1

ON THE DYNAMICS OF SWASH PLATE AXIAL PISTON PUMPS WITH CONICAL CYLINDER BLOCKS
KASSEM, S.A. Professor, Mechanical Design and Production Department, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University, Giza 12316 Egypt. E-mail: skassem@alpha1-eng.cairo.eun.eg BAHR, M.K. Graduate student, Mechanical Design and Production Department, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University, Giza 12316 Egypt. E-mail: medhat.bahr@usa.net suction pressure, rotational speed, shape and sealing condition of the valve plate on cavitation in an axial piston pump was studied experimentally by Atsushi [5]. The average moment acting on the swash plate of an axial piston pump was studied experimentally in [6], and was shown to depend upon the swash plate inclination angle, rotational speed, entrapment angle, and system pressure. It decreases as the swash plate angle increases. Cylinder pressure and the moment acting on the swash plate were calculated in [7] for two different types of valve plate. The calculated values coincided well with the measured ones when a valve plate with wide, short and deep notches was used. Pumps with conical cylinder blocks are now widely used in both industrial and mobile applications. In these pumps the piston line of stroke is inclined to the pump axis of rotation in order to reduce the piston inertia force effect that tends to detach either the pistons from the slipper pads or the slipper pads from the swash plate. This technique allows driving the pumps at higher speeds, which increases the pump specific power. Kassem and Bahr [8] recently carried out a comprehensive theoretical study to investigate the effect of the triangular silencing groove dimensions on the piston chamber pressure and pump flow rate fluctuation for this type of pumps. They showed how to determine the port plate configuration that causes gradual rise and drop of the piston chamber pressure, with cavitation avoided, and low delivery flow rate fluctuation. In the present work, the moment acting on the swash plate and the pump driving torque are investigated for pumps with conical cylinder blocks under different operating conditions. Also the effect of the cylinder block cone angle on the force tending to separate the piston from the swash plate is investigated.

ABSTRACT
In this paper a mathematical model for swash plate axial piston pumps with conical cylinder blocks is presented. Simulation runs are carried out using this model to evaluate the performance of a pump with certain design parameters under different operating conditions. The results show that both the moment acting on the swash plate in the direction perpendicular to its inclination and the torque acting on the driving shaft are nearly constants under certain operating conditions, and increase linearly with the increase of the delivery pressure and/or increase of the swash plate inclination angle. The other component of the moment, which tends to change the swash plate inclination angle, is found to be periodic, and can be fairly represented by four harmonics and an average value which acts in the direction that decreases the inclination angle. The average value increases nearly linearly with the delivery pressure increase and/or decrease of the swash plate inclination angle. Pump leakage was found not to affect the moment components. Results show also that the force tending to detach the piston from the swash plate decreases nearly linearly with the increase of the cylinder block cone angle, and that the percentage reduction of this force is independent of the pump rotational speed.

KEY WORDS
Piston pump, swash plate, moments, piston forces, conical cylinder block.

1. INTRODUCTION
The static and dynamic characteristics of swash plate axial piston pumps with cylindrical cylinder blocks were extensively investigated during the last three decades. The variation of cylinder pressure during one complete revolution of the pump was studied in [ 1, 2, 5, 6, 7 and 8] with the effects of sloping and nonsloping, square or semi-circular, and triangular silencing grooves on the variation of cylinder pressure investigated. When the pump suction pressure was atmospheric, cavitation in the piston chamber was recorded [7]. Kaliafetis and Costopoulos [3] studied both theoretically and experimentally the static and dynamic characteristics of a variable displacement swash plate pump with constant pressure regulator. Modeling and designing a variable geometric volume axial piston pump was carried out in [4]. Effect of the

2. PUMP MODELING
Figure 1 shows the studied pumping mechanism. The displacement sk of the kth piston as function of its angular position k is given by [8]

s k = L (L1 / cos ) where L = R 2 cos k tan + L1 , R 2 = 0.5D 2 , cos cos k sin tan

(1)

k =

t + 2 (k - 1) , = tan -1 (R1 - R 2 )/L2 , N R1 = 0.5D1 , and is the swash plate inclination angle.

Knowing the dimensions of the valve plate, the values of Ask and Adk can be evaluated at each k, and thus the piston chamber instantaneous pressure pk and delivery flow rate Qdk can be determined by solving the forgoing equations numerically. The pump instantaneous delivery flow rate is given by:
N

Q=
k=1

Qdk

(3 )

Neglecting friction, the force Fk acting axially on the kth piston and its slipper pad is given by

Fk = A p p k + m p a k + m p 2 rck sin + Fs

(4 )

where rck = R1 ( x c + s k ) sin = R1 (0.5Lp + s k ) sin

The normal force acting on the swash plate due to the force Fk can be shown to be given by:
n Fk = Fk /(sin cos sin sin cos )

(5)

In the shown coordinate system, the moment acting on the swash plate due to the kth piston normal force has the three components: Fig. 1. Layout of the pumping mechanism Assuming that the pump speed, the suction and delivery pressures ps and pd are constants, the inertia effect of the oil column inside the piston chamber is negligible and that the leakage flow rate out of the piston chamber is proportional to the piston chamber pressure, the continuity equation as applied to the control volume (C.V.) shown in Fig.2 takes the form [8]: Q sk + A p s

n n n n M xk = Fzk y k Fyk z k , M yk = Fzk x k Fxk zk n n and M zk = Fyk x k Fxk yk

where x k = L cos k sin + R 2 sin k , y k = L sin k sin + R 2 cos k and z k = - Lcos + L 1 .

The total moment acting on the swash plate has thus the components:
N N N

= Q dk

p V pk + k + ck RL B 2 pk - pd sgn ( p k - p d ),

(2)

Mx =
k =1

M x k ., M y =
k =1

M yk and M z =
k =1

M zk

where Q dk = C d A dk Q sk = Cd A sk and

2 ps - p k

sgn ( p s - p k ),

The moment, My tends to change the swash plate inclination angle. The moment Mz equals nearly the pump driving torque. The resultant of the two components Mx and Mz; namely Mb, acts on the swash plate bearing system and is given at any instant by:

Vck = A p (0.5L c s k ) + Vo

Mb =

M x 2 + M z2

Fig. 2. Piston chamber control volume and forces acting on the swash plate.

3. PUMP SIMULATION
A software package based on Matlab was developed and used in [8] to evaluate the pump kinematics. This package has been extended to calculate the forces and moments acting on the swash plate of the pump. For a nine piston pump with the dimensions (in mm) shown in table 1, running at 1450 rpm and having a leakage resistance RL equal to 107 MPa/(m3/s), the recommended valve plate dimensions were found in [8] to be as shown in Fig.3.

found to be as shown in table 2. The frequency of the first harmonic is seen to be nine times the pump rotational speed, and the frequencies of the subsequent harmonics are multiples of the first one. Harmonic Myo Amplitude -62 [ Nm ] Frequency 0 [ Hz ] 1 104 217 2 27 434 3 28 651 4 33 5 12 6 11

868 1119 1336

D1 71.75 L2 66.10

D2 60.20 Lc 57.30

D3 54.70 Lp 59.10

dp 17.00 15

L1 76.60

Table.2. Harmonic analysis of the moment My Figure 5 shows a comparison between the moment My as predicted from pump simulation, and that calculated taking into account the first four harmonics only. The figure shows reasonable agreement between the two curves. The same conclusion has been reached after extensive study of the moment My at different delivery pressures, running speeds and swash plate inclination angles (results are not presented). This verifies that, for design purposes, the moment My can be represented by a negative average value and four harmonics only. The average value of the moment My, has been found to increase with the increase of the delivery pressure and decrease of the swash plate inclination angle as shown in Fig. 6. The average value of the moment Mz which nearly equals the pump drive shaft mean torque ( since is generally small ) is seen to increase with the increase of the pump delivery pressure and/or flow rate, as shown in Fig. 7. The moment Mb acting on the swash plate bearing system is seen not to be influenced much by the swash plate inclination angle as depicted in Fig. 8.

Table.1. Pump dimensions

Fig. 3. Recommended valve plate configuration Simulation of the pump performance with the recommended valve plate was carried out. The obtained results are shown in Fig.4, which depicts the gradual rise and drop of the piston chamber pressure at three different delivery pressures. It shows also that the pump delivery flow rate fluctuation increase with the increase of the delivery pressure. Each of the moments Mz and Mb is seen to be nearly constant at each delivery pressure, and increases linearly with the increase of pd. The other component of the moment; namely My, is seen to depend on the pump angle of rotation . It varies between positive and negative values, with higher peak negative values. The mean value of this moment is always negative, i.e. it tends to decrease . For the investigated three delivery pressures, the moment mean values were found to be 10, 35 and 62 Nm respectively. At any delivery pressure, the moment My can be analyzed into harmonics, such that
n

4. EFFECT OF CONE ANGLE ON PISTON DETACHING FORCE

During the suction stroke the piston chamber pressure is nearly atmospheric, and due to piston inertia it might be detached from its slipper pad or separated from the swash plate. When the cylinder block is conical, the centrifugal force acting on the piston due to its rotation has a component acting in the direction of the piston line of stroke, which always pushes the piston towards the swash plate. This component decreases the piston detaching force. To investigate the effect of the cone angle on the piston detaching force, the maximum value of this force is computed for various cone angles and rotational speeds. The obtained results are depicted in Fig.9. The piston maximum detaching force is seen to decrease nearly linearly with the increase of at any rotational speed, while it increases with the increase of the speed. The percentage reduction of the piston detaching force is seen to increase nearly linearly with , while it does not depend on the pump rotational speed as depicted in Fig. 10.. Thus it is recommended to increase to the maximum value allowed by design considerations.

M y = M yo +
i =1

M yi sin(ii t + i )

For a delivery pressure of 30 MPa, the amplitude and frequency of each harmonic, up to the sixth one were

pd = 10 MPa

pd

= 20 MPa

pd

= 30 MPa

Fig. 4. Dynamics of a pump with a recommended valve plate

Fig. 5. Harmonic analysis for moment My.

Fig. 9. Effect of cylinder block cone angle on piston maximum detaching force

Fig. 6 Effect of swash plate inclination angle on average My.

Fig. 10. Effect of cylinder block cone angle on percentage reduction of the detaching force

5. CONCLUSION
Simulation of performance of swash plate axial piston pumps show that the component of the moment which affect the swash plate in its swinging direction is periodic, and can be fairly represented by an average value and four harmonics. This average value tends to drive the swash plate towards the pump minimum geometric volume position and increases with the increase of the pump delivery pressure and/or decrease of the swash plate inclination angle. Fluctuation in the driving shaft torque is found to be small, and the average torque increases with the increase of the pump delivery pressure and/or geometric volume. The component of the moment acting on the swash plate bearing system is found to be nearly constant at constant delivery pressure and increases linearly with the delivery pressure. It is not affected by the swash plate inclination angle. Simulation results show the advantage of using conical cylinder blocks. Using such a block reduces the force that tends to detach the piston from the swash plate during the suction stroke. It is verified that the percentage reduction in the detaching force increases nearly linearly with the increase of the cylinder block cone angle.

Fig. 7. Effect of swash plate inclination angle on the shaft average torque.

REFERENCES
[1] K. A. Edge, and J. Darling, Cylinder Pressure Transients in Oil Hydraulic Pumps with Sliding Plate Valves, Proc. Instn. Mech. Engrs., Vol. 200, No. B1, 1986, 45-54. [2] N.D. Marring, The Torque on the Shaft of an Axial Piston Swash Plate Type Hydrostatic Pump, Journal of

Fig. 8. Effect of swash plate inclination angle on average Mb.

6 Dynamic Systems, Measurement, and Control, Vol 120, 1998, 57-62. [3] P. Kaliafetis, and T. Costopoulos, Modeling and Simulation of an Axial Piston Variable Displacement Pump with Pressure Control, Mech. Mach. Theory, Vol. 30, No.4, 1995, 599-612. [4] N.D. Marring, and R.E. Johnson, Modeling and Designing a Variable-Displacement Open-Loop Pump, Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement, and Control, Vol. 118, 1996, 267-272. [5] Y. Atsushi, Cavitation in an Axial Piston Pump, Bulletin of the JSME, Vol. 26, No. 211, 1983, 72-78. [6] S.J.Lin, A. Akers and G. Zeiger, The Effect of Oil Entrapment in Axial Piston Pumps, ASME Puplication G00282, 1984, 127-134. [7] I. Kiyoshi, and N. Masakasu, Study of the Operating Moment of a Swash Plate Type Axial Piston Pump, The Journal of Fluid Control, Vol. 22, Issue 1, 1994, 30-46. [8] S.A. Kassem and M.K. Bahr, Effect of Port Plate Silencing Grooves on Performance of Swash Plate Axial Piston Pumps, Current Advances in Mechanical Design and Production, Proc. of 7th MDP Conf., Cairo Pergamon press, 2000, 139-148.

Mx,y,z n N p k pd pk ps Q Qd Qs rck RL sk sk t V Vc xc

NOMENCLATURE
a Ad,As Ap B Cd D1 D2 D3 Fk Fnk Fs Fnx,y,z k L1, L2 Lc Lp Mb mp Piston acceleration Delivery, suction porting area Piston cross-section area Effective bulk modulus, 1.3x103 Coefficient of discharge, 0.611 Cylinders pitch circle diameter at cylinder block front surface Cylinders pitch circle diameter at cylinder block back surface Diameter of pitch circle of valve plate Resultant axial force acting on the kth piston Normal force acting on the swash plate Cylinder block spring force axial component Components of the force acting on the swash plate Piston number in the arrangement of the piston group Lengths Cylinder length Piston length Moment acting on the swash plate supporting bearings Piston mass m/s2 m2 m2 MPa m m m N N N N m m m Nm kg

xk, yk & zk k

Components of the moment acting Nm on the swash plate Pump rotational speed rpm Number of pistons Time rate of change of chamber Mpa/s pressure Pump delivery pressure MPa Piston chamber pressure MPa Pump suction pressure MPa Pump total output flow rate m3/s Delivery flow rate from one m3/s cylinder Suction flow rate into one cylinder m3/s Radius of piston center of gravity m Resistance to leakage out of MPa s/ m3 cylinder Piston velocity m/s Piston displacement m Time s Additional volume m3 Cylinder volume m3 Distance between piston spherical m head center and piston center of gravity Cartesian coordinates of piston m spherical head center Swash plate inclination angle Cylinder block cone angle Phase shift Angular position of the kth piston Oil density, 850 kg/m3 Angular velocity rad/s

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to thank Eng. K. T. Hamza for his help.