Fundación Universitaria

Los Libertadores

Aeronautical engineering program

Subject: aircraft systems

Investigation about pneumatic and hydraulic systems

Presented by:
Sergio Eduardo Estevez Narvaez

Bogotá, April 20 de 2017

Introduction
In this work we will talk about pneumatic and hydraulic systems; these systems are so
important in the function of different mechanisms, in all type of industries like automotive,
aeronautical, Metallurgical among others. Also is important talk about the advantages and
disadvantages between two types of systems. Although both systems work with different
principles, have similar components imperative for their correct function; on the other hand
focusing on the aeronautical we will specify the reason to use someone of it on an aircraft.
Pneumatic system
Pneumatic system works using a gas instead a liquid compress air is more usually used
but nitrogen and other gases can be used for special applications. The principle is to
transmit the necessary energy to make that some mechanism acts. Pneumatic systems
are widely used in automation of machines and in the field of automatic controllers.
Pneumatic circuits that convert compressed air energy into mechanical energy have a
wide field of application (hammers and pneumatic tools, aeronautical industry, etc.) by the
reaction speed of the actuators and do not require an air return circuit and in the case of
the aircraft it’s better with the objective to decrease weight.
The pneumatic process consists in pump the air into a receiver using a compressor. The
receiver holds a large volume of compressed air to be used by the pneumatic system as
needed. Atmospheric air contains airborne dirt, water vapor, and other contaminants, so
filters and air dryers are often used in pneumatic systems to keep compressed air clean
and dry, which improve reliability and service life of the components and system, also use
a variety of valves for controlling direction, pressure, and speed of actuators.
“Most pneumatic systems operate at pressures of about 100 psi or less. Because of the
lower pressure, Cylinders and other actuators must be sized larger than their hydraulic
counterparts to apply an equivalent force. For example, a hydraulic cylinder with a 2 in.
diameter piston (3.14 sq. in. area) and fluid pressure of 1,000 psi can push with 3140 lbs.
of force. A pneumatic cylinder using 100 psi air would need a bore of almost 6½ in. (33 sq.
in.) to develop the same force.”1
a. Receiver tank: the function of this part of the system is compress and store the air
to supply the system, the pressure in the tank is higher to compensate the loss
pressure.
b. Compressor: this mechanical device is in charge of convert mechanical energy into
fluid energy, increasing the temperature and decreasing the volume of the
compressed air.

The compressor can be classified into two main types

 Positive displacement compressors

 Dynamic displacement compressor

Positive displacement compressors include piston type, vane type or diaphragm type.

It is the simplest mechanism that produces one pulse of air per piston stroke. As the
piston moves down during the inlet stroke the inlet valve opens and air is drawn into
the cylinder. As the piston moves up the inlet valve closes and the exhaust valve opens
which allows the air to be expelled. The valves are spring loaded. The single cylinder
compressor gives significant amount of pressure pulses at the outlet port. The pressure
developed is about 3-40 bar.

1
http://www.nfpa.com/fluidpower/whatispneumatics.aspx
In the aircrafts we can find pneumatic systems in different components and there are
two ways to obtain air for the systems, one of them is RAM AIR- INTAKE design which
uses the dynamic air pressure created by aircraft motion to increase the static air
pressure inside of the intake manifold on an internal combustion engine and the
second is BLEED AIR produced by gas turbine engines is compressed air that is taken
from the compressor stage of those engines to pressure the cabin and anti-ice system.
Pneumatic systems also are used in aircrafts for backup system for example when fails
the hydraulic system of the landing gear it has a storage bottle with air and an
actuator as an emergency means to extend the gear prior to landing. Some
advantages of this class of system on the contrary to the hydraulic is that work
with air is more safe and simple because it doesn’t have fire problems, air will not
burn by itself; air systems are light weight because don’t need return line like a
hydraulic system and the air supplement is easy to obtain from the environment in
the case of aeronautic vehicle; also talking about its disadvantages can be said
that the pneumatic system is not really precise and noiseless like hydraulic
system.

B-737 pneumatic system control

Schematic courtesy of Derek Wattsi,recovered from

http://www.b737.org.uk/pneumatics.htm
Hydraulic system
Hydraulic system is a system that works with pressurized hydraulic fluid to power a
mechanism, in actual hydraulic systems; pumps contain many pistons or other types of
pumping chambers. They are driven by a prime mover (usually an electric motor, diesel
engine, or gas engine) that rotates at several hundred revolutions per minute). Every
rotation causes all of the pump’s pistons to extend and retract drawing fluid in and pushing
it out to the hydraulic circuit in the process. Hydraulic systems typically operate at fluid
pressures of thousands of psi.
The hydraulic systems consists a number of parts for its proper functioning. These include
storage tank, filter, hydraulic pump, pressure regulator, control valve, hydraulic cylinder, piston
and leak proof fluid flow pipelines.

The output shaft transfers the motion or force however all other parts help to control the
system. The storage/fluid tank is a reservoir for the liquid used as a transmission media.
The liquid used is generally high density incompressible oil. It is filtered to remove dust or
any other unwanted particles and then pumped by the hydraulic pump. The capacity of
pump depends on the hydraulic system design. These pumps generally deliver constant
volume in each revolution of the pump shaft. Therefore, the fluid pressure can increase
indefinitely at the dead end of the piston until the system fails. The pressure regulator is
used to avoid such circumstances which redirect the excess fluid back to the storage tank.
The movement of piston is controlled by changing liquid flow from port A and port B. The
cylinder movement is controlled by using control valve which directs the fluid flow. The
fluid pressure line is connected to the port B to raise the piston and it is connected to port
A to lower down the piston. The valve can also stop the fluid flow in any of the port. The
leak proof piping is also important due to safety.
In the aeronautical area hydraulic systems are used in the principal systems of the
aircrafts to move the flaps, flight controls, brakes, spoilers, thrust reversers and to act
landing gear. The reason to use this system in these types of components is because
hydraulics can transmit high pressures or forces with a small volume of fluid in most cases
oil. Unlike pneumatic system hydraulic is not lightweight.
Pascal’s law is the principle to function hydraulic systems, it said that "pressure exerted
anywhere in a confined incompressible fluid is transmitted equally in all directions
throughout the fluid such that the pressure ratio (initial difference) remains the same."

𝐹 =𝑃∗𝐴
F=FORCE P=PRESSURE A= AREA
In hydraulic systems we can use different types of oil like vegetable that is used in old
aircrafts and can cause corrosion; mineral oil is colored red, is stable and low viscosity
change with temperature changes, besides it is inflammable. Finally the synthetic that can
damage plastic elements of the aircraft.
Some advantages of hydraulic systems are their facility to transfer high forces, the option
to adjust the charges and don’t need many systems like compressors or engines. On the
other hand the disadvantages are the maintain, the cleaning of the system and the
actuators low speed.
(Bloomfield, Louis (2006) ¿Cómo funcionan las cosas:. La física de la vida cotidiana (Tercera
Edición)

Bibliography
http://www.nfpa.com/fluidpower/whatisfluidpower.aspx#hyd
http://www.experimentalaircraft.info/articles/hydraulic-principles.php