River Lake hydraulic cylinder is a mechanical actuator that is used to provide a unidirectional force through a unidirectional stroke. The notable applications are in construction equipment, types of machinery in manufacturing hub, and civil engineering also.


Through this article, I am going to discuss some key points to control the speed of hydraulic cylinders.


Determination of speed

The speed of a Riverlake hydraulic cylinder is determined by the quantity of flow delivered. This process is accomplished by flow control normally. Sometimes, many people do not realize that flow control is not the only thing that will upshot the speed of a hydraulic actuator.

Three variables affect the speed of hydraulic cylinder:
  • The size of the orifice
  • The pressure difference between the inlet and outlet of the orifice.
  • The temperature of the oil.
The following three parameters are discussed below:

Orifice size

The size of the orifice is impartially straightforward. The size of the hole is proportional to the speed of flow such as the bigger the hole, the more flow will go by it.

As many flow controls have a fluctuating orifice size, the flow will be increased by turning the adjustment counterclockwise. In this very process, turning, it will close the valve and slow down the actuator to margin the flow.

The pressure difference between the inlet and outlet of the orifice

Whenever a flow control is regulated, it margins the flow. There will always occur a pressure drop across the orifice. Any obstacles of flow originate back pressure to build upstream of the valve. The pressure drop is proportional to the flow.

The temperature of the oil

It is noticeable that some machines move quite slower at the initial stage than they do after the oil gets up to temperature. This occurs because the oil temperature is inversely proportional to oil viscosity. That means the higher the oil temperature, the oil viscosity will be lower. Thinner oil can move more rapidly than thicker oil.

The cause of poor regulation of speed

The feed rates of hydraulic cylinders are quite moderate. But it is reduced by metering the oil flow through a control valve. The reason for this problem is oil leakage in some components which are: Cylinder,4-way valve, Flow control valve, etc.

This can be prevented by improving the performance of cylinder operating at a slow feed rate:

  1. The cylinder piston seal: The seals of the piston on the cylinder should be leak-tight.Piston leakage carries little importance at moderate to high feed rates. But it would get a greater percentage at low feed rates.
  2. The flow control Valve: A flow control valve works at moderate to high feed rates. The oil adheres internally past the compensating spool which becomes a higher percentage of total flow and destroys the accuracy. To prevent this, a needle-type non-compensated flow control Valve works satisfactorily. 
  3. Choose the cylinder bore diameter wisely: Choosing a cylinder bore diameter would be an important requirement. The larger diameter produces the required force such as the larger oil flow to the larger bore at very low feed rates. The Lower pressure provides less leakage in the components and the higher oil flow can be metered flawlessly. 
  4. The flow control method: The flow control Valve must be always placed to meter flow into the cylinder that would leave the system sensitive for pumping. 
  5. Proper placement of flow control valve: The proper placement of the flow control valve should be near the cylinder port never on the upside of the 4-way valve. The oil compression in those cylinder lines would make the system rigid.  
  6. System relief valve: The system relief valve provides a higher than necessary pressure difference between inlet and outlet ports which cause greater leakage that tends to heat the oil. It decreases the load pressure readings.
There are also other processes to prevent the disruption of speed.

Conclusion

Hydraulic cylinders are used in heavy-weight equipment movement. So the disruption in speed of this machine is quite hectic. To keep a lookout for these aspects, speed regulating measures have to be maintained properly.