Italiano
English
From force to pressure, from speed to flow
The force the cylinder must exert, divided by the piston area, gives the working pressure: it is the first number of the configuration and sets the relief valve. The speed of the movement, multiplied by the piston area, gives the flow: it is the second number and sets the pump displacement. Everything else follows from these two.
From duty cycle to motor
Required power is estimated as P(kW) ≈ pressure(bar) × flow(l/min) / 600 / efficiency. But power alone is not enough: continuous operation calls for an AC motor in S1 duty; short bursts (a liftgate, a dump body) only need a DC motor in intermittent S3 duty, smaller and cheaper. Getting the duty wrong is worse than getting the power wrong.
Reservoir and controls
The reservoir must hold the oil displaced by the cylinders plus a reserve (see the dedicated sizing guide). Control functions — single or double acting, controlled lowering, pressure holding — translate into the choice of solenoid valves and modular elements on the manifold. This is where a custom configuration beats a catalogue product.
The most common mistakes
The three mistakes we see most often in 37 years of configurations: oversizing the motor "to be safe" (costs more and runs hotter), undersizing the reservoir (overheating and foaming), and forgetting protections (relief valve not set for the real application). Our configurator in /tools/ avoids all three; for non-standard cases, a technical quote is free.