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In conventional hydraulic systems, a fixed or variable displacement pump is used to supply a number of separate branches of a circuit, each with potentially different flow rate and pressure requirements which can vary widely with time. Conventional approaches to distributing the flow to the individual branches generally involve valves controlling the flow to each individual branch. This can lead to significant energy losses from valve throttling, depending upon the actual flow and pressure requirements of each part of the circuit. In the system discussed in this paper, the entire output of the pump is quickly and sequentially directed to each individual branch of the circuit. The average speed of the actuator is controlled by the proportion of time that the pump flow is being directed to that branch. A small accumulator is incorporated in each branch of the circuit to smooth the velocity of the actuator.

A direct acting free piston internal combustion engine/hydrostatic pump is analyzed. This device would take the place of a conventional engine-driven hydrostatic pump, and would be expected to offer significant advantages in cost, weight, and efficiency. The free piston configuration eliminates the need for a crankshaft-connecting rod system, and the comparable mechanism of the pump that converts rotary to reciprocating motion. Analysis of the design was done by computer simulation using a thermodynamic model of the combustion cylinder in combination with the system dynamics. A parametric study was performed to determine operating characteristics with a wide variety of mechanical parameters, and as a guide to developing a preliminary design. The results show that good performance is possible with reasonable mechanical dimensions and other parameters. Several different design configurations are presented.