Hydraulic integrator

A hydraulic integrator is an analog computer designed to solve differential equations , the action of which is based on the flow of water. It was created in 1936 by Vladimir Sergeyevich Lukyanov .

External Images
	Three-dimensional experimental hydraulic integrator Lukyanova

The volume of fluid in a vessel is an integral of the function that describes the flow of fluid into this vessel. If you equip the vessel with a scale graduated, for example, in units of volume, you get a simple integrator of the volumetric flow rate of the liquid. Back in ancient times , clepsydra was invented, which measures time intervals based on the amount of flowing water.

The first instances of Lukyanov’s integrators were more experimental, made of tin and glass tubes, and each integrator could be used to solve only one problem.

In the 1930s, it was the only computer in the USSR to solve partial differential equations ^{[1] [2]} .

In 1941, Lukyanov created a hydraulic integrator of a modular design, which made it possible to assemble a machine for solving various problems. Two-dimensional and three-dimensional hydraulic integrators were designed.

In 1949-1955, an integrator was developed at the NIISCHETMASH Institute in the form of standard unified blocks. In 1955, serial production of integrators with the brand name “IGL” (Lukyanov’s hydraulic system integrator) began at the Ryazan plant for calculating and analytical machines . Integrators were widely distributed, delivered to Czechoslovakia, Poland, Bulgaria and China. With their help, the calculations of the projects of the Karakum Canal in the 1940s , the construction of BAM in the 1970s were carried out. Hydrointegrators were used in geology, mining, metallurgy, rocket science and other fields.

Similar devices were used in many organizations and were used until the mid-1980s.

Currently, two Lukyanov hydraulic integrators are stored in the Polytechnic Museum ^[1] .