Working Principle of Hydraulic Actuator
1. According to Pascal, when there is an increase in pressure at any point in a confined incompressible fluid, then there is an equal increase at every point in the container. Hydraulic actuators are designed based on this principle (Pascal’s law).
2. To understand how hydraulic actuators works, let’s take an example of two cylinders connected together as shown in the figure. Suppose one cylinder has cross sectional area of 1 sq.cm. and the second one has cross section area of 10 sq.cm. If the cylinders are filled with incompressible fluid and 1 unit of pressure is applied to the left cylinder pushing the pump (actually liquid) by 10 cm. Then the resulting force acts on the right cylinder pushing the piston by 1 cm, but with a force of 10 units. This means applying 1 unit of force produces 10 units of force on the other side.