PH Section 02 - How to Interpret Fluid Power Symbols

In the early 1960’s it became evident that the fluid power industry needed a language made up of symbols with which to cross language barriers and promote a universal understanding of fluid power systems. Illustrative icons created a symbolic language to interpret a hydraulic schematic which tells a “story” about how a hydraulic system operates. This learning process is easy to comprehend and interpret through recognition of symbols rather than words. The symbols identify which hydraulic components are applied within the system. The interconnecting lines indicate the oil flows and how components interact with one another. The symbol for each component is made up of a number of sub-symbols, each representing a unique function.

The only way to read and understand the “story” about how a hydraulic system operates is to learn to interpret the symbolic language. This course makes it easy to interpret the symbols because each icon is constructed in a manner that makes it easy to relate each symbol to the component it represents.