ME 561Fluid Power Control Systems
- Units
- 0.50
- Faculty
- Engineering
- Subject
- Mechanical Engineering
When it runs
- F24
- W25
- S25
- F25
- W26
- S26
- F26
- W27
- S27
Ran in 5 of the last 7 terms. Winter 2027: not on the schedule. Spring 2027: schedule not out yet.
Properties of hydraulic fluids. Design and function of conventional hydraulic and pneumatic circuits. Characteristics of flow and pressure control valves. Speed control in fluid power circuits. Performance of pumps and fluid motors. Hydrostatic and hydrokinetic transmission systems. Principles of sealing, filtration and heat control in hydraulic circuits. Industrial applications of fluid power systems.
Prerequisites
- Complete all of the following
- Must have completed at least 1 of the following:
- Students must be in level 4A or higher
- Enrolled in H-Mechanical Engineering, or H-Mechatronics Engineering
Antirequisites
None listed.
Leads to
No course lists it as a requisite.
Fall 2026 sections
| Section | Class | Enrolled | Meets |
|---|---|---|---|
| LEC 001 | 5038 | 67 / 70 | T 15:00–15:50 F 12:30–14:20 |
Reviewed on UW Flow
90% liked it79% easy73% useful
From 30 ratings and 16 comments on UW Flow. The most helpful comments, quoted as written, without names. Read them all on UW Flow.
Daniel is arguably the best prof of my undergrad career. Very clear communicator, always checks in on the pace of lectures, posts sufficient supplementary material, and always stays back to answer questions. It sucks the course material gets dry at some points, but he tries his best to keep it engaging. Highly recommend this course, but it's not a free average booster, especially not after midterms. But with a bit of effort a very good grade is achievable.
Aug 2024 · liked it · 1 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this
Overall Solid 4A TE and fairly easy to get a mark in the low-to-mid 80s. How useful it is depends on what field you go into, but I think having a working knowledge of how hydraulics and pneumatics work is useful for any mechanical engineer.
The pre-labs took quite some time since FluidSIM is really finnicky to work with, but they were good in helping our understanding of the course. The assignments were fairly long, but not too difficult.
The midterm and final were fair, and if you prepared well and brought the right open book materials with you, then you should be fine. The final usually has a cascading circuit question with one cylinder re-extending, which the prof does not explicitly…Aug 2026 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this
Useful course to get introduced to hydraulic/pneumatic circuits. The final dropped my mark since it was worth 50%, but the labs and assignments are fairly straightforward. Russell Buchanan taught the course well and uploaded recorded lectures as well, although it was delayed a week or so.
Aug 2025 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this
Russell Buchanan was the prof. Pretty easy course-no midterm, just a final, labs, and assignments. Final was fully open book. He didn't make the final too hard, but he did throw some curveballs on there since it was open book ig (ex make a pneumatic cascading circuit but include the same cylinder extending twice in the same cycle). Definitely take this course if you want a birdy course.
Aug 2025 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this
Easy and useful course. The hydraulic and pneumatic design units were very well done. Assignments and labs were fair, and exams were open book and fair. Prof Juhasz was a great professor with a fantastic sense of humour.
Jan 2025 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this
Discussed on r/uwaterloo
8 posts and comments in 7 threads mention ME 561, June 2015 to December 2024. Quoted word for word, newest first; each reply sits under the post and the comment that started its branch. Search r/uwaterloo for newer posts.
Spring 2022
A GUIDE ON HOW TO PLAN AN OPTION 29 points, 15 comments
u/1000Ditto: “Hey all, here's an example (by yours truly) of how to plan an option. as someone who has been trying to get many options in but having a hard time, might as well write down my process so others can kind of benefit from it. …”
Winter 2022
Undergrad courses I've taken tier list (details in comments) 161 points, 13 comments
u/MindTheGap9: “… - ME 561 - Probably the best course of my undergrad. I felt like a real engineer. - SYDE411 - Bleh this course sucked. Didn't learn anything. No final exam. No timed evaluations. Awful project. …”
Spring 2021
Mechanical engineering undergrad retrospective 201 points, 42 comments
u/doAbr00talroll: “… • ME561: I thought it was really easy overall. The content is interesting enough, the lecture notes are really well put together, and the assignments are weighed high enough that the exams are stress-free. …”
Winter 2021
For the class of 2021, how are you feeling about graduating this year? 17 points, 8 comments
“Really wish there was an option for multiple selection, but just choose which option best resonates with you. View Poll”
u/doAbr00talroll: “Honestly it's a little depressing having spent my entire 4th year in front of my computer and not being able to do the cool labs/projects I had always heard about from 1a to 3b. …”
u/doAbr00talroll: “… ME 561 had labs where we put together pneumatic circuits in this Festo simulation software. Normally I think they have an actual test set up but the simulations were still really neat so I'd still recommend it. ME 423 is basically a single design project for the entire course. …”
Spring 2018
MTE 322 vs ME 322 AND Fav Mech courses 3 points, 4 comments
“I am a 4th year SYDE student and I want to land a Product/mechanical design full-time position. I am trying to use the remainder of my technical electives to build more mechanical design …”
u/eagle23_7: “4th year who has worked 5 mechanical design coops. The best way to learn design would be through coop placements by far. It’s a lot more real world design of metal and plastic injection parts. …”
u/anon_student1: “… I am considering courses like ME 548 (CNC), ME 561 (hydraulics/pneumatics0), ME 436 (welding - I am already taking ME 435 - metallurgy). …”
Fall 2017
Any way to disable UWCourseLinker from posting? 16 points, 26 comments
“posting a reply to my comment I find the bot annoying.”
u/Jackhofmann: “PSYCH 483 PSYCH 484 PSYCH 485 PSYCH 486 PSYCH 490R PSYCH 499A PSYCH 499B PSYCH 499C PSYCH 621 PSYCH 630 PSYCH 677A PSYCH 704A PSYCH 704B PSYCH 707 PSYCH 710 PSYCH 714 PSYCH 717 PSYCH 720A PSYCH 721A …”
u/Jackhofmann: “… ME 362 ME 380 ME 400A ME 401 ME 423 ME 435 ME 436 ME 456 ME 459 ME 481 ME 482 ME 548 ME 559 ME 561 ME 566 ME 599 ME 620 ME 627 ME 632 ME 651 ME 659 ME 662 ME 673 ME 680 ME 682 ME 720 ME 738 ME 753 ME 760 ME 765 ME 770 ME 780 MEDVL 115 MEDVL 250R MNS 10 MNS 101 MNS 211 MNS 321 …”
Spring 2015
Any mech eng doing/done the tron option? 1 point, 6 comments
“I just wanna know if there are any mech eng that are doing/done the tron option. I wanna know what courses you took to complete the option (ECE or MTE courses?) and if doing the option itself was …”
u/annihilatron: “… Courses I did not take and have heard nothing about: ME561, ME547, ECE463, ECE450, ECE457, ECE486, ME524, The rest of the SYDE courses (non-422) ======== Jobwise, it doesn't affect much. …”
u/annihilatron: “Only two of these are part of the option, and they only fulfill two of the requirements; you'd still have to take ECE484 and RTOS or a similarly difficult programming course. - ME 555 is a bird course about CAD and some additional mathematics related to CAD. …”
Check it elsewhere for Fall 2026
- Undergraduate Calendar, 2026–27The official entry
- Requirements for Fall 2026Waterloo’s requisite checker
- Schedule of Classes, Fall 2026Instructors, rooms, live seats
- Quest Class SearchWhere you enrol
- Course outlinesSyllabi from past terms (UW login)
- UW FlowStudent ratings and reviews
- WClassesPast sections back to 2004, and who taught them