Position Sensing (SMART) Cylinders: The Ultimate in Automation

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Hydraulic and Pneumatic cylinders have become high tech. By incorporating position sensing (SMART) technology, mobile hydraulic and industrial applications are seeing major benefits in operations where productivity is everything.

The technology has been around for decades, but after years of field experience and refinement, SMART cylinders have proven to be extremely reliable, even in harsh environments and high temperatures. Increased efficiency, improved safety and unprecedented levels of performance all contribute to a rising popularity among equipment manufacturers.

SMART Cylinder Applications

The list of equipment automation is growing for industries such as energy, transportation, construction, agriculture and more. A few examples include:

Advanced suspension systems to reduce vibration and improve operator comfort
Automatic steering controlled by GPS to ensure straight travel and ideal overlap
Cultivator depth control capable of handling a rugged environment
Auto-levelling tools and return to position features

Major Benefits

SMART cylinders are specifically designed for direct stroke measurement. By integrating a linear sensor into a cylinder, electronic feedback is provided indicating its stroke position and velocity. This data is used in many ways to increase equipment productivity and safety while reducing maintenance and downtime.

Dynamic self-adjusting – A system can feed multiple inputs into a control mechanism and have that sensor react according to those inputs (GPS signal feeds into a controller and augmenting your steering) or pressure, speed, velocity could dynamically enable cylinder cushioning

Remote adjustability – One of the greatest benefits of a position sensing cylinder is the remote adjustability. Settings can be adjusted and fine-tuned on the fly remotely using a smart phone 1,000 miles away

Repeatability – Recurring operations can be programmed with high precision accuracy and repeatability to the sub-millimeter resulting in less operator fatigue

Lockout / Safety– A system can be programmed to lockout a particular function. Examples include capping equipment speed or preventing equipment mobility when outriggers are still extended

RHK Hydraulics has been designing, manufacturing and servicing hydraulic cylinders for the global market since 1990. Our technical sales and engineering team is standing by to customize a solution to your application. Partner with us!