A family distinct from Pumps within the class Energy Addition to the Fluid. While a pump moves liquid between process points, the intensifier multiplies the pressure of a fluid — its primary function is localized pressure increase, not volume transport.
Principle: a differential piston with unequal areas receives a low-pressure fluid on the large face and delivers high pressure on the small face; the intensification ratio equals the area ratio ().
Usual types
(handbooks per type in Phase 1)
Classified by the motive fluid → intensified fluid pair:
- Hydraulic (oil → oil/water) — the press classic;
- Pneumatic (air → liquid) — test benches, air-driven;
- Gas-gas — pressurization of test and injection gases;
- Water-water — single-fluid ultra-high-pressure systems.
Typical applications: waterjet cutting, high-pressure hydrostatic testing, hydraulic presses and HP systems in general.
They belong to this class because they add energy (pressure) to a fluid, but they are not pumps in the Hydraulic Institute sense — hence they sit separately, not as a principle under Pumps.