The Hydraulics and Pneumatics Section can look back on a history of over 50 years. The year 1967 marks the beginning of the establishment of a scientific and research team for power hydraulics. At that time assoc. prof. Andrzej Osiecki became the head of the Department of Machine Tools for Metals and started building a research and development team and a laboratory for machine hydraulics. In 1977, at the Institute of Mechanics and Basics of Machine Design the Section of Hydraulic Drives was established, headed by assoc. prof. Andrzej Osiecki. In 1983-1990, the staff of the hydraulics team formally worked in the Department of Working Machines, Vehicles and Hydraulic Drives, led by assoc. prof. W. Nowakowski. In 1990, the Department of Hydraulics and Pneumatics (H&P) was established and operated until 2010. The heads were: assoc. prof. (later full prof.) Andrzej Osiecki until his retirement in 1999, dr hab. Eng. Andrzej Balawender (1999-2009) and assoc. prof. Leszek Osiecki, son of prof. Andrzej Osiecki (2009-2010). In 2010 the department was transformed into the Section of Hydraulics and Pneumatics and its head became Leszek Osiecki. From 2018 to 2023 the head of the section was assoc. prof. Eng. Pawel Sliwinski.
From the very beginning, the activity of the Department of Hydraulics and Pneumatics was accompanied by successive development of the laboratory base, both in research and teaching.
Currently, the Hydraulics Laboratory is one of the largest laboratories in Central and Eastern Europe. Prof. Osiecki's saying that "hydraulics cannot be learned at a desk and every novice in this field should "feel" hydraulics through experience”.
In the hydraulics laboratory, various elements of hydraulic systems are tested with mineral oil, vegetable oil, HFA-E emulsion and water. Tests are also carried out under the conditions of the so-called thermal shock.
As part of scientific and research and development activities, the employees of the H&P Section developed, patented and implemented a number of innovative designs of positive displacement machines and measuring equipment in the industry. Among the most important and interesting are: piston flowmeters, oil deaeration devices, an instrument for measuring the efficiency of hydraulic pumps and motors using the thermodynamic method, axial piston pumps with cam timing with fixed and variable working volume, valve timing pump and hydraulic satellite motors.
Several research grants were carried out in the H&P Department and then in the H&P Section. Two prestigious LIDER grants were implemented here - the first in 2011-2014 and the second in 2017-2021. The grants result in pioneering and innovative constructions of prototypes of the following machines: a satellite pump unit, a flow regulator, a two-speed piston hydraulic motor with a free-wheel function, an axial piston pump with a shifted axis of rotation of the swashplate, and a hydraulic-mechanical automatic gearbox for agricultural and working machines. Machine designs developed in the H&P Department have been awarded many times at various domestic and international fairs, including abroad and prof. Paweł Śliwiński, the current head of the H&P Section, was awarded the title of Very Important Polish Innovator in 2015.
