Novel Pressure Adaptive Piston Cylinder Interface Design for Axial Piston Machines

Author(s):  
Shanmukh Sarode ◽  
Lizhi Shang

Abstract The paper presents a novel concept of a pressure adaptive piston/cylinder interface design for a swashplate type axial piston machine that uses a pressurized groove around the bushing inside the cylinder block. This groove is connected to the pump displacement chamber and it uses pressure deformations of the bushing to improve the sealing function of the piston/cylinder lubricating interface. Such a design concept is based on a groove design that is easy to manufacture, thus resulting in a cost-effective design solution. The proposed piston/cylinder interface design is simulated using a multi-domain simulation model developed by the authors’ research team. The tool is particularly suitable for the analysis of the internal gap flows, being based on a fully coupled fluid structure thermal interaction model, which calculates the non-isothermal gap fluid behavior considering solid body deformations due to temperature and pressure effects. The proposed solution is compared in simulation with respect to a standard design of an axial piston pump. The results indicate that the proposed pressure adaptive piston/cylinder interface is able to improve the sealing function of the piston/cylinder interface at different operating conditions. Therefore, the proposed novel design can be seen as a possible method to increase the energy efficiency of the current designs of swash plate units.

2012 ◽  
Vol 134 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matteo Pelosi ◽  
Monika Ivantysynova

The piston/cylinder interface of swash plate–type axial piston machines represents one of the most critical design elements for this type of pump and motor. Oscillating pressures and inertia forces acting on the piston lead to its micro-motion, which generates an oscillating fluid film with a dynamically changing pressure distribution. Operating under oscillating high load conditions, the fluid film between the piston and cylinder has simultaneously to bear the external load and to seal the high pressure regions of the machine. The fluid film interface physical behavior is characterized by an elasto-hydrodynamic lubrication regime. Additionally, the piston reciprocating motion causes fluid film viscous shear, which contributes to a significant heat generation. Therefore, to fully comprehend the piston/cylinder interface fluid film behavior, the influences of heat transfer to the solid boundaries and the consequent solid boundaries’ thermal elastic deformation cannot be neglected. In fact, the mechanical bodies’ complex temperature distribution represents the boundary for nonisothermal fluid film flow calculations. Furthermore, the solids-induced thermal elastic deformation directly affects the fluid film thickness. To analyze the piston/cylinder interface behavior, considering the fluid-structure interaction and thermal problems, the authors developed a fully coupled simulation model. The algorithm couples different numerical domains and techniques to consider all the described physical phenomena. In this paper, the authors present in detail the computational approach implemented to study the heat transfer and thermal elastic deformation phenomena. Simulation results for the piston/cylinder interface of an existing hydrostatic unit are discussed, considering different operating conditions and focusing on the influence of the thermal aspect. Model validation is provided, comparing fluid film boundary temperature distribution predictions with measurements taken on a special test bench.


Author(s):  
Emil A. Maschner ◽  
Basel Abdalla

The subject of lateral buckling design in recent years has by necessity become increasingly more involved as pipeline projects have moved into more difficult environments where there is a need for optimized economic solutions with assured through-life reliability. The authors have had direct design responsibility and specialist involvement with a large number of projects covering a diverse range of environments, single or PIP systems, variable product characteristics and operating conditions, external applied loading type, and geographical installation limitations. These include shallow and deep water, large thin walled and small thick walled diameter pipes, flat to undulating hard to soft seabed, variable cohesive and non-cohesive surficial soil types and various other project considerations which have impacted on the chosen design solution. The purpose of this paper will be to highlight aspects of global buckling design associated with reliable in place systems and conversely those aspects associated with integrity risks to the as-laid operational pipelines. A review of past project challenges along with a commentary as to the state of the art at the time gives an opportunity to evaluate risks and challenges being faced on current projects. Particularly, as it seeks to develop ever more cost effective designs with proven robustness but optimized safety margins for the installation and operation of HT/HP pipelines in marginal fields.


Author(s):  
Stephan Wegner ◽  
Stefan Gels ◽  
Dal Sik Jang ◽  
Hubertus Murrenhoff

The greatest share of hydromechanic and volumetric losses in axial piston machines are produced within the tribological interfaces piston / cylinder, cylinder block / valve plate and slipper / swash plate. Hydrostatic and hydrodynamic effects are used to minimise the sum of solid friction, viscous friction and throttle losses. Other tribological interfaces have minor influence on efficiency losses in most operating points in machines of this type. This paper focuses on experimental investigations with the objective to acquire further knowledge on the cylinder block / valve plate contact. The investigations are part of a project funded by the German Research Foundation in which experimental and simulative investigations are combined to identify the effects influencing this tribological interface. The experiments focus on the multi-directional movement of the cylinder block and the friction torque within the contact. Therefore a test rig was built, capable of measuring the cylinder block movement in all degrees of freedom and the friction torque between both parts. A sensor system is built around a standard rotary group of an axial piston pump with a spherical cylinder block / valve plate contact. The pump functionality is maintained and measurements under standard operating conditions up to 30 MPa are possible. Procedures of the design process and descriptions of the measuring system are presented, followed by results of the cylinder block movement measurement, comparing the behavior under different pressure levels and speeds.


Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (22) ◽  
pp. 5997
Author(s):  
Meike Ernst ◽  
Andrea Vacca ◽  
Monika Ivantysynova ◽  
Georg Enevoldsen

A novel virtual prototyping algorithm has been developed to design one of the most critical lubricating interfaces in axial piston machines of the swash plate type—the piston–cylinder interface—for operation with water as the working fluid. Due to its low viscosity, the use of water as a lubricant can cause solid friction and wear in these machines at challenging operating conditions. The prototyping algorithm compensates for this by tailoring the shape of the bore surface that guides the motion of each piston in this type of positive displacement machine to conform with the piston surface, taking into account both the piston’s tilt and its deformation. Shaping these surfaces in this manner can render the interface more conducive to generating hydrodynamic pressure buildup that raises its load-carrying capacity. The present work first outlines the structure of the proposed algorithm, then presents a case study in which it is employed to design a bore surface shape for use with two prototypes, one virtual and one physical—both modified versions of a 444 cc commercial axial piston pump. Experimental testing of the physical prototype shows it to achieve a significantly higher maximum total efficiency than the stock unit.


Author(s):  
Ashley M. Wondergem ◽  
Monika Ivantysynova

Axial piston machines are widely used in industry thus new cost-effective and highly efficient designs are needed. One way to increase efficiency and decrease cost is by altering the geometry along with the configuration of the piston/cylinder interface influencing the fluid film generation and in turn the energy dissipation and load carrying capacity while still having a design that is cost effective and easy to manufacture. This paper presents a study on a reduction of energy dissipation between the piston and cylinder over a wide range of operating conditions at both full and partial displacements based on the surface shape of the piston along with the minimum clearance. First, it is necessary to measure a base design and then compare those results to simulations in order to verify the simulation results. Once a baseline is established, various piston surface shapes and minimum clearances are then also simulated and compared back to the simulated baseline. Not only is energy dissipation important to compare, but also the minimum gap height over one revolution. The minimum gap height is in direct correlation to friction loss and wear. Therefore, this paper also includes an understanding of how the gap height affects the total losses thus leading to the importance of finding a relative clearance that satisfies a median between torque losses and leakage along with the importance of reducing the occurrence of critical gap heights to reduce the need for wear in in the machine.


Author(s):  
David Richardson ◽  
Farshid Sadeghi ◽  
Richard G Rateick ◽  
Scott Rowan

The objectives of this study were to experimentally measure motion of a floating valve plate and analytically investigate the effects of floating valve plate surface modifications on the lubricant film thickness and temperature distribution. In order to achieve the experimental objectives, a previously developed axial piston pump test rig was instrumented with proximity probes to measure the motion of the valve plate. To achieve the objectives of the analytical investigation, the thermal Reynolds equation augmented with the Jakobsson-Floberg-Olsson (JFO) boundary condition and the energy equation were simultaneously solved to determine the pressure, cavitation regions, and temperature of the lubricant at the valve plate/cylinder block interface. The lubricating pressures were then coupled with the equations of motion of the floating valve plate to develop a dynamic lubrication model. The stiffness and damping coefficients of the floating valve plate system used in the dynamic lubrication model were determined using a parametric study. The elastic deformation of the valve plate was also considered using the influence matrix approach. The experimental and analytical motions of the valve plate were then corroborated and found to be in good agreement. Four- and eight-pocket designs were then added as surface modifications to the floating valve plate in the dynamic lubrication model. The addition of surface modifications on the valve plate resulted in increased minimum film thicknesses and lowered lubricant temperatures at the same operating conditions.


Author(s):  
Matteo Pelosi ◽  
Monika Ivantysynova

In this paper, a fully coupled fluid-structure interaction and thermal numerical model developed by the authors is used to demonstrate the impact of surface elastic deformations on the piston/cylinder fluid film thickness and on the overall axial piston pump rotating kit performance. The piston/cylinder interface is one of the most critical lubricating interfaces of axial piston machines. This interface fulfills simultaneously a bearing and sealing function under oscillating load conditions in a purely hydrodynamic regime. It represents one of the main sources of energy dissipation and it is therefore a key design element, determining axial piston machine efficiency. In the past years, the research group of the authors studied the impact of advanced micro surface design and fluid film thickness micro alteration in the piston/cylinder interface through extensive simulations and experiments. However, the numerical models used did not include the influence of surface elastic deformations, heat transfer and therefore material properties on the piston/cylinder interface behavior. Hence, the aim of this paper is to show the alterations on fluid film thickness and on the consequent coupled physical parameters due to the solid boundaries pressure and thermal surface elastic deformations. A simulation study considering two different material properties for the cylinder bores is performed, where a steel cylinder block and a steel cylinder block with brass bushings are separately studied. Piston/cylinder gap pressure field and coupled gap surface elastic deformations due to pressure and thermal loading are shown for the different materials. The impact of the different materials behavior on lubricating interface performance is discussed.


Author(s):  
Roman Ivantysyn ◽  
Ahmed Shorbagy ◽  
Jürgen Weber

The lifetime of axial piston pumps is depending on the application and it’s overall robustness to external loads, but even in ideal conditions pumps will fail eventually. The analytics to this problem are known to pump manufacturers. Bearing and shaft calculations paired with FEM models are invaluable tools, however the main questions remain with the rotating kit – cylinder block, pistons, and slippers. If properly designed these parts should theoretically outlast the finite lifetime parts, such as roller bearings due to their hydrostatic and hydrodynamic bearings. In reality however failures still occur due to fatigue or other factors such as contamination or wear. This paper describes an approach for the thermal analysis of the cylinder block / valve plate sealing interface. Using a state of the art test rig the temperature distribution, instantaneous gap height as well as particle wear have been analyzed across the entire operating range of an axial piston pump at the block / valve plate sealing interface. Simulations are done with cooperation of Purdue University by using their developed gap simulation model called Caspar FSTI. These simulations along with the measurements are used to locate potential lifetime reducing operating conditions and analyze them. The first results of the thermal behavior of this interface will be presented in this paper.


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