Research on the torque characteristics of a seawater hydraulic axial piston motor in deep-sea environment

Seawater hydraulic axial piston motor (SHAPM) is an elemental component in underwater tool system. The pressure flow model and torque model of the SHAPM was derived and the deformation of the piston guide and rear/front sliding bearings in the deep-sea environment was analyzed by ANSYS Workbench, in which the change of fit clearances have a great effect on the working performance of the SHAPM. Therefore, the simulations on the deformation of the piston guide and rear/front sliding bearings in different seawater depths were achieved and different fit clearances with varying depths were obtained. The results indicated that the clearances on the piston/cylinder bore pair and rear/front sliding bearings decreased with the increase of sea depth and the effective sea depth suiting for normal work was got. Meanwhile, the torque efficiency of the SHAPM in deep sea environment is lower. The results revealed that with the increase of the sea depth, the clearances of the piston/cylinder bore pair and rear/front sliding bearings decreased correspondingly. Meanwhile, the torque efficiency of the SHAPM decreased to a certain extent. Last, the suitable sea depth range for the normal working of the SHAPM was obtained.