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Hydraulic Cylinders / Jacks - How it works
Hydraulic Cylinder
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Hydraulic cylinders are powered through
pressurized hydraulic fluids. These fluids are typically oil. Hydraulic
cylinders have a barrel, in which a piston is connected to a piston rod. The
piston has sliding rings and seals and the rod moves back and forth. The
barrel is closed on each end by the cylinder bottom or cylinder head where
the piston rod comes out. The piston divides the cylinder inside in two
chambers - cap end and rod end. Hydraulic cylinder is the actuator or motor
side of a system. The generator side of the hydraulic system is the
hydraulic pump. The pistons push the oil in different chambers from
reservoirs. If oil pressure in the piston rod chamber is approx zero, the
force on the piston rod equals the pressure in the cylinder times the piston
area. The piston moves instead downwards if oil is pumped into the piston
rod side chamber and the oil from the piston area flows back to the
reservoir without pressure.
Hydraulic Jack
Hydraulic jacks work on the basis of Pascal's Principle. This principle
states that the pressure in a closed container is the same at all points. If
there are two cylinders (a small one and a large one) connected together and
a small force is applied to the small cylinder, this would result in a given
pressure. This pressure would be the same in the larger cylinder, but since
the larger cylinder has more area, the force emitted by the second cylinder
would be greater. The greater the differences in the areas of the cylinders,
the greater the potential force output of the big cylinder. An enclosed
fluid under pressure exerts that pressure throughout its volume and against
any surface containing it.