What Is Fluid Power?

Definitions
Find out what fluid power, hydraulics, and pneumatics are.

Facts
Why is this an exciting industry to work in?

Test Your Fluid Power IQ
See if you can guess what some examples fluid power.

Career Resources

Job Descriptions

• Applications Engineer
• R&D Engineer
• Sales Engineer

Finding a Career in Fluid Power

• Employment opportunities available with NFPA member companies
• NFPA Workforce Development Resource Center

Career Search

• FluidPowerJobs.com
• Career Builder sponsored by Hydraulics and Pneumatics Magazine

Industrial Careers Pathway

Learn about industrial careers by watching this video.

Median Salary Information

• By Education
• By Age of Engineer
• By Region of the United States

Student Resources

Get Involved

Middle school

• Fluid Power Challenge
• Project Lead the Way

High school

• FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Program
• Project Lead the Way
• SkillsUSA

College

• NFPA Educator Members with fluid power content
• Center for Compact and Efficient Fluid Power Research (CCEFP)

Certification Courses

• Industrial Careers Pathway
• International Fluid Power Society

For more information about training, on-line courses and other resources, visit the NFPA Workforce Development Resource Center.

Shake Table

Fluid power can generate tremendous forces and motions that simulate the power of an earthquake, but on a scale that you can control in a testing laboratory.

Hydraulic Hybrid

This is one of the areas where the high power density of fluid power lends itself to rapid energy capture and re-deployment, and substantial energy savings.

Windmills

The fluid power component on a wind mill is usually the pitch control, operated by hydraulics.

Wave Energy

Green energy continues to evolve. Wave energy machines are very diverse. Two such examples were included in the video.