Hydraulic fluid power : fundamentals applications and circuit design Hydraulic control systems are used across many engineering applications to provide motion and force control of mechanical systems. With respect to competing technologies for transmitting mechanical power (i.e. mechanical drives or electrical drives) hydraulic drives offer favorable characteristics from both the power to weight ratio and control perspectives. State of art hydraulic systems can be up to one order of magnitude lighter than electric systems with the same power (or torque) level. Also compared to mechanical drives hydraulic systems offer a greater layout flexibility thanks to the versatile design of the piping or hoses system that connects the hydraulic components. Hydraulic drive technology also easily offers solutions for advanced actuator control in terms of output velocity and force motion reversals as well as safety functions