{"id":2682,"date":"2026-01-12T10:13:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T09:13:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bf-hydraulik.com\/encyclopedia\/hydraulic-motor-2\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T11:51:42","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T09:51:42","slug":"hydraulic-motor-2","status":"publish","type":"encyclopedia","link":"https:\/\/www.bf-hydraulik.com\/en\/hydraulic-motor-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Hydraulic Motor"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"2682\" class=\"elementor elementor-2682 elementor-2388\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-b9873b0 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"b9873b0\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-66 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-68f39fe\" data-id=\"68f39fe\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5bc1900 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"5bc1900\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h1>A Hydraulic Motor Provides Power and Control<\/h1><p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bf-hydraulik.com\/en\/hydraulic-motor\/\" target=\"_self\" title='Hydraulic motor: linear and radial movementsGenerally speaking, a motor is a device that converts power into motion. In hydraulics, such a device is called a \"hydraulic motor\" in accordance with&hellip;' class=\"encyclopedia\">hydraulic motor<\/a> is the central component in a hydraulic circuit. Converting <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bf-hydraulik.com\/en\/hydraulic-pressure\/\" target=\"_self\" title=\"Hydraulic Pressure ExplainedPressure is generally a force acting on a surface. Hydraulic pressure is accordingly a force transmitted through a fluid that acts on the internal walls of a hydraulic&hellip;\" class=\"encyclopedia\">hydraulic pressure<\/a> into kinetic energy is the most important task in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bf-hydraulik.com\/en\/hydraulic-system\/\" target=\"_self\" title=\"Hydraulic system: design &amp; applications explained simplyA hydraulic system is used to apply large forces in a targeted manner over a defined distance with minimal effort. The underlying hydraulic principle&hellip;\" class=\"encyclopedia\">hydraulic system<\/a>. The motor is therefore one of the &ldquo;actuators,&rdquo; meaning the components that perform an &ldquo;action.&rdquo;   <\/p><h2>The Hydraulic Motor Has One Task but Offers Two Solutions<\/h2><p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bf-hydraulik.com\/en\/hydraulic-motor\/\" target=\"_self\" title='Hydraulic motor: linear and radial movementsGenerally speaking, a motor is a device that converts power into motion. In hydraulics, such a device is called a \"hydraulic motor\" in accordance with&hellip;' class=\"encyclopedia\">hydraulic motor<\/a> converts <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bf-hydraulik.com\/en\/hydraulic-pressure\/\" target=\"_self\" title=\"Hydraulic Pressure ExplainedPressure is generally a force acting on a surface. Hydraulic pressure is accordingly a force transmitted through a fluid that acts on the internal walls of a hydraulic&hellip;\" class=\"encyclopedia\">hydraulic pressure<\/a> into motion. At this point, a distinction is made between linear and radial movements, with different solutions offered accordingly. <\/p><h3>Linear Movement with a Hydraulic Motor<\/h3><p>Linear movement encompasses all movements that follow a straight path. The actuator is accordingly called a &ldquo;hydraulic linear motor.&rdquo; These are the familiar hydraulic cylinders in which a piston is extended from a sleeve by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bf-hydraulik.com\/en\/hydraulic-pressure\/\" target=\"_self\" title=\"Hydraulic Pressure ExplainedPressure is generally a force acting on a surface. Hydraulic pressure is accordingly a force transmitted through a fluid that acts on the internal walls of a hydraulic&hellip;\" class=\"encyclopedia\">hydraulic pressure<\/a>. Linear motors can primarily be distinguished by two designs:   <\/p><ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bf-hydraulik.com\/en\/single-acting-hydraulic-cylinders\/\" target=\"_self\" title=\"Single-acting hydraulic cylindersIn single-acting cylinders, actively controlled force is generated in only one direction through pressure changes and fluid flow. Cylinders of this type have only one fluid connection, whereas&hellip;\" class=\"encyclopedia\">single-acting hydraulic cylinders<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bf-hydraulik.com\/en\/double-acting-hydraulic-cylinder\/\" target=\"_self\" title=\"Double-acting hydraulic cylinderIn contrast to the single-acting cylinder, the double-acting cylinder has two fluid ports. By applying pressure to the opposing piston surfaces on both sides, highly controlled extension and&hellip;\" class=\"encyclopedia\">double-acting hydraulic cylinder<\/a>s.<\/li><\/ul><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bf-hydraulik.com\/en\/single-acting-hydraulic-cylinders\/\" target=\"_self\" title=\"Single-acting hydraulic cylindersIn single-acting cylinders, actively controlled force is generated in only one direction through pressure changes and fluid flow. Cylinders of this type have only one fluid connection, whereas&hellip;\" class=\"encyclopedia\">Single-acting hydraulic cylinders<\/a> can only extend but cannot retract independently. They are used wherever an external force is available to return the linear motor to its initial position. Typical examples include <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bf-hydraulik.com\/en\/hydraulic-crane\/\" target=\"_self\" title=\"Hydraulic Crane - Flexibly Moving LoadsCranes are among humanity's oldest lifting devices. As soon as a civilization wants to erect buildings on a larger scale, cranes are required. For many&hellip;\" class=\"encyclopedia\">hydraulic crane<\/a>s, car jacks, or transmission jacks. Here, gravity takes over the task of pushing the cylinder back together after hydraulic relief.   <\/p><p>Double-acting cylinders have a second hydraulic inlet. The hydraulic medium can be redirected through this inlet. This pushes the piston of the linear motor back to its end position. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bf-hydraulik.com\/en\/double-acting-hydraulic-cylinder\/\" target=\"_self\" title=\"Double-acting hydraulic cylinderIn contrast to the single-acting cylinder, the double-acting cylinder has two fluid ports. By applying pressure to the opposing piston surfaces on both sides, highly controlled extension and&hellip;\" class=\"encyclopedia\">Double-acting hydraulic cylinder<\/a>s are therefore used wherever no external force is available for the return stroke.    <\/p><h3>Powerful Rotary Movement with Radial Motors<\/h3><p>As simple as a hydraulic linear motor is in design, it becomes complex when a rotary movement, especially continuous rotation, is to be achieved with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bf-hydraulik.com\/en\/hydraulic-pressure\/\" target=\"_self\" title=\"Hydraulic Pressure ExplainedPressure is generally a force acting on a surface. Hydraulic pressure is accordingly a force transmitted through a fluid that acts on the internal walls of a hydraulic&hellip;\" class=\"encyclopedia\">hydraulic pressure<\/a>. With radial motors, there is the additional factor that, as always in hydraulics, they are primarily intended to apply large forces (in the case of radial movements, these are torques) rather than to achieve high speeds. This makes the construction of hydraulic radial motors more difficult.  <\/p><p>The reverse task is the provision of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bf-hydraulik.com\/en\/hydraulic-pressure\/\" target=\"_self\" title=\"Hydraulic Pressure ExplainedPressure is generally a force acting on a surface. Hydraulic pressure is accordingly a force transmitted through a fluid that acts on the internal walls of a hydraulic&hellip;\" class=\"encyclopedia\">hydraulic pressure<\/a> through an external radial movement. Here, the industry offers a variety of solutions. Producing a technically usable radial movement through <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bf-hydraulik.com\/en\/hydraulic-pressure\/\" target=\"_self\" title=\"Hydraulic Pressure ExplainedPressure is generally a force acting on a surface. Hydraulic pressure is accordingly a force transmitted through a fluid that acts on the internal walls of a hydraulic&hellip;\" class=\"encyclopedia\">hydraulic pressure<\/a>, however, is more difficult. Where simple gear motors cannot provide the desired torque, technically complex axial or radial piston motors are used. Where only a circular arc is to be executed hydraulically, compromises are often chosen. Linear motors are used for this purpose, which can perform the desired partial radial movement during extension through a clever lever and deflection system. However, if the circular movement is to be continuous, the solutions described remain the options. These are found, for example, in particularly heavy vehicles such as tanks, mobile cranes, handling machines, tracked vehicles, and other work equipment.       <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-33 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-c55e0be\" data-id=\"c55e0be\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-241d60d elementor-widget elementor-widget-sidebar\" data-id=\"241d60d\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"sidebar.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div style=\"display:none;\">Search<\/div><form role=\"search\" method=\"get\" class=\"encyclopedia search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.bf-hydraulik.com\/en\/encyclopedia\/\">\n    \n    \n    <label class=\"screen-reader-text\" for=\"encyclopedia-search-term\">Search<\/label>\n    <input type=\"text\" id=\"encyclopedia-search-term\" name=\"s\" class=\"search-field\" value=\"\" placeholder=\"Search&hellip;\">\n    <button type=\"submit\" class=\"search-submit submit button\" id=\"encyclopedia-search-submit\">Search<\/button>\n<\/form>\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-white-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color has-small-font-size has-custom-font-size wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bf-hydraulik.com\/hydraulik-lexikon\/\" style=\"border-radius:0px;background-color:#005b9a\">Back to overview<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"author":1,"template":"elementor_header_footer","encyclopedia-tag":[],"class_list":["post-2682","encyclopedia","type-encyclopedia","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bf-hydraulik.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia\/2682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bf-hydraulik.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bf-hydraulik.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/encyclopedia"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bf-hydraulik.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bf-hydraulik.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia\/2682\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2683,"href":"https:\/\/www.bf-hydraulik.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia\/2682\/revisions\/2683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bf-hydraulik.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"encyclopedia-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bf-hydraulik.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia-tag?post=2682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}