What is Fluid Power?
Fluid power is the use of fluids under pressure to generate, control, and transmit power. The two main types of fluid power are hydraulic and pneumatic. Applications range from brute force needed in heavy industry to sensitive positioning of parts in precision machining operations. Fluid power is one of the three types of power transfer systems commonly used today. The fluids for hydraulic systems are usually consisted of a water soluble oil or water glycol mixture and then converted into a mechanical output that is capable of doing work on a load. Hydraulic systems have a greater range than mechanical and electrical systems and can provide more power than other systems of equal size. They are accurate, operate at high pressures, move slowly, and have strong components. Pneumatic systems don’t use fluids but use air to generate power. They are less accurate, move faster, and are much lighter in weight. Both systems provide precise control of torque, speed, and force.
The first signs of fluid power use were seen by the Egyptians, Persians, and Chinese when they built gates, ditches, and dams to control water for irrigation systems. Over time many different variations and developments were made that ended up leading to the invention of the waterwheel to lift water for irrigation purposes to turn simple mills which provided power well into the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The wind and watermills had very low power outputs and usually only produced about 3 to 5 horsepower. Early uses of fluid power were based off of low pressure water and air that were provided by nature. These methods are still in use by some industries today.
Historians have felt that many early machines and devices were developed and o...
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...Alan Hitchcox of H&P this shouldn’t be a concern, “even if we don’t see the unbelievable progress that has occurred with phones and computers, the steady stream of advancements in the industry promise to keep fluid power a viable means of power transmission well into the future”[Hitchcox]
Fluid power has allowed massive strides in production that are exponentially greater than anything attempted by man power alone. These powerful machines have practical applications in industries such as Petrochemical, agriculture, and everything in between. Without the use of fluid power machinery the production of farms across the globe would be no where near the production levels to support the growing population of the planet. The fluid power industry has played an important role in the marketplace as well as many industries and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
water to mix with the fresh water to turn the waterwheel that provided power for
A pump is a device which is used to move the fluids, for example, the gases, the liquids and slurries. The pump transfer the volume through physical or mechanical action. The pumps are widely applied in the mechanical industry , pharmacy and domestic field. Positive displacement and centrifugal compose the two main types of pumps.
All with various power outputs. To discuss the power output, first the cycles of the engine itself needs to be mentioned. 1.Intake: The intake valve opens, allowing fresh oxygen rich air mixed with fuel to enter the cylinder. 2.Compression:
New technology is arriving every day. The greatest invention during this time was the steam engine. The creation of the steam engine was credited to James Watt. There had been other steam engines before James Watt’s, but none of them were efficient. Watt’s engine was the first efficient engine that could be used in a factory.
The first practical low-pressure models of “steam engines were invented by Thomas Savery and Thomas Newcomen in 1698 and 1705, respectively” (Allen & Allen 144). Used exclusively as water pumps throughout the first three quarters of the eighteenth century, they drastically improved the mining industry. In Great Britain, the motherland of the Industrial Revolution, this resolved a severe energy crisis. Coal, extracted from earth by mining, now could be produced in sufficient quantities to replace firewood, supplies of which were practically exhausted. And since these water pumps were specifically designed to consume coal, it was extra beneficial to use them in the coal mining industry. As T. K. Derry and Trevor I. Williams stat...
The promise of the water frame is there will be more materials for the people quicker. They won’t have to wait longer to get their yarn. It seems that the water frame brought more progress and promise to the industrial revolution. The problems were soon to be fixed when the popularity of using the water frame increased.... ...
The Steam Engine “In the never-ending search for energy sources, the invention of the steam engine changed the face of the earth.” (Siegel, Preface) The steam engine was the principal power source during the British Industrial Revolution in the 18th century. The steam engine opened a whole new world for everyone. The steam engine maximizes production, efficiency, reliability, minimizes time, the amount of labor, and the usage of animals.
The earliest automobiles were powered by steam; however, it was a very poor power source due...
Transportation became a huge contributor to the industries of the 1800’s and 1900’s. “Steam boat experiments as early as 1780s both in England and America, but the need was greater in America.’ The steamboat uses a water and and a boiler that is powered by a fuel, which can be wood, coal, or other combustible entity. “The first successful steamboat may have been built by French engineer and inventor Claude-François-Dorothée, in 1783.” As years went by, engineers such as John Fitch and Robert Fulton began building and deploying steamships, with American inventor Fitch in the Mississippi, and English engineer Fulton on the Hudson River of New York. With the steamboat being the first mechanically powered vessel known to humans, it provided a faster new forme of transportation for traders in Americas and Europe. The steam-powered boats could travel at the astonishing speed of up to five miles per hour.
Next, hydro-electricity is electricity produced by moving water, flowing past a turbine connected to a generator (“Hydropower”). According to Nationalgeographic.c...
Tidal Power My name is Yong Sha, and my term paper topic is tidal power. In my paper,I will write the definition of tidal power, the application of tidal power, the history of tidal power used in various countries, the advantages and disadvantages of tidal power and finally I want to introduce the prospect of tidal power. First, tidal power is the fluctuation phenomenon in the bay or tidal estuary, sea or river can be seen twice in a day, known as tide in the morning, and called Xi at night. Tides as a natural phenomenon, human navigation, fishing and salt production provided for convenience.
Is it ethical or even helpful to try to impose order on a haphazard existence? Is it right to play God, to steal the limelight from the cosmos? Man used to ponder existence, but with the increasing possibilities of science, we now ponder our power over existence. In “An Experiment with an Air Pump,” Shelagh Stephenson uses symbolism associated with Isobel as a voice of foreboding in a society “enraptured by the possibilities of science” (3). Stephenson associates Isobel with a bird, a pile of bones, and a sheep to reveal the dark side of the “light,” the scientific revolution.
Hydropower, the use of water to power machinery or produce electricity, provides the most renewable energy in the United States, and uses alternating current in most modern plants ("Hydropower…”). Hydropower relies on the water cycle and is a clean fuel source; it doesn’t pollute the environment like plants that burn fossil fuels. It is by far the most efficient way to generate electricity, being half the cost of using nuclear power, two-fifths the cost of using fossil fuels, and a quarter the cost of using natural gas ("Wind and Water…”). Also, hydropower is not subject to market fluctuations of embargos, and the average lifespan of a facility is 100 years. Hydropower also has many non-energy benefits such as water supply, flood control, navigation, irrigation, and recreation. However, it does face many environmental challenges such as impacts to aquatic habitats, aesthetic alterations of landscapes, changes to water quality, and interruptions of marine life ("Hydropower…”).
Hydroelectric power seizes the buoyancy released from descending water. Two thousand years ago, Ancient Greeks utilized wooden water wheels to convert kinetic energy into mechanical energy because that’s all they had back then. However, in 1882, the first hydroelectric power plant was constructed in the United States using a fast flowing river. During that time, humans began to build dams to reserve water at the most suitable places or areas in order to best apply the power capacity. Engineering and structural changes have been increased in designing a more efficient hydroelectric power plant, but in order for that to happen they had to go through a very difficult process which can cause much conflict. (http://www.ems.psu.edu/~elsworth/courses/cause2003/finalprojects/vikingpaper.pdf)
A steam turbine's two main parts are the cylinder and the rotor. As the steam passes through the fixed blades or nozzles it expands and its velocity increases. The high-velocity jet of steam strikes the first set of moving blades. The kinetic energy of the steam changes into mechanical energy, causing the shaft to rotate. The steam then enters the next set of fixed blades and strikes the next row of moving blades. As the steam flows through the turbine, its pressure and temperature decreases, while its volume increases. The decrease in pressure and temperature occurs as the steam transmits energy to the shaft and performs work. After passing through the last turbine stage, the steam exhausts into the condenser or process steam system. The kinetic energy of the steam changes into mechanical erringly through the impact (impulse) or reaction of the steam against the blades.