Photo of an agricultural machine builder

Fluid Power South Success Story Using Heavy Duty Linear Actuators

Nathan Bong
Nathan Bong
PA Engineer

Fluid Power South is a distributor and seller of automation components. They have been serving Georgia OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers), machine users, and resellers for nearly four decades. Their work helps companies of all sizes from growing manufacturers to Fortune 500 businesses generate billions of dollars in revenue each year.

Many of Fluid Power South’s customers are in the agricultural industry and they are demanding more automation solutions than ever before. With the increase in demand for food due to the rapid growth of the world’s population, the agriculture industry has been striving for improvements in efficiency and larger yields. By automating some of the agriculture processes, they can reduce human labor cost, provide longer operational times and increase workload capacity.

Traditionally, pneumatic and hydraulic actuators were used due to their high load capacity being well suited for the agricultural industry. However many customers are reluctant to install compressed air/fluid within their facility. They are expensive to purchase and can be very dangerous if potential accidents were to occur. Fluid Power South listened to their customers concerns and approached us looking for a solution.

As one of the top manufacturers of electric linear actuators, we know all about the progress made in electric actuator technology in recent years. Nowadays electric linear actuators are capable of handling heavy loads that were previously only possible with pneumatic or hydraulic units. Our PA-17 Heavy Duty Linear Actuator was ultimately chosen by Fluid Power South, with its high force capacity of 2000 lbs and IP65 protection rating making it well suited for the potentially rough environments of the Agricultural industry. Stuart Trimble, one of the engineers from Fluid Power South, commented on the success of using our Heavy Duty Linear Actuator:

“An agricultural machine builder found it beneficial to replace pneumatic cylinders and redundant manual screws on their belt adjustment and lift.  Previously many of their customers would not have compressed air where this machine would be stationed, creating the need to purchase a separate air compressor for this specific application.

Photo of an agricultural machine builder

With the addition of Progressive Automation’s electrical actuators, the machine builder was able to discontinue the use of the manual screws and air cylinders.  No more special air compressors and since the holding force was pretty much the same as the force created by the actuator, no more screws to manually adjust.”

If you have a project that requires a lot of force and do not want to use pneumatic or hydraulic units, you can always count on the PA-17 Heavy Duty Linear Actuator. We also have an even stronger model capable of producing up to 3000 lbs of force if you need something more powerful, our PA-13 High Force Industrial Actuator.

Nathan Bong

Engineer & Copywriting Specialist at Progressive Automations, Progressive Desk, and Progressive Bed
Nathan Bong, Engineer & Copywriting Specialist at Progressive Automations, Progressive Desk, and Progressive Bed, handles the creation and revision of technical content such as articles, datasheets, user manuals, technical videos, and case studies. As a graduate of BCIT, he has an academic background in electrical and computer engineering while also having hands-on experience of working with electrical equipment and tools.