Single-Acting Cylinders

A single-acting cylinder is simplest in design and is shown schematically in Fig.1.1. It consists of a piston inside a cylindrical housing called barrel. On one end of the piston there is a rod, which can reciprocate. At the opposite end, there is a port for the entrance and exit of oil. Single-acting cylinders produce force in one direction by hydraulic pressure acting on the piston. (Single-acting cylinders can exert a force in the extending direction only.) The return of the piston is not done hydraulically. In single-acting cylinders, retraction is done either by gravity or by a spring.

Single-acting cylinders

According to the type of return, single-acting cylinders are classified as follows:
– Gravity-return single-acting cylinder.
– Spring-return single-acting cylinder.


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