Table of Contents
What is a Hydraulic Press?
A hydraulic press is a press which uses hydraulic cylinder to generate compressive force. Instead of a mechanical lever a hydraulic equivalent is used in a Hydraulic press.
Joseph Bramah from England invented Hydraulic press.
Working principle of Hydraulic Press?
Hydraulic force
Before understanding working of Hydraulic press let us first learn definition of Pascal’s law.
Pascal’s law is defined as
“A change in pressure at any point in an enclosed fluid at rest is transmitted undiminished to all points in the fluid”
Now we can discuss principle of working of Hydraulic Press.
Working of a Hydraulic press depends on Pascal’s Law.
In a hydraulic press a modest amount of force is applied at a small area of fluid which generate some pressure in fluid. This pressure is than converted into force at a wider opening, where due to more area we get more force output.
In the whole process we get mechanical advantage (or leverage).
Hydraulic Press
Applications of Hydraulic Press
- Aerospace industry
- Automotive parts
- Thermoplastic Industries
- Carbon Fiber Molding
- Glass Mat Transfer (GMT)
- Resin Transfer Molding (RTM)
- Sheet Molded Composites (SMC)
- Metal forming operations
- Deep drawing operations
- Punching operations
- Blanking operations
- Moulding operations
- Clinching operations
- Forging operations
Types of Hydraulic presses
On the basis of structure hydraulic press can be of following types.
- Universal hydraulic press
- Vertical frame hydraulic press
- Horizontal hydraulic press
- Single column hydraulic press
- Four-column hydraulic press
Advantages of Hydraulic Press
- Built-in overload protection
- It is safe compared to mechanical press
- It is compact
- Lower tool cost due to built-in overload protection
- It is quiet in operation
- Greater versatility compared to mechanical press
- Lower initial and operating cost
- It offers a full power stroke
Disadvantages of Hydraulic Press
Although Hydraulic presses have large number of advantages but there are some disadvantages too.
- Handling of hydraulic oil can be messy
- Hydraulic lines could burst due to excess pressure
- Some hydraulic fluids can catch fire
- There are chances of hydraulic fluid leakage
- System gets heated because the hydraulic fluid is forced through the pumps
- It has low operational speed
- They have relatively high energy consumption
Also read:
Classification of machine tools
What is powder metallurgy process?
Advantages of extrusion process
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal%27s_law
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic_press
http://www.greenerd.com/hydraulic-press-productivity-guide/advantages.aspx
Image source:
Hydraulic force: By Darbyshmr at English Wikipedia – Own work (Original text: self-made), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4458582
Hydraulic press: By advliege – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31969269