservoir, a Canadian company. Smart Reservoir says that it can replace conventional hydraulic reservoirs—it’s a simple improvement and it […]
The end of hydraulics in aerospace? Not so fast …
Hydraulics shrink in size but not in role By Michael Jermann, assistant editor For decades, people have been predicting the downfall of hydraulic power and trying to move to an all-electric form of operation. In 1994, Raymond Ross, then president and chief operating officer for Milacron Inc., said the migration from hydraulics to all-electric drives […]
The Rocky Horror hydraulics show
By Josh Cosford My five-year-old son is going through a phase where he is appreciating scary concepts, such as zombies and monsters—but doesn’t yet have the gall to withstand their presence within his comfort zone. Last year, he wanted to be a zombie for Halloween, partly due to his fascination with Plants vs. Zombies. I […]
Boeing’s new secret weapon is … hydraulics?
Sometimes I think that hydraulics is a dirty word to airline executives. It’s as though some of them consider the technology as dirty, leaky and something they wish they could simply rid their passenger airplanes of. An old boss of mine once commented that a plane could hit a structure, tearing part of a wing […]
A call to action on fluid power research funding
Last month, I had a chance to stop in at the University of Minnesota to take a tour of the Center for Compact & Efficient Fluid Power (CCEFP). I have always been one of those individuals that wants to leave work behind when I go on vacation, but I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to […]
Fluid power shipments decreased compared to last year
Each month, the National Fluid Power Association releases data on shipments, per its membership. The latest data, from August 2013, indicates that industry shipments of fluid power products for decreased 8.9% compared to August 2012, and increased 0.3% compared to last month. Mobile hydraulic, industrial hydraulic and pneumatic shipments decreased in August 2013 when compared to August […]
Fluid power distributors — help needed!
One of the best things about working for WTWH is that we’re always trying something different. We’re currently working on a very exciting distributor app that will be featured here on MobileHydraulicTips in the coming months. In advance of that, our editorial team is working on some insightful new editorial pieces covering the fluid power […]
Lessons from PTDA — The power of power
The highlight of the PTDA Industry Summit in Palm Desert, Calif., last week—at least for me—was the presentation by Jeffrey Gitomer, who spoke to the audience about sales and how the changing world is forcing sales professionals to adapt. He had the roughly 300 attendees alternately laughing and stopping to think. He summed up his […]