Tipping the cylinder block of an axial-piston swash-plate type hydrostatic machine

Tipping the cylinder block within an axial-piston swash-plate type hydrostatic machine is a phenomenon that results in a momentary and sometimes permanent failure of the machine since the fluid communication between the cylinder block and the valve plate is instantaneously lost. The efforts of this research are to identify the physical contributors of this phenomenon and to specify certain design guidelines that may be used to prevent the failure of cylinder block tipping. This research begins with the mechanical analysis of the machine and presents a tipping criterion based upon the centroidal location of the force reaction between the cylinder block and the valve plate. This analysis is followed by the derivation of the effective pressurized area within a single piston bore and the cylinder block balance is defined based upon this result. Using standard control volume analysis, the pressure within a single piston bore is examined and it is shown that an approximate pressure profile may be used in place of the more complex representation for this same quantity. Based upon the approximate pressure profile a design criterion is presented which ensures that the pressures within the system never cause the cylinder block to tip. Furthermore, if this criterion is satisfied, it is shown that the worst tipping conditions exist when the system pressures are zero and therefore a criterion governing the design of the cylinder block spring is presented based upon the inertial forces that contribute to the tipping failure. [S0022-0434(00)00901-1].