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HYDRAULICS
with a twist
Swivel connections take the stress out of hose routing. Ken Korane • Contributing Editor
Designers of hydraulics circuits are typically tasked with ensuring that hose and connections are safe, efficient, leak free and easy to maintain. And it goes without saying that they need to be cost effective and last a long time. That’s readily accomplished when a properly sized hose is stationary and well protected yet easily accessible. Things get a bit dicey when everything moves. Machines in motion — whether it’s a robot arm or excavator bucket — can let hoses rub and abrade against each other and on machine components, as well as lead to extreme bending and high stresses that can cause a hose to prematurely fail. Swivel-type fittings are designed to head off such problems. They permit the coupling and hose connection to rotate and prevent twisting and kinking, compensate for hose length changes when the system pressurizes, reduce system rigidity and help absorb hydraulic surges and shocks in a line. Added up, that can cut downtime and extend hose life. The products also foster more-economical circuits. Swivels can reduce the length of hose required between connections, eliminate the need for bent tubing to accommodate angled connections, and often can connect directly to the hose line without adapters. Many times this leads to less-complex, more-efficient system plumbing, as well as simpler and quicker installation.
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FLUID POWER WORLD
Hydraulic swivel feature_Vs3 MG.indd 38
8 • 2019
www.fluidpowerworld.com
8/16/19 1:10 PM
