Lecture # 1: Introduction

Department of Mechatronics and Control Engineering

University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore
 Fluid: Anything which can flow
 Term used for Gases or Liquids
 Fluid Power System: System in which power is produced by a fluid under
pressure.

Electrical System Fluid Power System

Current Flow through Wires Fluid flow through pipes

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Fluid Power System: System in which power is produced by a fluid under
pressure.
 Generation
 Control
 Transmission

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 Fluid Power System

Hydraulics Pneumatics
Working fluid is Working Fluid
Liquid Under Pressure is Compressed gas

Hydraulic systems tend to be used at much higher pressures than

pneumatic systems.
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 Pneumatics Hydraulics
• Compressed Gas (Air, • Liquid Under Pressure
N etc)
• Control of small forces
• Quick Movement of • Control of large forces
small force • Slow movement of
• Applications: large force
Movement of doors • Applications:
Dentistry Brakes
Road Drill, Mining Drill Lifters etc
Robotics etc
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 Pneumatics Hydraulics
• Used in clean • Never used in clean
environments environments
• Components are light
• Used Air is sent to • Used Oil is sent back
atmosphere to oil tank
• Components are of • Large size
small size components
• If we want to lift same
load, size of
pneumatic actuator is
larger than hydraulic
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 Pneumatics
• Installation Cost is less
• Running cost is high
• Ability to stop the
load(Not immediately)
• Noisy system
• Not able to work at
freezing point
• Less tool variety
Hydraulics
• Installation Cost is high
• Running cost is less
• Immediate stop of load
• Quiet System
• Able to operate at
freezing point or below
• More tool variety
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 What will you learn from this course?

 High Speed Pneumatic Systems

 Basic Pneumatic Circuits
 Pneumatic Actuators
 Directional Control Valves
 Multiple Actuator Circuits
 Electro-Pneumatics
 Hydraulic Systems

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 What you are expected to do
 Listen to Allah and your parents
 Be good to your neighbors
 Listen carefully and make notes
 Pay particular attention to class examples

If you are following above rules and still not getting good grades then God
be with you.

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 Final Exam (Maximum marks = 40)
 Midterm Exam (Maximum marks = 30)
 Quizzes + Class Participation (Maximum marks 30)

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Pressure: force per unit area

Pressure=force/area

Unit: Pascal
 Atmospheric pressure varies with both location and time, for most
pneumatic calculations it is taken as 105 Pa.

105 Pa=1 bar

 Absolute pressure = gauge pressure + atmospheric pressure

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 Pressure head: A column of fluid of height h will exert a pressure at its
base due to the weight of the fluid above.

Pressure=ρgh

Transmission of forces by fluids:

Uncle Pascal determined laws governing how fluids transmit power.
These are:

 Provided the effect of the weight of a fluid can be

neglected, the pressure is same throughout an enclosed
volume of fluid at rest.
 The static pressure acts equally in all directions at the
same time.
 The static pressure always acts at right angles to any
surface in contact with the fluid. 12
Gas Laws:
Air can be considered to be reasonable approximation to an ideal gas.
Ideal gas laws:
Boyle’s law: pV= constant
Charles law: V/T= constant
Pressure law: P/T=constant

General gas equation: PV/T= constant

For mass m of a gas: PV=mRT

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Expansion or Compression of gases:
Consider a piston being used to compress a gas in a
cylinder.
If constant force F is applied and moves the piston
distance x then the work done will be Fx.
The change in volume of gas will be Ax.

Workdone= Fx = pAx = p X change in volume

For adiabatic change:

pVϒ =constant
ϒ is the ratio of the specific heats at constant pressure and constant volume of the
gas.
For dry air this ratio is about 1.4

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Example:
An air cylinder is used to cushion the opening of a door, the movement forcing a
piston to compress air in a cylinder. If the cylinder initially contains air at
atmospheric pressure and the length of the cushioning stroke is restricted to 70mm
with the full stroke being 150mm, what will be the maximum pressure in the
cylinder? Take ϒ to be 1.4 and the atmospheric pressure to be 101 kPa.

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Flow through pipes:
Consider the flow of fluid through pipe.
If fluid velocity is v then in time t it would cover a distance of vt.
Volume of fluid passing through a section having
cross-sectional area A in time t will be vtA.

Volume flow rate Q= vA

For fluid of density ρ, the mass rate of flow is:

Mass rate of flow= Qρ = ρvA

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Example:
Air of density 1.24kg/m3 flows through a pipe of diameter 300mm at a mass rate of
flow of 3 kg/s. Determine the mean velocity of the flow.

Example:
Determine the pipe size needed to carry air at a volume rate of flow of 12dm3 /s
and velocity 9 m/s.

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Pressure Drop:
When a fluid flows through a pipe, frictional forces at the walls and the turbulence
will mean that energy is expended.

For air flow through pipes , the pressure drop p per unit length of pipe is
approximately proportional to the square of the mean fluid velocity.

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Pneumatic and Hydraulic Systems by W. Bolton
Chapter 1: Pneumatic and Hydraulic Principles

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 Thank you
Any Questions???

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