Hydraulic Motors

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What is a Hydraulic Motor and Why Do You Need It?

A hydraulic motor converts hydraulic energy into mechanical energy: a
rotating shaft. It uses hydraulic pressure and flow to generate torque and
rotation.
You can use hydraulic motors for many applications, such as winches, crane
drives, self-driven cranes, excavators, mixer and agitator drives, roll mills, etc.
Note: The design of a hydraulic motor and a hydraulic pump are very similar.
For this reason, some pumps with fixed displacement volumes can may also
be used as hydraulic motors.
How DTA Can Help You:
DTA has extensive expertise with hydraulic motors and carries a substantial
inventory of motors from several major vendors. Depending on your
requirements, DTA can supply high-quality hydraulic motors, taking into
account a wide variety of functional and hydraulic system requirements.
DTA supplies hydraulic motors from high quality manufacturers, such as
Calzone, Denison Hydraulics, Parker, and Staffa Kawasaki. We can provide
premium build hydraulic motors, as well as motor spare parts, service and
installation manuals.

Basic Principle of Hydraulic Motor

The Hydraulic motor described here (pdf) is a radial-piston type motor. The
motor has a rotating cylinder shaft and stationary housing. The cylinder block
is mounted in fixed roller bearings in the housing. Even numbers of pistons
are located in bores inside the cylinder block.

The valve plate directs the incoming and outgoing oil to and from the working
piston. Each piston is working against a cam roller. Because of the hydraulic
pressure the pistons pushes the cam rollers when going down on the cam ring
and transmits no power when going up. This principle produces torque and
therefore the shaft starts rotating.
Different Types of Hydraulic Motors
The hydraulic motor must be geared to hydraulic system requirements; issues
such as load, range of load, speed, serviceability, etc. must be taken into
account. There are different types of hydraulic motors, as noted below:
Hydraulic Gear Motors

Hydraulic Gear Motor

Epicyclic Gear Motor
Hydraulic Vane Motors

Balanced Vane Motor

Hydraulic Piston Motors

Axial Piston Motor

Radial Piston Motor
Part-turn Actuators

Rotary Actuator

 Rack and Pinion Actuator

The power produced by a hydraulic motor is determined by the flow and
pressure drop of the motor. The displacement and pressure drop of the motor
determines the torque it generates. The power output is thus directly
proportional to the speed. The motors range from high speed motors of up to
10,000 rpm to low speed motors with a minimum of 0.5 rpm.
Note that low speed hydraulic motors are designed in such a way that large
torques are generated at low speeds. High speed motors have better
operational characteristics at speeds that are at least higher than 500 rpm.
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Hydraulic Gear Motors

Hydraulic gear motors are often used in mobile hydraulics and in agricultural
machinery to drive conveyer belts, dispersion plates, screw conveyors or fans.
There are two different types of hydraulic gear motors. The gear motor, which
is very similar in design to the external gear pump, is a high speed motor. The
epicyclic gear motor, also known as an orbit or gear ring motor, is a slow
speed motor.
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Hydraulic Gear Motor
Gear motors and axial piston motors are high speed motors. If your operation
requires a lower speed, you can reduce the output speed of the shaft by using
gears. The operating pressure of gear motors is usually quite low: between
100 and 150 bar. Modern gear motors, however, are capable of operating at
continuous pressures of up to 250 bar.
Key features of gear motors:
Low weight and size
Relatively high pressures

 Low cost
Wide range of speeds
Wide temperature range
Simple and durable design
Wide viscosity range
A major drawback of gear motors is that they produce a large amount of
noise. Gear motors with only one direction of rotation are designed exactly the
same as external gear pumps. A gear motor that can change directions of
rotation has a drain case port and the axial pressure fields are different. The
efficiency of gear motors is relatively low due to oil leakage.
Typical parameters are:
Displacement volume: 3 to 100 cc
Maximum pressure: up to 250 bar
Range of speeds: 500 to 4,000 rpm
Maximum torque: up to 400 Nm
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Epicyclic Gear Motor
Epicyclic gear motors are also called orbit motors, gear ring motors or gerotor
motors. Unlike gear motors, the orbit motor has very low oil leakage. The
motor can produce large torques at very slow speeds (approximately 5 rpm).
Key features of epicyclic gear motors, gear ring, orbit or gerotor motors are:
Low oil leakage
High torque at low speeds
Large displacement volume

 Relatively small size

Low noise level
Just like gear ring pumps, the rotor of the orbit motor has one tooth less than
the stator. Because of the difference in teeth, enclosed chambers are formed
within the orbit motor.
Epicyclic gear motors or orbit motors are available in two types: one has a
central shaft and the other has a cardan shaft. Orbit motors with central shafts
are widely used in hydraulic systems.
The orbit motor with a cardan shaft consists of cylindrical rolls in the set of
gear wheels. It is only used for special applications (e.g. high pressures, very
high efficiency and longer lifespan).
Typical parameters:
Displacement volume: 10 to 1,000 cc
Maximum pressure: up to 250 bar
Range of speeds: 5 to 1,200 rpm
Maximum torque: up to 4,000 Nm
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Hydraulic Vane Motors

Hydraulic vane motors are used in both industrial applications, such as screwdrive and injection moulding, and mobile applications, such as agricultural
machinery. Hydraulic vane motors have less internal leakage than gear
motors and are therefore better suited for lower speeds: about 100 rpm
minimum. The maximum operating pressure of hydraulic vane motors is
between 100 and 140 bar, and theyre used in both hydraulics and
pneumatics.
Key features of hydraulic vane motors are:

 Low noise level

Low flow pulsation
High torque at low speeds
Simple design
Easy serviceability
Vertical installation friendly
In order to operate correctly, the vanes of the rotor have to be pressed against
the inside of the motor housing. This is generally taken care of with spiral or
leaf springs, but rods can be used as well. This precaution prevents issues
with stationary motors, such as the vanes sinking into the grooves and
causing the oil to flow over it instead against it. Most often, the rotor is hollow,
thus enabling it to be easily mounted on a spline shaft.
Typical parameters:
Displacement volume: 9 to 214 cc
Maximum pressure: up to 230 bar
Range of speeds: 100 to 2,500 rpm
Maximum torque: up to 650 Nm
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Hydraulic Piston Motors

Hydraulic piston motors are used to drive mobile and construction equipment,
winches, ship-cranes, and all kinds of heavy-duty hydraulic equipment for
offshore and onshore operations.
Hydraulic piston motors combine high speeds with large displacement
volumes at higher operating pressures. If your operation requires a significant

amount of power, a hydraulic piston motor is the best option. Whether your
heavy-duty installation needs high torques or high speeds determines the
choice of either a radial piston or axial piston motor.
Multi-stroke piston motors increase displacement substantially because each
piston carries out multiple strokes per revolution of the shaft. Hence, a
hydraulic multi-stroke piston motor produces high operating torques.
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Axial Piston Motor
Similar to piston pumps, axial piston motors work with a bent axis design or
swash plate principle. The fixed displacement type works as a hydraulic motor,
and the variable displacement type most often functions as a hydraulic pump.
Fixed displacement motors may be used in both open and closed loop
circuits.
In the bent axis design, pistons move up and down within the cylinder block
bores. This motion is converted into rotary movement via the piston ball joint
at the drive flange. In the swash plate design, pistons move up and down
within the cylinder block and turn it, which then turns the drive shaft via the
connected cotter pin.
Typical parameters of axial piston motors:
Displacement volume: 10 to 1,000 cc (multi-stroke up to 1,500 cc)
Maximum pressure: up to 450 bar
Speed range: 500 to 11,000 rpm
Maximum torque: up to 10,750 Nm
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Radial Piston Motor
Radial piston motors are used in caterpillar drives of dragline excavators,
cranes, winches and ground drilling equipment. Radial piston motors are
capable of producing high torques at very low speeds, down to half a

revolution per minute. Therefore, radial piston motors are also referred to as
Low Speed High Torque (LSHT) motors.
The pistons (or plungers) of a radial piston motor form a star-like shape and
are perpendicularly connected to the shaft. The rectilinear motion of the
pistons is transformed into a rotating movement by the eccentric shaft.
Typical parameters of radial piston motors:
Displacement volume: 10 to 8,500 cc
Maximum pressure: up to 300 bar (multi-stroke up to 450 bar)
Range of speeds: 0.5 to 2,000 rpm
Maximum torque: up to 32,000 Nm (multi-stroke up to 45,000 Nm)
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Part-turn Actuators
Part-turn actuators are mainly used for bunker slides, opening butterfly valves,
and for push, pull, lift and mix operations.
This type of actuator, also known as a rotary actuator, can only rotate left or
right over an angle of 300. They operate at pressures around 70 bar. Partturn actuators are much smaller than cylinders and do not have any external
moving parts.
Part-turn actuators are very simple in design. There are two versions: one has
two wings on the axle, and the other one has two internal dividers. This
construction brings the swivel bracket back to around 120 and doubles the
torque. The first version is prone to a low, continuous leakage rate along the
wing. This means that, during operation, the rotary actuator must be under
constant pressure in order to perform properly.
Part-turn actuators perform a slewing motion across a shaft end when
pressurised with hydraulic fluid, regardless of the type or design of the unit.
The angle that a part-turn actuator moves through is limited by fixed or

adjustable stops. Due to this, the range of applications in which part-turn

actuators may be used is limite