Hydraulic circuit
Encyclopedia
A hydraulic circuit is a system comprising an interconnected set of discrete components that transport liquid
. The purpose of this system may be to control where fluid flows (as in a network of tubes of coolant in a thermodynamic system) or to control fluid pressure (as in hydraulic amplifiers). The approach of describing a fluid system in terms of discrete components is inspired by the success of circuit theory. Just as electric circuit theory works when elements are discrete and linear, hydraulic circuit theory works best when the elements (passive component such as pipes or transmission lines or active components such as power packs or pumps) are discrete and linear. This usually means that hydraulic circuit analysis works best for long, thin tubes with discrete pumps, as found in chemical process flow systems or microscale devices.
Liquid
Liquid is one of the three classical states of matter . Like a gas, a liquid is able to flow and take the shape of a container. Some liquids resist compression, while others can be compressed. Unlike a gas, a liquid does not disperse to fill every space of a container, and maintains a fairly...
. The purpose of this system may be to control where fluid flows (as in a network of tubes of coolant in a thermodynamic system) or to control fluid pressure (as in hydraulic amplifiers). The approach of describing a fluid system in terms of discrete components is inspired by the success of circuit theory. Just as electric circuit theory works when elements are discrete and linear, hydraulic circuit theory works best when the elements (passive component such as pipes or transmission lines or active components such as power packs or pumps) are discrete and linear. This usually means that hydraulic circuit analysis works best for long, thin tubes with discrete pumps, as found in chemical process flow systems or microscale devices.