21
Assembling the Mega Cyborg Hand
Hydraulic
transmission
You will need
– G1 hydraulic cylinder
– G3 hydraulic cylinder
– Cup of water
Here’s how
1. Attach one of your tubes to the tube
connection nozzle on the G1 cylinder.
2. Now dip the free end of the tube into a cup
filled with water. Push the piston all the
way in and pull it out again so that the
cylinder is filled with water.
3. Remove the free end of the tube from the
cup and carefully push the piston of the
cylinder in until there is no more air in the
tube and cylinder. Then immerse the tube
in the water again and pull the piston out
of the cylinder as far as it will go.
4. Attach the free end of the tube to the tube
connection nozzle on the G3 cylinder.
5. Now push the piston of G1 inward, and
the piston of G3 will move outward
accordingly. Try to block this outward
movement: You will feel the force you
exert on one piston transmitted to the
other piston.
6. Empty the water from the cylinders and
repeat the experiment with air. Can you
move the G3 piston by pushing on the G1
piston? Is it the same or different?
1
2
4
5
EXPERIMENT
2
The force with which you push in on the piston of the G1
cylinder is transmitted from the water or air to the piston
of the G3 cylinder. However, some of the force is lost in the
air-filled system because the air compresses. Since the
compressibility
of water is lower, the hydraulic cylinders
in your mega cyborg hand are filled with water to make it
more powerful.
dId YOU KNOW ...
... that this method
of power
transmission
is widely used in
technology?
Devices that work
with compressed
air are called
pneumatic;
those
with liquids such as
water or (much
more often) special
oils are called
hydraulic
. You can
find out more about
this on page 24.
K
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w
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