A hydraulic cylinder (sometimes also called a hydraulic actuator or hydraulic ram) is a mechanical actuator that is used to give a linear force through a linear stroke. It has many applications, notably in engineering vehicles.

How Hydraulic Cylinders Operate
Hydraulic cylinders (hydraulic rams) get their power from pressurized hydraulic fluid, normally hydraulic oil. The hydraulic cylinder consists of a cylinder barrel, in which a piston connected to a piston rod moves back and forth. The barrel is closed on each end by the cylinder bottom (also called the cap end) and by the cylinder head where the piston rod comes out of the cylinder. The piston has sliding rings and seals. The piston divides the inside of the cylinder in two chambers, the bottom chamber (cap end) and the piston rod side chamber (rod end). The hydraulic pressure acts on the piston to do linear work and motion.

Flanges, trunnions, and/or clevisses are mounted to the cylinder body. The piston rod also has mounting attachments to connect the hydraulic cylinder to the object or machine component that it is pushing.

A hydraulic cylinder is the actuator or "motor" side of the system. The "generator" side of the hydraulic system is the hydraulic pump which brings in a fixed or regulated flow of oil to the bottom side of the hydraulic cylinder, to move the piston rod upwards. The piston pushes the hydraulic oil in the other chamber back to the reservoir. If we assume that the oil pressure in the piston rod chamber is approximately zero, the force on the piston rod equals the pressure in the hydraulic cylinder times the piston area (F=PA).

The piston moves downwards if oil is pumped into the piston rod side chamber and the hydraulic oil from the piston area flows back to the reservoir without pressure. The pressure in the piston rod area chamber is (Pull Force) / (piston area - piston rod area).

Parts of a Hydraulic Cylinder
A hydraulic cylinder (hydraulic actuator, hydraulic ram) consists of the following parts:

Cylinder Barrel
The cylinder barrel is mostly a seamless thick walled forged pipe that must be machined internally. The cylinder barrel is ground and/or honed internally.

Cylinder Bottom or Cap
In most hydraulic cylinders, the barrel and the bottom are welded together. This can damage the inside of the barrel if done poorly. Therefore some hydraulic cylinder designs have a screwed or flanged connection from the cylinder end cap to the barrel (see "Tie Rod Cylinders" below).In this type the cylinder barrel can be disassembled and repaired in future.

Cylinder Head
The cylinder head is sometimes connected to the barrel with a sort of a simple lock (for simple cylinders). In general however, the connection is screwed or flanged. Flange connections are the best, but also the most expensive. A flange has to be welded to the pipe before machining. The advantage is that the connection is bolted and always simple to remove. For larger hydraulic cylinder sizes, the disconnection of a screw with a diameter of 300 to 600 mm is a huge problem as well as the alignment during mounting.

Piston
The piston is a short, cylinder-shaped metal component that separates the two sides of the cylinder barrel internally. The piston is usually machined with grooves to fit elastomeric or metal seals. These seals are often O-rings, U-cups or cast iron rings. They prevent the pressurized hydraulic oil from passing by the piston to the chamber on the opposite side. This difference in pressure between the two sides of the piston causes the cylinder to extend and retract. Piston seals vary in design and material according to the pressure and temperature requirements that the hydraulic cylinder will see in service. Generally speaking, elastomeric seals made from nitrile rubber or other materials are best in lower temperature environments while seals made of Viton are better for higher temperatures. The best seals for high temperature are cast iron piston rings.

Piston Rod
The piston rod is typically a hard, chrome-plated piece of cold-rolled steel which attaches to the piston and extends from the cylinder through the rod-end head. In double rod-end hydraulic cylinders, the actuator has a rod extending from both sides of the piston and out both ends of the barrel. The piston rod connects the hydraulic actuator to the machine component doing the work. This connection can be in the form of a machine thread or a mounting attachment such as a rod-clevis or rod-eye. These mounting attachments can be threaded or welded to the piston rod or, sometimes, they are a machined part of the rod-end.

Rod Gland
The hydraulic cylinder head is fitted with seals to prevent the pressurized hydraulic oil from leaking past the interface between the rod and the head. This area is called the rod gland. It often has another seal called a rod wiper which prevents contaminants from entering the hydraulic cylinder when the extended rod retracts back into the cylinder. The rod gland also has a rod bearing. This bearing supports the weight of the piston rod and guides it as it passes back and forth through the rod gland. In some cases, especially in small hydraulic cylinders, the rod gland and the rod bearing are made from a single integral machined part.

A hydraulic cylinder should be used for pushing and pulling only. No bending moments or side loads should be transmitted to the piston rod or the cylinder. For this reason, the ideal connection of a hydraulic cylinder is a single clevis with a spherical ball bearing. This allows the hydraulic actuator to move and allow for any misalignment between the actuator and the load it is pushing.

Hydraulic Cylinder Designs
There are primarily two styles of hydraulic cylinder (hydraulic actuator, hydraulic ram) construction used in industry: tie rod style cylinders and welded body style cylinders.

Tie Rod Hydraulic Cylinders
Tie rod style hydraulic cylinders use high-strength threaded steel rods to hold the two end caps to the cylinder barrel. This method of construction is most often seen in industrial factory applications. Small bore cylinders usually have 4 tie rods, while large bore cylinders may require as many as 16 or 20 tie rods in order to retain the end caps under the tremendous forces produced. Tie rod style cylinders can be completely disassembled for service and repair.

The National Fluid Power Association (NFPA) has standardized the dimensions of hydraulic tie rod cylinders. This enables cylinders from different manufacturers to interchange within the same mountings.

Welded Body Hydraulic Cylinders
Welded body hydraulic cylinders have no tie rods. The barrel is welded directly to the end caps. The ports are welded to the barrel. The front rod gland is usually threaded into or bolted to the cylinder barrel. This allows the piston rod assembly and the rod seals to be removed for service.

A cut-away showing the internal components of a welded body hydraulic cylinder.

Welded body hydraulic cylinders have a number of advantages over tie rod style hydraulic cylinders: Welded cylinders have a narrower body and often a shorter overall length enabling them to fit better into the tight confines of machinery. Welded cylinders do not suffer from failure due to tie rod stretch at high pressures and long strokes. The welded design also lends itself to customization. Special features are easily added to the cylinder body. These may include special ports, custom mounts, valve manifolds, and so on.

The smooth outer body of welded cylinders also enables the design of multi-stage telescopic cylinders.

Welded body hydraulic cylinders dominate the mobile hydraulic equipment market such as construction equipment (including excavators, bulldozers) and material handling equipment (fork lift trucks, telehandlers, and lift gates). They are also used in heavy industry such as cranes, oil rigs, and large off road vehicles in above ground mining.

Piston Rod Construction
The piston rod of a hydraulic cylinder operates both inside and outside the barrel, and consequently both in and out of the hydraulic fluid and surrounding atmosphere.

Metallic Coatings
Smooth and hard surfaces are desirable on the outer diameter of the piston rod and slide rings for proper sealing. Corrosion resistance is also advantageous. A chromium layer may often be applied on the outer surfaces of these parts. However, chromium layers may be porous, thereby attracting moisture and eventually causing oxidation. In harsh marine environments, the steel is often treated with both a nickel layer and a chromium layer. Often 40 to 150 micrometer thick layers are applied. Sometimes solid stainless steel rods are used. High quality stainless steel such as AISI 316 may be used for low stress applications. Other stainless steels such as AISI 431 may also be used where there are higher stresses, but lower corrosion concerns.

Ceramic Coatings
Due to shortcomings of metallic materials, ceramic coatings were developed. Initially ceramic protection schemes seemed ideal, but porosity was higher than projected. Recently the corrosion resistant semi ceramic Lunac 2+ coatings were introduced. These hard coatings are non porous and do not suffer from high brittleness.

Lengths
Piston rods are generally available in lengths which are cut to suit the application. As the common rods have a soft or mild steel core, their ends can be welded or machined for a screw thread.

Special Hydraulic Cylinders

Telescopic cylinder

Double-acting telescopic cylinder

The length of a hydraulic cylinder is the total of the stroke, the thickness of the piston, the thickness of bottom and head and the length of the connections. Often this length does not fit in the machine. In that case the piston rod is also used as a piston barrel and a second piston rod is used. These kind of hydraulic cylinders are called telescopic cylinders. If we call a normal rod cylinder single stage, telescopic cylinders are multi-stage units of two, three, four, five and even six stages. In general telescopic hydraulic cylinders are much more expensive than normal cylinders. Most telescopic cylinders are single acting (push). Double acting telescopic cylinders must be specially designed and manufactured.

Plunger Cylinder

A hydraulic cylinder without a piston or with a piston without seals is called a a plunger cylinder. A plunger cylinder can only be used as a pushing cylinder; the maximum force is piston rod area multiplied by pressure. This means that a piston cylinder in general has a relatively thick piston rod.

Differential Cylinder
A differential hydraulic cylinder acts like a normal cylinder when pulling. If the hydraulic cylinder however has to push, the hydraulic oil from the piston rod side of the cylinder is not returned to the reservoir, but goes to the bottom side of the cylinder. In such a way, the cylinder goes much faster, but the maximum force the cylinder can give is like a plunger cylinder. A differential cylinder can be manufactured like a normal cylinder, and only a special control is added.

Rephasing Cylinder
Rephasing cylinders are two or more cylinders plumbed in series or parallel, with the bores and rods sized such that all rods extend and/or retract equally when flow is directed to the first, or last, cylinder within the hydraulic system.In "parallel" applications, the bore and rod sizes are always the same, and the hydraulic cylinders are always used in pairs. In "series" applications, the bore and rod sizes are always different, and two or more hydraulic cylinders may be used. In these applications, the bores and rods are sized such that all rods extend or retract equally when flow is applied to the first or last cylinder within the system. This hydraulic synchronization of rod positions eliminates the need for a flow divider in the hydraulic system, or any type of mechanical connection between the cylinder rods to achieve synchronization

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Specific types of Hydraulic Cylinder (hydraulic actuator, hydraulic ram) include:

Custom hydraulic cylinder, heavy duty hydraulic cylinders, hydraulic clamping cylinder, hydraulic cylinders for mobile applications, hydraulic servo-cylinder, hydraulic standardized cylinders, hydraulic servo cylinder, aluminium hydraulic cylinders, compact hydraulic cylinder, hollow plunger hydraulic cylinders, hydraulic cylinder for agricultural applications, hydraulic light-alloy cylinders, single-acting hydraulic cylinder, stainless steel hydraulic cylinders, standard hydraulic cylinder, telescopic hydraulic cylinders, tie rod hydraulic cylinder, water hydraulic cylinders, double-acting hydraulic cylinder, large size hydraulic cylinders, hydraulic cylinders for heavy handling equipment, hydraulic servo cylinders, large size differential hydraulic cylinder, hydraulic actuator, hydraulic rotary actuator, hydraulic oscillating actuator, hydraulic rotary linear actuator, miniature hydraulic rotary actuator

Hydraulic cylinder (hydraulic actuator, hydraulic ram) manufacturers include:

AHP Merkle, Atos, Barnier, Bansbach, Bezares, Boreal Equipment, Bosch Rexroth, Buck Chuck, Bueter, Carter Controls, Conforti Oleodinamica, Cross Manufacturing, Douce Hydro, Eckart, Enerpac, Enerpred, EOA, Ergo Swiss, Euro Press Pack, GKS Perfekt, Griphold, Haenchen, Helac, Hi-Force, HKS, Holmatro Industrial Equipment, Hunger, Hydraulica um Plopeni, Hydropa Hydraulik, ITW Workholding, Komtas, Kracht, Larzep, LJM Hydraulik, Lukas Hydraulik, MICO, Micromatic, Montanhydraulik, Moog, Morin Actuator, Nike Hydraulics, Norelem, OLHIS, Parker, Pascal, PHD, PONAR Wadowice, Rabourdin Industrie, Regnier, Roemheld, Roquet, Rotomation, Simplex, SPX Hydraulic Technologies, SSH Stainless, Sunward, Tech-Valves, Universal Hydraulik, VEGA, Werner Weitner, Walton and more…