Fluid power has the highest power density of all conventional power-transmission technologies. Learn the benefits and limitations of fluid power, how to analyze fluid power components and circuits, and how to design and simulate fluid power circuits for applications. In this course, you will be introduced to the fundamental principles and analytical modeling of fluid power components, circuits, and systems. You will learn the benefits and limitations of fluid power compared with other power transmission technologies; the operation, use, and symbols of common hydraulic components; how to formulate and analyze models of hydraulic components and circuits; and how to design and predict the performance of fluid power circuits. This course is supported by the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center for Compact and Efficient Fluid Power, and is endorsed by the National Fluid Power Association, the leading industry trade group in fluid power.
- Week 1 - Week 1: Fundamentals of Fluid Power
This week: An overview of the course, introduction to hydraulics and pneumatics, and introduction to fundamental concepts of fluid power through the cylinder.
- Week 2 - Week 2: Components and Concepts: Part 1
This week: circuit diagrams, the written language of fluid power, and how fluid flows through conduits. We hope that you find the hydraulic circuits on the mowing machine as interesting as we did.
- Week 3 - Week 3: Components and Concepts: Part 2
This will be a busy week diving into valves and pumps. We will discuss how basic valves function, how to use them in hydraulic circuits, and how to calculate pressure drop for a given flow rate, or vice versa. The videos will directly address the discussion on...
- Week 4 - Week 4: Predicting Performance Through Simulation
This week is entirely devoted to you learning how to use Simscape Fluids (formerly SimHydraulics), the fluid power simulation application that we use in the course. The lecture provides an introduction to computer-based, object-oriented simulation, and goes th...
- Week 5 - Week 5: Fluid Properties
This week we will take a dive into hydraulic fluids (no pun intended) and how their properties and behavior influence the circuit operation. In the lectures, you will see the water hammer effect and explore the assumption of fluid incompressibility. We encou...
- Week 6 - Week 6: Advanced Components and Systems and Course Summary
This week you will learn about two new components, the accumulator, which stores hydraulic energy, and the servo valve, which provides fast and precise flow control. We will then be pulling together topics from throughout the course to look at servo hydraulic ...
James D. Van De Ven, PhD
Will Durfee, PhD
Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor