Engineering Applications of Pneumatics and

Hydraulics

Requiring only a basic knowledge of the physics of fluids, Engineering Applications of

Pneumatics and Hydraulics provides a sound understanding of fluid power systems and
their uses within industry. It takes a strongly practical approach in describing pneumatics
and hydraulics in modern industry and is filled with diagrams of components, equipment
and plant.
The pneumatic and hydraulic graphical symbols used in everyday fluid power systems
and circuits are particularly explained and well illustrated. In addition to descriptions of
equipment and plant, maintenance and troubleshooting is also covered, with an emphasis
on safety systems and safety regulations.
This second edition delves into the same fluid power technical areas as in the first edi-
tion, but with a complete update of current safety legislation and guidance on the latest
regulations. Codes of practice, technical standards and standardisation organisations have
also been updated to enable readers to search for the newest information and requirements
regarding the use and application of pneumatics and hydraulics in industry whilst reflect-
ing advances in technology.
The book is written for students from levels 3 to 5, and for a wide range of practising
engineers, especially in the engineering disciplines of mechanical, plant, process and oper-
ations engineering, as well as measurement and control engineering within mechatronics.

Ian C. Turner is a registered European Engineer, UK Chartered Engineer and UK Char-

tered Environmentalist. He works across a wide range of industry, commerce and public
service organisations including training, assessment and verification.

EUR ING Ian C. Turner

BSc CEng CEnv HonFSOE HonFIPlantE FInstMC MICBSE MIET
Engineering Applications of
Pneumatics and Hydraulics

2nd Edition

EUR ING Ian C. Turner

BSc CEng CEnv HonFSOE HonFIPlantE FInstMC MICBSE MIET
Second edition published 2021
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2021 I.C. Turner
The right of I.C. Turner to be identified as author of this work has been asserted
by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known
or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to
infringe.
First edition published by Willan 2011
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book

ISBN: 978-0-367-46085-3 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-367-46084-6 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-02681-5 (ebk)

Typeset in Times New Roman

by Swales & Willis, Exeter, Devon, UK
Contents

Preface to the 1st edition vii

Preface to the 2nd edition viii
Acknowledgements ix

1 Applications of pneumatics and hydraulics in industry 1

2 Basic principles of fluid power systems 6

3 Features and characteristics of pneumatic and hydraulic systems 10

4 Component, equipment and plant symbols 14

5 Fluid power generation, supply and distribution 27

6 Control valves I: Types and principles of operation 62

7 Control valves II: Types and principles of operation 69

8 Actuators 77

9 Pneumatic and hydraulic circuits and arrangement of components 94

10 Electro-pneumatics and electro-hydraulics 103

11 Fluid power measurement systems 110

12 Troubleshooting and maintenance 119

vi Contents

13 Basic principles of fluid power control 131

14 Emergency shutdown and safety systems 135

15 Health and safety at work 144

Appendix 1: Answers to revision questions 149

Appendix 2: City & Guilds specimen examination questions 152
Appendix 3: Standards and standardisation organisations – Relevant
fluid power standards 167
Appendix 4: Bar litres – Calculations 169
Appendix 5: UK professional engineering bodies, institutions and
other organisations relevant to fluid power 171
Index 172
Preface to the 1st edition

Fluid power systems technology has been with us for many years and it is a form of
technology which is likely to remain with us for the foreseeable future. However, like all
technology there have been dramatic changes over the years, most notably in the mater-
ials used in the construction of pneumatic and hydraulic components, the arrangement of
circuits and the speed and reliability of operation of pneumatic and hydraulic systems.
This text is based upon a series of training modules developed for short courses in
Basic Pneumatics and Air Logic which have been delivered over recent years as in-
company training material to a number of end user organisations over a diverse range of
industries, from petro-chemicals to automobile manufacture to food processing.
Whilst initially the training material was developed for short course delivery it has now
been expanded to cater for formal qualification programmes and modules in Engineering as
offered by a number of training providers. In this respect the text is now suitable for relevant
City & Guilds and BTEC modules/programmes of study in colleges of FE and HE whilst at
the same time catering for the updating needs of practising engineers. The book is also
designed to cater for students engaged upon N/SVQ and GN/SVQ programmes of study in
Engineering by adequately covering the unit range for fluid power in both mandatory and
optional units.
The material has been presented in a practical, readable format and is well illustrated
with diagrams of components and circuits as used in everyday pneumatic and hydraulic
applications. It is the ideal text to supplement both work and college based study of this
important area of technology.
Ian C. Turner
Preface to the 2nd edition

Whilst much of the technical content from the 1st edition has remained unchanged, this
2nd edition has been updated from the previous edition in a number of ways.
In particular, current UK safety regulations and other guidance relating to fluid power
systems has now been included. This has occurred as a result of the revocation of the
earlier Pressure Systems and Transportable Gas Containers Regulations (SI 1989 No
2169) i.e. the PSTGCR which has now been removed and replaced with the Pressure Sys-
tems Safety Regulations (i.e. PSSR SI 2000/128).
This edition of the book also now contains a number of updated references for fluid
power readers to consult and research. Some additional questions have been provided for
the reader to attempt in order to gain a fuller understanding of the technology, the safety
regulations and their practical application in engineering.
Ian C. Turner
Acknowledgements

The author expresses grateful thanks to the following organisations for their support and
kind permission to reproduce extracts from their training material and other publications:

• IMI Norgren
• Festo Didactic KG
• Brisco Engineering
• Spirax Sarco
• Webtec Hydraulics
• City & Guilds of London Institute
Chapter 1

Applications of pneumatics and

hydraulics in industry

AIMS

At the end of this chapter you should be able to:

1 Appreciate a range of industrial applications for pneumatics and hydraulics.

2 Appreciate that pneumatics and hydraulics may be used in combination with other
technologies in a given system.
3 Recognise that fluid power systems may be used for operating, controlling and/or
taking measurements of equipment, machinery and plant.
4 Have an awareness that fluid power systems can be used in industrial processes
requiring emergency and safety shut-down arrangements.

1.1 INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS

Pneumatic and hydraulic systems have been used for many years within industrial pro-
cesses and as such have acquired an established place in modern industry. Continuous
development of fluid power technology over the years has significantly expanded and
increased the applications to many areas hitherto not known for adopting pneumatic and
hydraulic technology.
Some of the principal users of fluid power technology are:

• manufacturing industries, notably the automotive industry, machine tool manufac-

turers and domestic and commercial appliance manufacturers
• processing industries, such as chemical, petro-chemical, food processing, textiles,
paper, etc.
• transportation systems, including marine and mobile construction plant
• utilities, particularly in the gas industry
• defence systems.

Over many years there has also been increased use of fluid power technology in the
fields of offshore oil and gas development, space and aero-nautical systems and nuclear
applications.
2 Engineering Applications of Pneumatics and Hydraulics

1.2 COMBINED TECHNOLOGIES

Often, pneumatics and hydraulics are combined with other technologies such as mechan-
ical, electrical and electronic systems to form an overall system. An example of this can
be found in robotics.
In addition, safety conscious industries will sometimes adopt a number of technolo-
gies operating on different physical principles as a means of achieving diversity of
operation, control and measurement on a given process. This is particularly significant
as protection against common mode failure whereby if one system fails, the others
remain active.

1.3 USES OF FLUID POWER SYSTEMS

Fluid power systems may be used for:

1 Carrying out work by operating plant and machinery using linear, swivel and
rotary motion. Some general methods of material handling used in industry, for
example, may be:
• clamping
• shifting
• positioning
• orientating.

a General applications may be:

• packaging
• feeding
• door or chute control
• material transfer
• turning and inverting of parts
• sorting
• stacking
• stamping and embossing.

b Some general machining and work operations may be:

• drilling
• turning
• milling
• sawing
• finishing and buffing
• forming.
 Applications of pneumatics and hydraulics 3

Figure 1.1 A combined wellhead control panel and hydraulic power unit for an offshore oil platform

2 Controlling processes and plant. Pneumatic and hydraulic systems may be used
to sense the operational status of a process and feed this information back to
a controller which will take a necessary control action, for example a limit switch
may sense that an actuator needs to be operated.
3 Measurements of process and/or machine parameters. Pneumatics and hydraulics
can be used to provide measurements of process or machine parameters, act on this
information and subsequently display it to an operator.

The processes outlined in 1, 2 and 3 above may be used individually or in combination.

4 Engineering Applications of Pneumatics and Hydraulics

Figure 1.2 Practical hydraulic emergency shut-down system for three sub-sea oil wells

1.4 HYDRAULIC AND PNEUMATIC SAFETY SYSTEMS

In addition to operating, controlling and measuring parameters of process plant and

machinery, hydraulics and pneumatics may be used in high-integrity safety systems. This
is expanded further in Chapter 14.
The high speed and reliability of operation embodied in a good, modern pneumatic and
hydraulic system design coupled with inherent explosion-proof and overload-safe
 Applications of pneumatics and hydraulics 5

operation makes the choice of this technology ideal for applications in the marine, off-
shore and petro-chemical industries.
Figure 1.2 shows a practical hydraulic emergency shut-down system for three sub-sea
oil wells on an offshore petro-chemical application. A further example of a safety system
is that used in automatic reverse braking systems which can be fitted to any vehicle using
air or air/hydraulic brakes. Such a system can bring a vehicle to a halt literally within
centimetres once an obstruction is encountered. Figure 1.3 shows a typical arrangement
of such a backstop system.

Figure 1.3 Typical backstop installation on a fully air braked rigid truck. 1 Gear change selector, 2
Reversing light switch, 3 Footbrake, 4 Brake actuating solenoid valve mounted adjacent to
rear brake supply, 5 Rear spring brake actuators, 6 Backstop switching unit mounted close
to rear of vehicle, 7 Backstop sensor mounted on rearmost part of vehicle, 8 Electrical
junction box