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SAE TECHNICAL
PAPER SERIES 980583

Analysis to Reduce the Sliding Friction of Power

Steering Rod Seals
Shinichi Obayashi
Koyo Chicago Rawhide Co., LTD.

Reprinted From: Sealing for Automotive Applications

(SP-1344)

International Congress and Exposition

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February 23-26, 1998

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980583

Analysis to Reduce the Sliding Friction of Power

Steering Rod Seals

Shinichi Obayashi
Koyo Chicago Rawhide Co., LTD.

Copyright © 1998 Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc.

ABSTRACT smoothly when the sliding friction of the rod seal is too
large .And, it is said that the steering wheel feel is bad in
We developed the method to reduce the sliding friction of the car.
power steering rod seals by changing a lip configuration
To reduce the sliding friction of the oil seal, the method of
without lowering any interference and radial load .The
reducing the interference and the radial load usually are
data of various items and friction on several kinds of sam-
adopted. However, this technique might decrease the
ples were analyzed in order to obtain how to reduce slid-
sealing performance of the oil seal. Therefore, this
ing friction. The sliding friction can be possibly analyzed
method cannot be adopted in the rod seal for the power
in using the lubrication theory. The contact width and oil
steering for a high-pressure specification of which high
film thickness are important factors.
reliability is demanded.
INTRODUCTION Then, we developed the method to reduce the sliding fric-
tion of power steering rod seals for the power steering of
The rod seal for the power steering is used for the oil a small passenger car by changing a lip configuration
pressure cylinder of the power steering device of the car, without lowering any interference and radial load. On this
and seals the power steering oil in the cylinder. The paper, the method is described.
actual unit of the power steering is shown in figure 1. Two
rod seals are used for the part of the inner seal and outer Table 1. Condition and method of measuring sliding
seal. friction
Measuring conditions
Temperature Room temperature
Speed 27mm/s
Pressure Atmospheric pressure
Oil Power steering oil
Measuring value Maximum sliding friction
Measuring device Load cell
Shaft size 26.5mm
Sliding friction on a shaft

Figure 1. Hydraulic power steering assembly

The sliding resistance caused by the friction of the rod

seal hardly becomes a problem in high oil pressure. How-
ever, when the oil pressure is low, this friction might
become a problem. For instance, it is said that the sliding
friction of the rod seal influences the movement of the
steering wheel when it returns naturally after operated
while driving. The steering wheel does not return

1
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MEASUREMENT friction on the following 7 kinds of sprung and unsprung

samples as shown in table 3 in order to obtain how to
The condition and method of measuring friction are reduce sliding friction. The example of measurement
shown in Table 1.As the friction is different in sliding results are shown in table 3.
directions on a shaft, both A and B directions are mea-
sured. The mean sliding friction is an average value of Table 2. Target value
the direction of A and B. The target value is a reduction
Items Conventional Target value
of about 40% and the details are shown in table 2.
value
In the conventional technique, it is difficult to reduce the Interference(mm) 2.0 2.0
sliding friction of oil seals without lowering any interfer- Radial load(N) 39.2 39.2
ence and radial load. Therefore, to develop a new Mean sliding friction(N) 12.3 6.9
method, we have analyzed the data of various items and
Table 3. Examples of measurement results

Sample is a conventional type which is in wide con- The result of analyzing the correlation of radial load ver-
tact with the shaft and needs to be improved. Sample sus friction is shown in figure 2.It was found that there is
has small friction but extremely small interference. Sam- some correlation between radial load and friction, but
ple is also extremely wide in contact width and has they vary extremely widely. Therefore radial load can not
large friction. Sample shows low sliding friction but be considered as the principal factor to determine sliding
extremely low in radial load. Sample has low sliding friction. It is necessary to find another factor.
friction but extremely small interference. Sample
shows low sliding friction but both the radial load and
interference are extremely low. Sample has low slid-
ing friction but extremely low interference.

2
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Figure 4. Model of contact area

Figure 2. Correlation between a radial load and a sliding
friction <Nomenclature>
F :Sliding friction(N)
As the next study, the correlation regarding width of lip
µ :Oil viscosity efficiency(Nsec/cm2)
contact to a shaft was analyzed as shown in figure 3.
V :Shaft speed(cm/sec)
D :Shaft size(cm)
B :width of lip contact(cm)
hm :Oil film thickness(cm)
p :Lip contact pressure(N/cm2)
dp/dx :Lip contact pressure gradient(N/cm3)
(dp/dx)max :Max lip contact pressure gradient(N/cm3)

µVπDB
F∝
hm (Eq. 1)

Figure 3. Correlation between a width of lip contact and
a sliding friction
There is small variation and a higher correlation in them.
The width of lip contact looks an important factor for the
friction. However it is still not deemed enough for us to
explain the difference in sliding directions on a shaft.
Additional study is required.
ANALYSIS – The application of the theory of lubrication
was studied next. According to this theory, the friction is
proportional to oil viscosity, shaft speed and contact area
,and is inversely proportional to oil film thickness. The
model of the contact area is shown in figure 4 and the
relation among them are shown in Formula(1) and (2)
8µV
hm =
9(dp dx ) max
(Eq. 2)
From them it is understandable that friction is closely
related to lip contact width and the slope of contact pres-
sure distribution. FEM was used to analyze these items.
An example of FEM is shown in figure 5.The whole lip is
roughly meshed, and the top area of the lip is meshed
finely.
The shapes of the lip in free state and on the shaft are
shown in the whole lip(a).Top area of lip(b) is contact
pressure distribution. This vertical line in figure 5 is
shown as an axis line. The comparison in theory and
actual data about the samples shown in Table 3 is shown
in figure 6.They are in good harmony including the direc-
tion of sliding friction.

3
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developed configuration and characteristics which almost

reaches the target values.
Table 4. Summary of developed configuration and
characteristics

(a) Whole lip

CONCLUSION

1. The sliding friction can be analyzed by using the

lubrication theory. The contact width and oil film
thickness are important factors.
2. FEM is a useful method to study the configuration of
seals. The lip contact angle, contact width and pres-
sure distribution can be determined.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I wish to express my appreciation to the deceased Mr.

(b) Top area of lip Shigeru Takano for his kind guidance and to thank the
directors of Koyo Chicago Rawhide Co.,Ltd. for permis-
Figure 5. Example of FEM analysis sion to publish this paper.

REFERENCE

1. Fujio Hirano, ”Fundamental theory and characteristics of

flexible seals for reciprocating motion.” Journal of Japan
society of lubrication engineers. Vol.18,No.8,1973.

Figure 6. Comparison in theory and actual data

The development seal was designed by applying this

technique. As a result, the expected performance is
almost obtained. Table 4 shows the summary of the