Host Eric Lanke welcomes Paul Johnson, president and founder of Aggressive Hydraulics, to discuss hydraulic cylinders and industry innovation. Johnson shares his background from farm equipment in Minnesota to a University of Wisconsin–Stout degree and roles in hydraulic cylinder testing, design engineering, standards work through NFPA, and continued education and certification.

After losing his job amid post-9/11 economic conditions, he helped launch Aggressive Hydraulics in 2002, positioning it as a boutique manufacturer focused on tough, custom hydraulic cylinder applications rather than commodity work. The conversation covers cylinder variety and construction styles (industrial tie-rod, welded/mobile, mill duty), integrated valve cylinders using cartridge valves and embedded cavities, telescopic cylinders and staging behavior, single-acting vs double-acting operation, repairability and remanufacturing, and smart cylinders with sensors for automation and control.

Johnson emphasizes cylinder selection considerations such as operating environment, duty cycle, pressure spikes, and mounting, plus manufacturing needs like design fit, welding distortion control, tolerance management, and process repeatability. He highlights future advances in seals and wipers, linear feedback devices, and compact valve integration, and notes ongoing interest in EHAs, including solar tracking applications.

Eric Lanke hosts Fluid Power Forum with guest Bruno Dupuis of Famic Technologies, discussing his 2026 Advanced Hydraulics Conference presentation on using Automation Studio CAD and simulation to model off-highway hydraulic circuits and quantify energy efficiency improvements.

Dupuis explains building a component-level system model (hydraulics, electrical, and 3D mechanism) and running a repeatable test cycle (lift, rotate 135° CW/CCW, pick and drop load) to compare five case studies: a basic fixed-displacement, pilot-controlled circuit; an electrohydraulic version with joystick control, counterbalance valves, and a load-sense pump; an ideal electric motor drive at constant and variable speed; and a battery-powered permanent magnet synchronous motor system modeled with and without energy recuperation.

Eric Lanke interviews Jon Jensen, National Product Sales Manager for Energy and Safety at SMC Corporation of America, following Jensen’s Automate 2026 presentation on smart and sustainable monitoring for pneumatically driven machines.

Jensen describes his background from theater automation using hydraulics and pneumatics to 25+ years at SMC, and outlines SMC’s global industrial automation reach beyond pneumatics. The discussion focuses on why compressed air efficiency now matters for sustainability, how airflow monitoring translates to energy cost and CO2 impact, and why machine-level data is needed beyond compressor-room metering.

Jensen explains SMC’s Air Management System, which replaces a traditional FRL, measures pressure/flow/temperature, supports additional sensors, uses scalable wireless remotes, and can automatically reduce or shut off pressure during idle states without changing machine PLC logic. A bottle-filling line case study reports ~33% air reduction, ~€30,000/year savings, and ~15-month ROI, with additional productivity benefits and a future direction toward predictive maintenance using flow profiles.

Host Eric Lanke interviews Jim Diehl and Chris Parisse of Bosch Rexroth about a decentralized hydraulic drive solution showcased in an animatronic dinosaur exhibit at the Da Vinci Science Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Replacing an older gear-pump/servo-valve/PLC dinosaur, the new eight-foot “T‑Rexroth” uses four color-coded, interactive axes with visible components and lighting to teach hydraulics while operating quietly, compactly, and with easy maintenance. The system uses a CytroPac hydraulic power unit with variable-speed drive and individual motor-pump groups near each actuator to reduce noise, simplify architecture, and limit failure points. Advanced sensors, closed-loop motion control, and remote monitoring track pressures, temperature, strokes, and fluid cleanliness for reliability and troubleshooting.

They note broader applications in pressing and testing for quieter, energy-efficient, space-saving machines with improved repeatability in a digital age.

Host Eric Lanke interviews Jim Diehl and Chris Parisse of Bosch Rexroth about a decentralized hydraulic drive solution showcased in an animatronic dinosaur exhibit at the Da Vinci Science Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Replacing an older gear-pump/servo-valve/PLC dinosaur, the new eight-foot “T‑Rexroth” uses four color-coded, interactive axes with visible components and lighting to teach hydraulics while operating quietly, compactly, and with easy maintenance. The system uses a CytroPac hydraulic power unit with variable-speed drive and individual motor-pump groups near each actuator to reduce noise, simplify architecture, and limit failure points. Advanced sensors, closed-loop motion control, and remote monitoring track pressures, temperature, strokes, and fluid cleanliness for reliability and troubleshooting.

They note broader applications in pressing and testing for quieter, energy-efficient, space-saving machines with improved repeatability in a digital age.