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C O N TA C T U S

What Is An Accumulator?

Whitepapers On Whiteboard

Expert Level

Beginner

Length

7:22

Instructor

Miguel Vita, Freudenberg Hydraulic Division

What is an accumulator?

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Video Transcript
Hi everybody. Welcome to white papers on
whiteboard. My name is Miguel Vita. I work for
Freudenberg in the hydraulic accumulator division. I
was invited today by our partners ESP International to
talk about hydraulic accumulators.

We decided to start with the basics:

What is an accumulator?

How can I use an accumulator?

What are the different technologies that we have on

an accumulator?

What Is An Accumulator? The Basic Principle.

Let’s start with – “What is an Accumulator?” Think

of an air balloon inserted into a bucket and apply a
force to the balloon. You increase the pressure on
the airside of the balloon. This is the basic principle
of an accumulator.

You have an accumulator with a hard shell.

Normally carbon steel – very similar to the bucket
that I showed you before, and you have an
elastomeric diaphragm. This elastomeric
diaphragm will make a barrier to a pre-charged
nitrogen section. You can compare the pre-charged
nitrogen with the air that you have in your balloon.

The port is connected to the hydraulic system. To

the hydraulic system, we will apply pressure in this
portion and will be translated on the same action
that you have with this Force. So basically, when
you have the hydraulic system, you increase the
pressure in the nitrogen area.

What Happens On The Hydraulic System?

We have here a schematic of a hydraulic system.

hydraulic cylinder

valve pumps

a tank

And we have added an accumulator in the system.

When the hydraulic system has no pressure, you

have the pre-charge of the nitrogen using the
whole cavity of the accumulator.

For example:

You have a shovel on your tractor and the shovel

hits a stone. You have a huge force being applied
here that will increase the pressure in the whole
system. This pressurized oil will move to the
accumulator and will increase the nitrogen
pressure. So, this nitrogen inside the accumulator
will work as a cushion. You have dampened the
system using an accumulator.

Basic Functions Of An Accumulator

1. Starting with the pulsation dampening. On the hydraulic

system, you have pulsation. This pulsation is coming
basically from the hydraulic pumps. So the accumulator
will make a dampening on this pulsation and will
stabilize your system. You’ll reduce the noise, you’ll
reduce the vibration of the system and you’ll have the
system working this move.

2. Also, the accumulator can keep constant pressure in

your system. If you have a leakage, for example, you’re
going to lose the pressure of the system. The
accumulator will stabilize the pressure and you keep
the pressure at a certain level until you can stop your
system for maintenance.

3. Another function of the accumulator is really to be an

emergency source of power in your system. For
example, when you have your system being applied on
hydraulic brakes and you need a sudden release of
pressure in your system, the accumulator will help you
release this pressure whenever it is needed.

Three Types of Accumulators

And here we come to the three different types of

accumulators. We have the bladder, diaphragm, and
the piston type of accumulators.

1. Bladder Accumulator
The Bladder is the bread-and-butter. You can use
bladder accumulators everywhere. Most of the
hydraulic systems use bladder accumulators.

You have a bladder bag.

You have the pre-charge of nitrogen.

Connected to the hydraulic system.

Those accumulators are used in pulsation dampening

where you have high frequency, especially in a small
amplitude. A lot of applications, right? But this type of
accumulator has a restriction. The bladder has a
vulcanized seam, and this is the weak point of the
bladder system. If you have high frequency and high
cycle demand, you can have a rupture in this seam.
This is the restriction of this type of accumulator.

2. Diaphragm Accumulator
Then we can go to the diaphragm type accumulator.

Basically, the same where you have a carbon steel

shell but instead of a bladder, you have a diaphragm.

Also, the pre-charge of nitrogen and this portion is

connected to the system.

Very similar applications as the bladder type

accumulator. However, the diaphragm accumulator
has an advantage.

Since you don’t have a seam in the diaphragm,

you don’t have the restrictions that you have with
the bladder type accumulator.

So applications pretty much the same, but this one is

really a reliable accumulator, especially when you
have high cycle demands. Applications with 1 million,
2 million, 3 million cycle demands – this is where to
use a diaphragm accumulator.

3. Piston Accumulator
Instead of a bladder or a diaphragm, we are using an
aluminum piston to make a barrier with the nitrogen.

You keep the nitrogen pre-charged.

The system is connected to your hydraulic system.

But really you don’t have limits for this type of

accumulator.

Since you machine the accumulator, you can make it

in any size. You can make accumulators with a
quarter gallon. You can make accumulators with 300
gallons. You can make accumulators going to 40,000
PSI.

Custom ports, custom design, and materials so the

piston accumulator is really for limited applications
where you can make custom design accumulators.

Thank you.

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