In the Agricultural & Industrial Power class, students were challenged with the task of developing an open center system that is a mockup of a cherry picker. They soon discover that although their hydraulics work they are much too powerful for the cherry picker design and that it will flip over with just a couple hundred pounds. It’s back to the drawing board for a better model!
While building this circuit, they put a motor on the boom to show how a motor circuit works and to measure the flow through the circuit. They also calculated wasted horsepower and determined that the circuit is about 70% efficient. In building this project they learned how to use an electric arc welder and oxy-acetylene torch.