Hydraulic cylinder
Physics
A hydraulic cylinder is a mechanical actuator that is used to give a unidirectional force through a unidirectional stroke. It has many applications, notably in construction equipment (engineering vehicles), manufacturing machinery, and civil engineering. Hydraulic cylinders get their power from pressurised hydraulic fluid, typically oil. The hydraulic cylinder consists of a cylinder barrel, in which a piston connected to a piston rod moves back and forth. The barrel is closed on one end by the cylinder bottom (the cap) and on the other end by the cylinder head (the gland) where the piston rod comes out of the cylinder. The piston has sliding rings and seals. The piston divides the inside of the cylinder into two chambers, the bottom chamber (cap end) and the piston rod side chamber (rod end). Within a hydraulic system, the pressure is given by an HPU (Hydraulic Pumping Unit). The area is the size of the hydraulic piston. These two components determine the force that can be exerted by the cylinder. Therefore, the weight that can be pushed or lifted by a hydraulic cylinder is equal to the pressure provided by the pump multiplied by the size of cylinder rod.