Hydraulic weight/load compensation

Hydraulic cylinders for weight compensation

Hydraulic weight compensation is a popular choice for machine tool applications requiring efficient vertical spindle head or machine table movements. It even makes sense to have weight compensation just to save energy. Otherwise, the drive would have to overcome gravity when lifting the head. And it would also make positioning much more difficult. In the past, the very simple solution was to suspend an equivalent weight that could be moved.

This has now become unpopular for several reasons. Because this counterweight simply takes up space, costs money, and doubles the overall weight. This may still be acceptable for a purely vertical movement, but a horizontal movement is added, this solution will double the mass inertia.

Hence the hydraulic weight compensation solution. Here, a hydraulic cylinder that is connected to a pressure accumulator absorbs the weight. The only moving mass here is the piston rod.