What is a Hydraulic System

Hydraulic systems can be found today in a wide variety of applications, from small assembly processes to integrated steel and paper mill applications. Hydraulics enable the operator to accomplish significant work (lifting heavy loads, turning a shaft, drilling precision holes, etc.) with a minimum investment in mechanical linkage through the application of Pascal’s law, which states:

“Pressure applied to a confined fluid at any point is transmitted undiminished throughout the fluid in all directions and acts upon every part of the confining vessel at right angles to its interior surfaces and equally upon equal areas .”

The principle of Pascal’s law is realized in a hydraulic system by the hydraulic fluid that is used to transmit the energy from one point to another. Because hydraulic fluid is nearly incompressible, it is able to transmit power instantaneously.