What is the difference between hydraulics and pneumatics?

Mar 31, 2023

What is the difference between hydraulics and pneumatics?

Hydraulic is the use of liquid as the working medium, the use of liquid pressure energy to transmit power. Pneumatic is to use compressed air as the power source to drive the machinery to complete the expansion or rotation action.

A hydraulic system consists of five parts, namely, the energy device, execution device, control and adjustment device, auxiliary device, and liquid medium. Hydraulic pressure is widely used in industrial and civil industries due to its characteristics such as large transmission power, easy transmission, and configuration. The role of the hydraulic system's executive components (hydraulic cylinder and hydraulic motor) is to convert the liquid pressure energy into mechanical energy, to obtain the required linear reciprocating motion or rotary motion. The role of the energy device of the hydraulic system (hydraulic pump) is to convert the mechanical energy of the prime mover into the pressure energy of the liquid.

Pneumatic is the use of air has the characteristics of compressibility, inhalation of air compression storage, air will be like a spring with elasticity, and then use the control element to control its direction, and drive the rotation and expansion of the actuator. How much air is inhaled from the atmosphere will be discharged into the atmosphere, will not produce any chemical reaction, and will not consume any components that pollute the air, in addition, the viscosity of the gas is smaller than the liquid, so that the flow is fast, but also very environmentally friendly.

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