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Farm Machinery Training & Testing Institutes Hydraulic Drives & Controls: practice questions

Farm Machinery Training & Testing Institutes (Budni, Hisar, Anantapur, Biswanath Chariali) · India · Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India

Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papers
6worked here, free
41written to this exam in this subject
9syllabus units

What this subject covers

Oil hydraulics on tractors and machines: pumps, motors, cylinders, valves and circuits.

In the exams: NCEES PE Machinery Systems (hydraulic components and circuits, explicit); elective in the ICAR 6th Deans' Committee B.Tech

Where the 41 questions fall

How our questions for Farm Machinery Training & Testing Institutes spread across the units of Hydraulic Drives & Controls. Difficulty: 17 easy, 20 medium, 4 hard.

Tractor hydraulic systems11
Principles of fluid power6
Hydraulic cylinders5
Open-centre, closed-centre and load-sensing circuits5
Hydraulic motors4
Hydraulic pumps: gear, vane and piston3
Pressure relief and flow control valves3
Directional control valves2
Pressure drop and heat generation2

6 practice questions, worked

Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.

1 · Hydraulic motors · medium

In a closed-loop hydrostatic transmission on a self-propelled sprayer, the charge pump's job is to

  1. keep the low-pressure side above a set minimum and make up leakage losses
  2. provide the main high-pressure flow that drives the wheel motors at full speed
  3. relieve pressure peaks on the high-pressure side when the machine is braking
  4. return the case-drain oil to the main loop without passing through the cooler
Answer and working

A. keep the low-pressure side above a set minimum and make up leakage losses

In a closed loop the motor returns oil directly to the pump inlet, so leakage to the cases must be made up and the low side must be kept pressurised to prevent cavitation; the charge pump does both and brings in filtered, cooled oil. The main pump drives the motors, crossover relief valves deal with pressure peaks, and case drains go through the cooler to the reservoir.

Further reading: Goering et al., Off-Road Vehicle Engineering Principles

2 · Hydraulic motors · medium

After fitting a replacement piston motor to a harvester's header drive, a mechanic plugs its case-drain port because no drain hose came with it. The likely result is

  1. case pressure builds with leakage oil until the shaft seal blows out
  2. the motor runs faster, because no oil is lost through the drain line
  3. nothing changes, because case drains are only needed for cold starts
  4. the motor runs in reverse, because leakage oil enters the outlet side
Answer and working

A. case pressure builds with leakage oil until the shaft seal blows out

Internal leakage collects in the motor case; if it cannot drain freely to tank, case pressure builds until the shaft seal, which is rated for low pressure, fails. Plugging the drain does not make leakage disappear or raise speed, and it does not change the direction of rotation.

3 · Hydraulic cylinders · easy

The lift cylinder that raises a tractor's rear three-point linkage is normally single-acting. This means that

  1. oil pressure raises the linkage and the implement lowers under its own weight
  2. oil pressure both raises and lowers the linkage through two separate ports
  3. the cylinder can lift only one implement category without being changed
  4. a spring raises the linkage and oil pressure is used only for lowering it
Answer and working

A. oil pressure raises the linkage and the implement lowers under its own weight

A single-acting cylinder is powered in one direction only; on the lift it raises the linkage and the implement lowers by gravity, with a drop-rate valve controlling the speed. A double-acting cylinder has power both ways. Hitch categories concern pin sizes, and no tractor lift uses a spring to raise the load.

Further reading: Goering et al., Off-Road Vehicle Engineering Principles

4 · Open-centre, closed-centre and load-sensing circuits · easy

In an open-centre tractor hydraulic system with all control valves in neutral,

  1. pump flow returns to tank at low pressure through the valve centres
  2. the pump stands by at high pressure while delivering almost no flow
  3. pump flow passes over the main relief valve and back to the tank
  4. the pump is unloaded by an accumulator and an external pilot valve
Answer and working

A. pump flow returns to tank at low pressure through the valve centres

Open-centre valves have a through passage in neutral, so a fixed pump circulates its full flow to tank at only the pressure needed to overcome line and valve losses. High standby pressure with no flow describes a pressure-compensated closed-centre system; flow over the relief would overheat the oil; accumulator unloading is a different closed-centre arrangement.

Further reading: Goering et al., Off-Road Vehicle Engineering Principles

5 · Open-centre, closed-centre and load-sensing circuits · easy

Which of the following is the main reason open-centre systems remain common on small and medium tractors?

  1. They waste less energy than load sensing under every operating condition
  2. They allow several functions to run at once without any interaction
  3. They are simple and cheap, and gear pumps tolerate contaminated oil well
  4. They hold full system pressure instantly available at every valve
Answer and working

C. They are simple and cheap, and gear pumps tolerate contaminated oil well

A fixed gear pump with open-centre valves is the lowest-cost system and the most forgiving of dirt. Load sensing is usually more efficient at part load, open-centre functions do interact when operated together, and instant full pressure is a feature of closed-centre constant-pressure systems.

Further reading: Goering et al., Off-Road Vehicle Engineering Principles

6 · Tractor hydraulic systems · easy

On a tractor three-point linkage, the speed at which the implement descends when the lowering command is given is limited by

  1. the main relief valve setting of the tractor's hydraulic pump
  2. a drop-rate valve that throttles oil leaving the lift cylinder
  3. the speed of the pump, which pushes the implement down
  4. the top-link length set by the operator before work
Answer and working

B. a drop-rate valve that throttles oil leaving the lift cylinder

The lift cylinder is single-acting, so the implement falls by gravity as oil leaves the cylinder; a drop-rate valve throttles that oil to set lowering speed. The relief valve limits maximum pressure, the pump does not push the linkage down, and top-link length sets implement pitch.

Further reading: Goering et al., Off-Road Vehicle Engineering Principles

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Read the subject

Hydraulic Drives & ControlsThe full study manual, free Farm Machinery Training & Testing InstitutesFormat, sections and how it has changed

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