Fluidic logic

Fluidics, or fluidic logic, is the use of a fluid to perform analog or digital operations similar to those performed with electronics.

The physical basis of fluidics is pneumatics and hydraulics, based on the theoretical foundation of fluid dynamics. The term fluidics is normally used when devices have no moving parts, so ordinary hydraulic components such as hydraulic cylinders and spool valves are not considered or referred to as fluidic devices. The 1960s saw the application of fluidics to sophisticated control systems, with the introduction of the fluidic amplifier.

A jet of fluid can be deflected by a weaker jet striking it at the side. This provides nonlinear amplification, similar to the transistor used in electronic digital logic. It is used mostly in environments where electronic digital logic would be unreliable, as in systems exposed to high levels of electromagnetic interference or ionizing radiation.

Nanotechnology considers fluidics as one of its instruments. In this domain, effects such as fluid-solid and fluid-fluid interface forces are often highly significant. Fluidics have also been used for military applications.

Logic gates can be built that use water instead of electricity to power the gating function. These are reliant on being positioned in one orientation to perform correctly. An OR gate is simply two pipes being merged, a NOT gate consists of "A" deflecting a supply stream to produce Ā. An inverter could also be implemented with the XOR gate, as A XOR 1 = Ā.

Bubble logic is another kind of fluidic logic. Bubble logic gates conserve the number of bits entering and exiting the device, since bubbles are neither produced nor destroyed in the logic operation, analogous to billiard-ball computer gates.

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