They may not be the first thing that come to mind in the food and beverage industry, but pneumatics are essential to food and beverage conveyance, packaging, processing and storing. Hose, tubing and actuators are all over the place. Pneumatic Hose and Tube The first category of pneumatic products in the food and beverage manufacturing… Read more »
Municipalities utilize myriad hydraulic products within their fleets. These include fire trucks to police cars to snow plows to sanders and street sweepers. The maintenance of municipality fleets’ fluid transference and treatment systems require attention to quality and detail for efficient public service. Where public safety is concerned, preparedness is key. Many municipalities work with… Read more »
Material handling is a large market in the fluid transference and treatment business. There are various material handling machines in almost every manufacturing setting and they are well-used in many other markets. Material handling machines get things from point A to point B. As this article from Mobile Hydraulic Tips points out, hydraulics keep things… Read more »
Boiling down what we do here at Power Drives is a little different for each market we serve. There are different challenges and product needs for each, and there are many. One of them, and a core market of ours, is the diesel engine market. We have been serving this market since 1995. There are… Read more »
In past posts, we’ve made it very clear that when there is a hydraulic hose failure in your operation, you should replace it, NOT repair it. However, the industry vocabulary still favors this search. Many people still use the term “hydraulic hose repair.” And in some special cases, we can salvage a hose with damaged… Read more »
Pneumatic actuators are the mechanical devices that move things back and forth along a linear or rotary path. Pneumatic actuators are used in industrial applications where physical movement is required, either down a belt in a processing or sorting situation, in an oil refinery, water treatment or mining. There are as many actuators as there… Read more »
Hydraulic pumps and motors are some of the most important pieces in a hydraulic system. They serve equally important, yet opposite functions. Pumps convert the mechanical energy of a turning shaft into hydraulic energy, and motors take that fluid under pressure and apply it to create rotary mechanical force. One of the common terms used… Read more »
Water wreaks havoc on locomotive systems. This is true both both the diesel and the air systems. Power Drives has created a proprietary Compressed Air Water Separator to address and solve air contamination. Water in the air can cause so many issues, including increased maintenance costs and possible system failure. The Compressed Air Water Separator… Read more »
Hydraulic tubing, or hydraulic lines, are used in much modern machinery. Here at PDI, we manufacture steel tubing for hydraulic and diesel engine applications, and for customers large and small. From a tube less than an inch in diameter, to one multiple inches wide, we have the machinery and expertise to create hydraulic tubing that… Read more »
There are many types of hydraulic valves: ball valves, manual valves, cartridge valves, solenoid/directional control valves, flow-control valves, check valves, needle valves and relief valves. Ball Valves Ball valves are some of the most simplistic and accurate valves. They have a ball in the middle of the valve, that turns when the handle is turned…. Read more »