This book presents an original educational approach to hydraulic technology by focusing on the design of complete hydraulic systems. The initial introductory chapters are dedicated to the description of the basic physical components and principles of hydraulics. The bulk of the book concentrates on the most practical and useful system concepts for controlling hydraulic functions that can be found in the state of the art. These concepts are classified, analyzed, presented, and compared on a system level. The focus is the energy performance and the control features of each design architecture. The goal is to provide the reader with the tools to understand how a hydraulic circuit design affects the operation of the equipment where it is applied, and to select the best solution for the application.