The hydraulic systems that hydraulic pumps support exist in a range of industries, among them agriculture, automotive manufacturing, defense contracting, excavation, and industrial manufacturing. Within these industries, machines and applications that rely on hydraulic pumps include airplane flaps, elevators, cranes, automotive lifts, shock absorbers, automotive brakes, garage jacks, off-highway equipment, log splitters, offshore equipment, hydraulic motors/hydraulic pump motors, and a wide range of other hydraulic equipment.

Starting with variable displacement pumps, the principal types of hydraulic pumps in use include:

• Axial piston pumps
• Radial piston pumps
• Rotary vane pumps
• External gear pumps
• Internal gear pumps

 Vane pumps were, at one time, commonly used on utility vehicles such as aerial buckets and ladders. Today, the vane pump is not commonly found on these mobile (truck-mounted) hydraulic systems as gear pumps are more widely accepted and available.

When high operating pressures are required, piston pumps are often used. Piston pumps will traditionally withstand higher pressures than gear pumps with comparable displacements; however, there is a higher initial cost associated with piston pumps as well as a lower resistance to contamination and increased complexity. This complexity falls to the equipment designer and service technician to understand in order to ensure the piston pump is working correctly with its additional moving parts, stricter filtration requirements and closer tolerances. Piston pumps are often used with truck-mounted cranes, but are also found within other applications such as snow and ice control where it may be desirable to vary system flow without varying engine speed. 

A cylinder block containing pistons that move in and out is housed within a piston pump. It’s the movement of these pistons that draw oil from the supply port and then force it through the outlet. The angle of the swash plate, which the slipper end of the piston rides against, determines the length of the piston’s stroke. While the swash plate remains stationary, the cylinder block, encompassing the pistons, rotates with the pump’s input shaft. The pump displacement is then determined by the total volume of the pump’s cylinders. Fixed and variable displacement designs are both available. 

Generally, gear pumps are used in open center hydraulic systems. Gear pumps trap oil in the areas between the teeth of the pump’s two gears and the body of the pump, transport it around the circumference of the gear cavity and then force it through the outlet port as the gears mesh. Behind the brass alloy thrust plates, or wear plates, a small amount of pressurized oil pushes the plates tightly against the gear ends to improve pump efficiency.