Axial piston pump

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Axial piston pump

An axial piston pump is a positive

displacement pump that has a number of
pistons in a circular array within a cylinder
block. It can be used as a stand-alone
pump, a hydraulic motor or an automotive
air conditioning compressor.

Description
Axial piston pump. Cutaway side view diagram

Axial piston pump - 3D Render with the parts labeled

3D-Animation

An axial piston pump has a number of

pistons (usually an odd number) arranged
in a circular array within a housing which is
commonly referred to as a cylinder block,
rotor or barrel. This cylinder block is driven
to rotate about its axis of symmetry by an
integral shaft that is, more or less, aligned
with the pumping pistons (usually parallel
but not necessarily).

Mating surfaces. One end of the

cylinder block is convex and wears
against a mating surface on a stationary
valve plate. The inlet and outlet fluid of
the pump pass through different parts
of the sliding interface between the
cylinder block and valve plate. The valve
plate has two semi-circular ports that
allow inlet of the operating fluid and
exhaust of the outlet fluid respectively.
Protruding pistons. The pumping
pistons protrude from the opposite end
of the cylinder block. There are
numerous configurations used for the
exposed ends of the pistons but in all
cases they bear against a cam. In
variable displacement units, the cam is
movable and commonly referred to as a
swashplate, yoke or hanger. For
conceptual purposes, the cam can be
represented by a plane, the orientation
of which, in combination with shaft
rotation, provides the cam action that
leads to piston reciprocation and thus
pumping. The angle between a vector
normal to the cam plane and the
cylinder block axis of rotation, called the
cam angle, is one variable that
determines the displacement of the
pump or the amount of fluid pumped per
shaft revolution. Variable displacement
units have the ability to vary the cam
angle during operation whereas fixed
displacement units do not.
Reciprocating pistons. As the cylinder
block rotates, the exposed ends of the
pistons are constrained to follow the
surface of the cam plane. Since the cam
plane is at an angle to the axis of
rotation, the pistons must reciprocate
axially as they precess about the
cylinder block axis. The axial motion of
the pistons is sinusoidal. During the
rising portion of the piston's
reciprocation cycle, the piston moves
toward the valve plate. Also, during this
time, the fluid trapped between the
buried end of the piston and the valve
plate is vented to the pump's discharge
port through one of the valve plate's
semi-circular ports - the discharge port.
As the piston moves toward the valve
plate, fluid is pushed or displaced
through the discharge port of the valve
plate.
Effect of precession. When the piston is
at the top of the reciprocation cycle
(commonly referred to as top-dead-
center or just TDC), the connection
between the trapped fluid chamber and
the pump's discharge port is closed.
Shortly thereafter, that same chamber
becomes open to the pump's inlet port.
As the piston continues to precess
about the cylinder block axis, it moves
away from the valve plate thereby
increasing the volume of the trapped
chamber. As this occurs, fluid enters the
chamber from the pump's inlet to fill the
void. This process continues until the
piston reaches the bottom of the
reciprocation cylinder - commonly
referred to as bottom-dead-center or
BDC. At BDC, the connection between
the pumping chamber and inlet port is
closed. Shortly thereafter, the chamber
becomes open to the discharge port
again and the pumping cycle starts over.
Variable displacement. In a variable
displacement pump, if the vector normal
to the cam plane (swash plate) is set
parallel to the axis of rotation, there is
no movement of the pistons in their
cylinders. Thus there is no output.
Movement of the swash plate controls
pump output from zero to maximum.
There are two kinds of variable-
displacement axial piston pumps:
direct displacement control pump, a
kind of axial piston pump with a
direct displacement control. A
direct displacement control uses a
mechanical lever attached to the
swashplate of the axial piston
pump. Higher system pressures
require more force to move that
lever, making direct displacement
control only suitable for light or
medium duty pumps. Heavy duty
pumps require servo control.[1] A
direct displacement control pump
contains linkages and springs and
 in some cases magnets rather than
a shaft to a motor located outside
of the pump (thereby reducing the
number of moving parts), keeping
parts protected and lubricated and
reducing the resistance against the
flow of liquid.
servo control pump.
Pressure. In a typical pressure-
compensated pump, the swash plate
angle is adjusted through the action of a
valve which uses pressure feedback so
that the instantaneous pump output
flow is exactly enough to maintain a
designated pressure. If the load flow
increases, pressure will momentarily
decrease but the pressure-
compensation valve will sense the
decrease and then increase the swash
plate angle to increase pump output
flow so that the desired pressure is
restored. In reality most systems use
pressure as a control for this type of
pump. The operating pressure reaches,
say, 200 bar (20 MPa or 2900 psi) and
the swash plate is driven towards zero
angle (piston stroke nearly zero) and
with the inherent leaks in the system
allows the pump to stabilise at the
delivery volume that maintains the set
pressure. As demand increases the
swash plate is moved to a greater angle,
piston stroke increases and the volume
of fluid increases; if the demand
slackens the pressure will rise, and the
pumped volume diminishes as the
pressure rises. At maximum system
pressure the output is once again
almost zero. If the fluid demand
increases beyond the capacity of the
pump to deliver, the system pressure will
drop to near zero. The swash plate angle
will remain at the maximum allowed,
and the pistons will operate at full
stroke. This continues until system flow-
demand eases and the pump's capacity
is greater than demand. As the pressure
rises the swash-plate angle modulates
 to try to not exceed the maximum
pressure while meeting the flow
demand.[2][3]

Design difficulties
Designers have a number of problems to
overcome in designing axial piston pumps.
One is managing to be able to
manufacture a pump with the fine
tolerances necessary for efficient
operation. The mating faces between the
rotary piston-cylinder assembly and the
stationary pump body have to be almost a
perfect seal while the rotary part turns at
perhaps 3000 rpm. The pistons are usually
less than half an inch (13 mm) in diameter
with similar stroke lengths. Keeping the
wall to piston seal tight means that very
small clearances are involved and that
materials have to be closely matched for
similar coefficient of expansion.

The pistons have to be drawn outwards in

their cylinder by some means. On small
pumps this can be done by means of a
spring inside the cylinder that forces the
piston up the cylinder. Inlet fluid pressure
can also be arranged so that the fluid
pushes the pistons up the cylinder. Often a
vane pump is located on the same drive
shaft to provide this pressure and it also
allows the pump assembly to draw fluid
against some suction head from the
reservoir, which is not an attribute of the
unaided axial piston pump.

Another method of drawing pistons up the

cylinder is to attach the cylinder heads to
the surface of the swash plate. In that way
the piston stroke is totally mechanical.
However, the designer's problem of
lubricating the swash plate face (a sliding
contact) is made even more difficult.

Internal lubrication of the pump is

achieved by use of the operating fluid—
normally called hydraulic fluid. Most
hydraulic systems have a maximum
operating temperature, limited by the fluid,
of about 120 °C (250 °F) so that using that
fluid as a lubricant brings its own
problems. In this type of pump the leakage
from the face between the cylinder
housing and the body block is used to cool
and lubricate the exterior of the rotating
parts. The leakage is then carried off to
the reservoir or to the inlet side of the
pump again. Hydraulic fluid that has been
used is always cooled and passed through
micrometre-sized filters before
recirculating through the pump.

Uses
Despite the problems indicated above this
type of pump can contain most of the
necessary circuit controls integrally (the
swash-plate angle control) to regulate flow
and pressure, be very reliable and allow
the rest of the hydraulic system to be very
simple and inexpensive.

Axial piston pumps are used to power the

hydraulic systems of jet aircraft, being
gear-driven off of the turbine engine's main
shaft, The system used on the F-14 used a
9-piston pump that produced a standard
system operating pressure of 3000 psi and
a maximum flow of 84 gallons per minute.

Automotive air conditioning compressors

for cabin cooling are nowadays mostly
based around the axial piston pump
design (others are based on the scroll
compressor or rotary vane pump ones
instead) in order to contain their weight
and space requirement in the vehicle's
engine bay and reduce vibrations. They're
available in fixed displacement and
dynamically adjusted variable
displacement variants, and, depending
upon the compressor's design, the actual
rotating swashplate either directly drives a
set of pistons mated to its edges through
a set of hemispherical metal shoes, or a
nutating plate on which a set of pistons
are mounted by means of rods.

They are also used in some pressure

washers. For example Kärcher has several
models powered by axial piston pumps
with three pistons.[4]
Axial reciprocating motors are also used
to power many machines. They operate on
the same principle as described above,
except that the circulating fluid is provided
under considerable pressure and the
piston housing is made to rotate and
provide shaft power to another machine. A
common use of an axial reciprocating
motor is to power small earthmoving plant
such as skid loader machines. Another
use is to drive the screws of torpedoes.
See also
Swashplate engine

References
1. Danfoss. "Applications Manual:
Transmission Circuit
Recommendations" . p. 6
2. http://www.rotarypower.com/a-
range.php
3. "Pressure Washer Review" . Tuesday,
17 December 2019
 4. "Definitive Guide to Pressure Washer
Pumps" . PressureWashr. Retrieved
13 August 2015.

External links
www.rotarypower.com, Manufacturer of
Axial Piston Pumps
Tecnapol, Axial Piston Pumps
repair/rebuild

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