Three Key Innovations in Hydraulic Pump Technology

Hydraulic pumps serve key functions in your hydraulic system. Without them, the system could never supply its mammoth output. Overall, hydraulic pumps offer many advantages over other pump types. They function efficiently and have low maintenance requirements. While hydraulic pumps have always been reliable, manufacturers continue to invent improvements.

What Are the Functions of Hydraulic Pumps?

Hydraulic pumps convert their mechanical energy into hydraulic energy. Their operation within a hydraulic system serves two functions. Firstly, their mechanical action generates a vacuum located at the pump inlet. The atmospheric pressure pushes the liquid out of the reservoir, through the inlet line, and into the pump. Secondly, the hydraulic pump’s movement forces this liquid into the pump outlet and then out into the hydraulic system.

Hydraulic pumps produce liquid flow rather than generating pressure. However, this flow serves an essential role in building the pressure that transports the fluid through the system. For instance, when the pump is disconnected, the fluid pressure at the pump outlet remains at zero. When the pump delivers fluid into the system, the pressure rises to the intensity needed to overcome the load resistance.

Hydraulic pumps can move large volumes of liquid over long distances with minimal energy consumption. This ability had made them popular for transporting both gasses and liquids. In addition, they have low maintenance requirements compared to other pump types. Also, hydraulic pumps have excellent safety records and require little labor.

Over time, manufacturers worked to improve hydraulic pumps, making them more energy-efficient, increasing runaway control, and reducing maintenance costs.

Energy Efficiency

In general, hydraulic pumps consume less energy than other types of pumps to complete the same output or volume of liquid or gas. In fact, many hydraulic pumps rate as 80% more efficient than pneumatic-style systems.

Today’s latest hydraulic pumps boast even more efficiency versus earlier iterations. As a result, organizations’ overall cost of operating hydraulic systems has lessened. Additionally, increased efficiency leads to shorter job times, allowing faster production. Lastly, more efficient hydraulic pumps take less mechanical stress while operating, allowing for longer life cycles and lower maintenance costs.

Increased Runaway Control

Runaway pneumatic systems can wreak havoc on mechanical parts, resulting in total system shutdowns and downtime for repairs. In addition to the expense of fixing runaway-related problems, production schedules face interruption, adding to the costs.

Hydraulic pumps, on the other hand, very seldom run dry. Pneumatic systems are harder to monitor in terms of speed and flow. Hence, operators often fail to notice a runaway system until the damage has already resulted, causing valuable time to be lost.

Today’s hydraulic systems comes with readily recognizable excessive speed and flow warnings. Because monitoring them is simple, busy operators are never caught off guard by a system running dry. By ensuring operators recognize runaway issues, hydraulic pumps prevent resultant seal and package damage as well as internal part breakage.

Easier Maintenance Requirements

All machines require routine maintenance to continue functioning efficiently and avoid breakdowns. As your vehicle needs oil changes, brake jobs, tire rotations, and transmission service, hydraulic pumps must receive scheduled maintenance to prevent loss of power and component deterioration. However, overall maintenance costs for hydraulic pumps are substantially less than other pump types. Much of this benefit is owing to their self-lubricating setup.

Because of self-lubrication, they lack many difficulties associated with other pumps, such as compressed air models. Lacking self-lubrication, these types of pumps suffer increased susceptibility to moisture, areolated oils, scale, and rust. In addition, self-lubrication eliminates the problems of icing, which can wreak havoc when the pump’s cycles result in the cooling of rapidly exhausting compressed air.

In Sum

Over the previous years, you have probably noticed that vehicle maintenance requirements have grown less frequent. Better technology allows for parts to last longer with lower maintenance. The same is true of hydraulic pumps. As a result, manufacturers have endeavored to create more efficient models with longer-lasting components. The result is hydraulic pumps that last longer with less attention.

Hydraulic pumps are your best friend when you need reliable hydraulic system production. They provide the ceaseless output you need during times of high production, rarely break down, and are easy on the maintenance budget. With manufacturers ever improving them, hydraulic pumps remain one of the best options.

If you have questions about your hydraulic equipment the specialists at Servo Kinetics in Ann Arbor can help. With more than 45 years of experience in industrial hydraulic repair services, we promise you the highest quality hydraulic repairs at the lowest possible cost as well as a fast turn-around.

Our hydraulic repair services include Vickers classic factory rebuilds, Beach Russ repair, reverse engineering services, new pumps and motors and more. Contact one of our hydraulic experts for a reliability centered maintenance check today.