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Good / Must Have Fluid Power Engineering Books?

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cray54

Mechanical
Sep 28, 2009
7
I’d like to start educating myself on fluid power. I’m looking for a thorough Fluid Power Engineering book to use for both my education and some basic hydraulic system design. I would prefer a book that covers theory, applications and real-world examples, but am open to suggestions.

I have been looking for a while without finding a solid answer. The two I’ve found that seem reasonable are the “Industrial Fluid Power” 3 Volume Series from Womack and “Fluid Power with Applications” by Anthony Esposito.

What would be ideal? What other books / references might be considered “must haves”?

Thanks,
Chris
 
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Here is a free book on fluid flow fundamentals and pumping:
thread407-221414

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Doesn't cover theory and design so much, but is an indespensible tool for application:

Fluid Power Designer's Lightning Reference Handbook 8th Edition

 
After much deliberation, I just placed an order for "Hydraulic System Analysis by George R. Keller, P.E." I had another recommendation for “Fluid Power Engineering by M. Rabie” but decided to try the less expensive book first. We’ll see how this goes…

-Chris
 
I enjoyed the Womac series of books - they too are dated but the material is still valid.
 
cray 54, I'm dangerously close to ordering that same book for myself. Let me know what you think of it when you get it.

Are you working with/on industrial hydraulic systems?

Thanks.
 
unclesyd - I'm actually looking for a more comprehensive engineering-design oriented education (these links indicate they are for understanding existing systems more than creating new ones)

Hydromechdude - I’ll be traveling this week (lots of time for light reading), so I should have a feel for this book by Friday if you can wait until then…

Define “industrial”. The work I expect to be doing will be for smaller systems but with heavy duty applications. I expect the answer would be “no” or “maybe”.

Thanks,
Chris
 
Thanks Chris. It's no rush...I didn't mean to come off as demanding. If you've got the time to share your opinion of the book, that would be great.

Regarding industrial, I was mostly thinking systems that would use heavy/large components, i.e. construction equipment. Industrial is pretty ambiguous, but it is significantly different than aircraft systems.

I'm about 95% certain that Keller was a Boeing hydro-mech systems engineer in the 60's/70's. I would have thought that the book was tailored more towards aircraft systems design, but I couldn't answer that without looking at it first.
 
The standards that I'm aware of classify hydraulic equipment into two general catagories - "Industrial" (stationary equipment that is uesed in a plant of some type) and "mobile" equipment.

In all of the reading and work I have done thus far, I have yet to run into aircraft hydraulics under either topic. I wouldn't venture a reason why though.

Chris
 
I'm about 95% certain that Keller was a Boeing hydro-mech systems engineer in the 60's/70's. I would have thought that the book was tailored more towards aircraft systems design, but I couldn't answer that without looking at it first.
The book is general. I had written a book report but for some reason it didn't get posted or the moderators deleted it.
There are a few chapters that deserve a thread discussing that topic. The math used expects that you understand differential equations. It is not a light weight book. It is written for engineers. It goes beyond Jack Johnson's VCCM equation even though it predates Jack Johnson's work.
The book is worth every penny if you can understand the math.

The weak spots are
Accumulator sizing isn't covered.
NPSH isn't covered.
Pump and system curves are not covered.


Peter Nachtwey
Delta Computer Systems
 
"Fluid Power the Hidden Giant" is very informative, as is the older version of the Vickers Industrial Hydraulics Manual.

John Deere also used to publish "FOS" (Fundamentals Of Service) and one edition was hydraulic systems, also informative.

I will echo and agree with other's posts about the Lightning Reference Manual - the most valuable book I own and literally never leave home without it, is always in by briefcase.
 
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