Our cylinders are made to the highest specifications so are ideally suited to a wide range of applications. Available in both tie rod and welded construction with all mounting options available. We also offer technical expertise and support from purchase through to installation and operation.
Put simply, hydraulic cylinders (often called linear hydraulic motors) are actuation devices that produce linear motion and force by utilising pressurised hydraulic fluid. Hydraulic cylinders are used in many different power transfer applications and work on the principle that a force applied at one particular point is then transferred to another point by the application of an incompressible fluid. Typically, this hydraulic fluid is a kind of oil.
Simple hydraulic systems consist of two pistons that are connected by pipes filled with oil. When force is applied to one of the pistons, the oil in the pipe transmits that force to the second piston. The fact that oil is incompressible means that it is a highly efficient medium through which the force may travel and almost one hundred per cent of the force that is applied to the first piston is transmitted to the second.
Hydraulic cylinder manufacturers create hydraulic cylinders that are able to produce unidirectional force from unidirectional stroke, meaning they can be used in many different industries.
In the agricultural industry, there are many applications for which hydraulic cylinders are used, including tractors, harvesters and loaders and their various attachments. In civil engineering, hydraulic cylinders, hollow hydraulic cylinders and hydraulic cylinder jacks are utilised in the operation of excavators, trenchers, bulldozers and so on. In the energy industry, the sheer power of hydraulic cylinders is used to control the gates of hydroelectric stations. Furthermore, mechanical engineering, automated production lines, feeding devices, transportation devices, plastic forming machines and the production of ecological equipment all rely heavily on the use of hydraulic cylinders.
They are also used in shipbuilding, as well as the automotive, aeronautical and food, production and manufacturing industries.
Hydraulic cylinders are used to solve all kinds of problems in the above industries. For example, any application that involves the lowering, locking, lifting or moving of heavy loads.
There are many different types of hydraulic cylinder to handle the various different functions that they are called upon to perform. There are, for example, single-acting hydraulic cylinders and double-acting hydraulic cylinders, as well as telescopic cylinders and plungers. Of course, only rapid traverse and telescopic cylinders can be either single-acting or double-acting.
Single-acting cylinders are able to exert force in only one direction. In the majority of hydraulic systems, these are plunger cylinders with an external force used to ensure the piston returns to its original position: e.g. upstroke presses, lifting devices, etc. In the absence of force, the piston must be returned to its original position with the use of springs.
Telescopic cylinders are utilised in hydraulic lifting applications, or in cases where large amplitudes are required but space is limited. An example of which would be tipper trucks.
The single or double-acting differential cylinder tends to be used in hydraulic systems that are mobile and industrial.
For any information of hydraulic cylinder options, including questions about precision hydraulic cylinders, used hydraulic cylinders and hydraulic cylinder repairs, contact AC Hydraulics today.
