Maximum hydraulic piston velocities

[Tomatron]

Hi there

I'm in the process of thinkng about the design of a dynamic actuator to apply stresses in excess of 300mpa. I would like to know what are the limitations in piston velocity with modern day hydraulic systems. Would it be possible to achieve a piston velocity in excess of 10 meters per second for several 10s of cm throw ?

 

[HPost]

If you can keep the pressure low and if the application does not need to support a load, there are low friction seals available that can handle over 20m/s

It is the seal friction between the seal lip and the rod or bore of the cylinder that dictates the linear velocity of the cylinder.

It is the PV number that limits the seal performance, PV being pressure x velocity. Keeping the pressure down will obviously keep the PV value down.

Low friction seals have a low contact ratio and therefore cannot be relied upon to keep the cylinder still when it's under load. In other words, cylinders with lower friction seals tend to creep when they are under load.

You may be able to use a displacement cylinder. These have no piston seals, just rod seals, so can go faster.

 

[frrst245]

you'll also need to consider fluid flow speeds required to allow the piston speeds you'd be looking at.