Book excerpt: This thesis deals with innovative working hydraulic systems for mobile machines. Flow control systems are studied as an alternative to load sensing. The fundamental difference is that the pump is controlled based on the operator’s command signals rather than feedback signals from the loads. This control approach enables higher energy efficiency and there is no load pressure feedback causing stability issues. Experimental results show a reduced pump pressure margin and energy saving potential for a wheel loader application. The damping contribution from the inlet and outlet orifice in directional valves is studied. Design rules are developed and verified by experiments. A novel system architecture is proposed where flow control, load sensing and open-centre are merged into a generalized system description. The proposed system is configurable and the operator can realize the characteristics of any of the standard systems without compromising energy efficiency. This can be done non-discretely on-the-fly. Experiments show that it is possible to avoid unnecessary energy losses while improving system response and increasing stability margins compared to load sensing. Static and dynamic differences between different control modes are also demonstrated experimentally.