Beginning in 1958, much effort has been applied toward the advancement of fluid technology. In early 1961, a step input occurred when the successful development of a fluid rate sensor confirmed the promise of obtaining complete fluid control and guidance systems without the use of moving parts.
In the past three years, major strides, in the form of actual hardware accomplishments, have been made toward realizing this goal. In fact, simple stabilization and control systems were flight tested as far back as 1963. The “hardware” state-of-the-art of “fluids” has progressed to such a point that military and commercial problems can now be solved by fluid systems, particularly those applications involving destructive environmentals, long storage life, reliability, and low cost.
Many papers have been presented dealing with fluid technology, usually in the form of theoretical analysis and/or isolated component development. This paper summarizes the present state-of-the-art with emphasis on actual hardware developed specifically for system applications. This is accomplished by presenting a composite flight control system, around which fluid components, from prime sensors to actuators, are discussed.