Professional Documents
Culture Documents
WWW Hycoalabama Com
WWW Hycoalabama Com
WWW Hycoalabama Com
converted by Web2PDFConvert.com
Above: A simple double acting hydraulic cylinder system.
Hydraulic cylinders may be further classified into two other basic design types,
Rod Cylinders and Telescopic (or Telescoping) Cylinders.
Rod Style Cylinders
Rod cylinders have a single stage barrel with a piston moving within it. A rod
cylinder can only produce a motion or stroke much less than its overall length.
It can be said that it works within the length of the barrel. The output motion
is limited to the length of the barrel minus the length of the internal piston and
the cylinder end caps.
Rod cylinders are the most common type of hydraulic cylinder. Most are single
rod end with the piston rod extending out through a rod gland on one end of
the actuator only. Double rod end cylinders have a piston rod attached to both
sides of the internal piston. When one rod is extended, the other rod is
retracted. (for more information, see the section "Double Rod End Cylinders"
below, under the Heading "Cylinder Optional Features".)
Telescopic Hydraulic Cylinders
Telescopic cylinders are also available in both single and double acting
configurations. Double acting telescopic cylinders are very complex and
require special procedures in their use and application to prevent damage. See
our separate Tutorial on Telescopic Cylinders.
Finally, hydraulic cylinders are categorized by method of construction. The
two most common methods of constructing hydraulic cylinders are the Tie Rod
Style and the Welded Body Style.
Tie Rod Style Cylinders
Tie Rod Cylinders use high strength steel rods to hold the end caps onto the
cylinder barrel. Miniature cylinders (1/2 or 3/4" bore) may have 2 tie rods,
small to intermediate bore size cylinders (1" to 8" bore) may have 4 tie rods,
and larger bore size cylinders may have as many as 20 tie rods. The tie rod
converted by Web2PDFConvert.com
design is easy to assemble and disassemble but suffers from some design
limitations. (See the Tutorial on Welded Body Cylinders - Advantages)
converted by Web2PDFConvert.com
Above: A simple double acting cylinder ciircuit.
The piston rod exits the cylinder through a sealed gland called the rod gland.
The rod gland is equipped with elastomeric seals that prevent the oil from
leaking out of the cylinder when that end of the actuator is pressurized. It is
also often outfitted with a rod wiper which prevents external contaminants
from entering the cylinder when the rod motion is reversed and the piston rod
is retracted back into the actuator. Finally, the rod gland has a bearing that
supports and guides the rod as it moves back and forth. This bearing must be
of sufficient size to support the weight of the piston rod and any external
forces, especially side forces, exerted on the rod. This is particularly critical in
long stroke applications. (See the Tutorial on Cylinder Design Considerations)
The opposite end of the cylinder to the rod end is called the cap end, rear end
or blind end. The cap end is sealed off with a plate that is either welded or
bolted to the cylinder barrel. The cap end often also serves as a mounting
surface for the actuator as many hydraulic cylinders produce motion that
requires they pivot through an arc. Thus the cap ends of many hydraulic
cylinders are attached to clevis, trunnion or eye mounts.
The amount of force produced by the cylinder is directly proportional to both
the oil pressure and the effective area of the piston. This force can be
calculated using the equation F=PA , where F= Force, P = oil pressure, and A =
the effective area of the piston.
Above: A diagram comparing force outputs for small and large pistons at the
same pressure. Exert a force on the small piston on the left and the large
piston on the right will exert a much larger force.
converted by Web2PDFConvert.com
rate of oil flow returning to the oil reservoir will be much higher on the return
stroke. In fact, this flow will be higher than the pump flow. The cylinder port
size, fitting, hose and tube sizes, and the flow capacity of the return line oil
filter must be selected based on the return flow on retraction. This is very
important in systems with cylinders having very large piston rod diameters.
Double rod end cylinders have a piston rod extending out both sides of the
piston and have a rod gland at both ends of the cylinder barrel. In this case, if
the rod diameters are the same on both sides, the extension and retraction
speed would be exactly the same. The force output would also be exactly the
same on extension and retraction.
Double rod end cylinders are sometimes mounted by the two rod ends. The
load is then attached to the body of the cylinder which moves back and forth
while the piston rods are held stationary.
Double rod cylinders are sometimes employed as a means to adjust the output
stroke of the actuator. The piston rod extending from the rear is equipped
with a mechanism so that it strikes external stops. This arrangement can limit
the extension, retraction or both.
In a similar fashion, the rear rod may also be outfitted with a mechanism to
activate position sensors or some other form of feedback device indicating the
cylinders stroke position.
In either of the latter two uses, the second piston rod may not have to be the
same diameter as the primary rod coupled to the workload. Using a smaller
secondary piston rod for stroke limiting or position sensing may thus save on
unit weight and cost.
Hollow Piston Rods
Double rod end cylinders may also be built with a hollow piston rod so that a
continuous passageway extends through the cylinder from one end to the
other. This may be used to allow a cylinder to extend closing a die mold and
then inject a material through its hollow rod into die mold.
Single rod end cylinders may also be equipped with a hollow piston rod. Often
a hollow rod is used to reduce the weight of a large diameter piston rod. A
hollow rod is much lighter and yet retains the column strength of a solid rod.
Additionally, a hollow rod can accommodate a Linear Velocity Displacement
Transducer (LVDT) which are used to provide very accurate electronic
measurements of cylinder stroke.
Cushions
Cylinders are often equipped with end of stroke cushions on one or both ends.
Cushions are an internal feature that slows down the approach speed of the
piston and rod assembly as it nears the end caps. This reduces the high impact
forces that might otherwise cause damage to the internal components of the
cylinder or to the machine that the cylinder is driving.
Cushions are in essence small secondary pistons that are mounted on either
side of the main cylinder piston. As this small piston approaches the cylinder
end cap it enters the passage way the leads to the cylinder port. This shuts off
the flow of oil leaving the cylinder. The oil exiting the cylinder is now forced to
leave the cylinder through a second passageway that is usually fitted with an
adjustable needle which controls the volume of oil flow. This reduced oil flow
slows the cylinder down during the last part of its stroke. To enable the
cylinder to leave the end cap with full oil flow when it is reversed, a second
passageway equipped with a check valve allows full pump oil flow to bypass
the restricted cushion flow and reach the piston face.
converted by Web2PDFConvert.com
Above: A cut away showing the details of a cushioned cylinder head.
Cushion pistons (sometimes also called cushion bosses) are often tapered so
that they produce a progressive reduction in oil flow at the end of stroke. This
results in a more gradual speed reduction and less of a jerk in the motion.
Caution must be exercised when using cushions with very heavy loads as the
momentum of a large load may produce a very large pressure spike in the
cushion chamber. This spike may be severe enough to exceed the pressure
rating of the cushion seals. With damaged cushion seals the impact forces
would not be reduced at end of stroke and significant machine damage could
occur.
Stop Tubes and Dual Pistons
On cylinder applications that may encounter large side load forces, a number
of methods may be employed to increase the cylinders ability to withstand
these forces. This is particularly true in cylinders with very long strokes. If a
very long stroke cylinder is fully extended, side load forces may cause the
actuator to buckle and collapse. A general rule of thumb is to consider
additional internal bearing support if the stroke exceeds ten times that of the
cylinder bore size.
One such method of providing additional internal bearing support is the dual
piston. A dual piston may be simply a longer piston that has extra piston
bearing area or it may be two pistons separated some distance on the piston
rod. The effect of this design is also to reduce the moment forces acting on the
rod gland when the cylinder is at full extension by keeping the rod bearing and
the piston bearing separated by a certain distance. Dual pistons retain the
ability of a cylinder to have rod end cushions.
A second similar method of achieving this is the stop tube. The stop tube
methods is simpler and less costly. It involves installing a large section of tube
around the piston rod so as to prevent the cylinder from fully extending. Thus
the piston bearing is kept a distance away from the rod bearing and side load
capacity to resist buckling is maintained. The use of a stop tube does, however,
preclude the installation of a rod end cushion.
It is obvious that the installation of either a dual pistons or a stop tube
increases the overall length of a cylinder.
converted by Web2PDFConvert.com
Rigid mounting styles hold the cylinder firmly in place and do not allow the
body of the cylinder to move when it extends and retracts. These fixed
mountings include foot mounts, flange mounts, side tapped holes, and threaded
face mounts.
Flexible mounts allow the body of the cylinder to move as it extends and
retracts. A cylinder pushing on a lever requires a flexible mount to allow the
cylinder to follow the lever as it moves through an arc. Sometimes a flexible
mount is used to allow for a slight misalignment between a cylinder and a load
that is firmly guided. Flexible mounting styles include rear pivot mounts, clevis
mounts, trunnion mounts, and spherical eye mounts.
Site Map
converted by Web2PDFConvert.com