Hydraulic Accumulator Gas Spring for Controlled Return Damping
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional industrial gas springs often produce undesirable vibration and workpiece movement during the return stroke, leading to potential damage and increased complexity with separate shock absorbers or incomplete damping with gas cushion chambers.
Innovation Solution
A self-contained hydraulic cylinder assembly with a damper on the return stroke, utilizing a hydraulic fluid accumulator and a throttling orifice to control the piston rod's velocity, reducing vibration by counteracting the nitrogen gas force with hydraulic fluid flow through a variable orifice.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If a separate shock absorber assembly is used to reduce vibration and workpiece movement, then vibration control is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the shock absorber function with the gas spring by integrating a hydraulic damper assembly into the gas spring structure. The hydraulic damper includes a piston rod, damper chamber, and throttling orifice that work together to provide vibration control within the same device that provides the lifting force, eliminating the need for a separate shock absorber assembly.
Solution Approach 2:
The gas spring device is designed to perform multiple functions: it provides the lifting force through pressurized gas while simultaneously controlling vibration and workpiece movement through the integrated hydraulic damper system. This multi-functional design eliminates the need for separate specialized components.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If a cushion chamber with compressed gas is used to reduce vibration, then vibration control is improved, but the piston rod momentarily partially retracts causing incomplete vibration reduction
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a hydraulic damper system with incompressible hydraulic fluid instead of a gas cushion chamber. The hydraulic fluid flows through a throttling orifice during the return stroke, providing consistent and reliable vibration control without the momentary partial retraction problem associated with compressible gas cushions.
3Productivity
If pressurized gas returns the piston rod with high velocity and force, then productivity is improved, but undesirable vibration and workpiece movement increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces hydraulic fluid as an intermediary between the pressurized gas and the piston rod. The hydraulic fluid absorbs and controls the energy from the gas, allowing the piston rod to return with high velocity and force while the throttling orifice in the hydraulic damper dissipates excess energy to prevent vibration and workpiece movement.
4Object-affected harmful factors
If a hydraulic damper chamber is added to control piston rod velocity, then vibration control is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The hydraulic damper chamber is integrated into the existing gas spring structure, sharing common components such as the piston rod and housing. This merging approach allows vibration control functionality to be added without proportionally increasing overall device complexity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Significantly reduces undesirable vibration and workpiece movement by slowing down the piston rod's return, eliminating the need for separate shock absorbers and maintaining consistent force, while preventing partial retraction issues.
Implementation Method 1
a hydraulic damper chamber in the hydraulic cylinder may return the hydraulic fluid such as an incompressible hydraulic oil through a throttling or restricted orifice to the hydraulic cylinder chamber
Implementation Method 2
a piston rod may be received in a hydraulic chamber connected to a gas over hydraulic fluid accumulator chamber in which a compressed gas such as nitrogen determines the force required to yieldably move the piston rod from its extended position to its retracted position
Implementation Method 3
The hydraulic damper chamber when activated counteracts the force on the piston rod created by the nitrogen gas in the accumulator chamber and causes the returning piston rod to slow down at a predetermined rate
Data Source
AI summary
An industrial gas spring with a hydraulic accumulator includes a piston rod of the received in a hydraulic chamber connected to a gas over hydraulic fluid accumulator chamber in which a compressed gas determines the force required to yieldably move the piston rod from its extended position to its retracted position. On a return stroke of the piston rod as it approaches its fully extended position, a hydraulic damper chamber in the hydraulic cylinder may reduce the velocity of the returning piston rod. The damper chamber may return a hydraulic fluid through an orifice to the hydraulic cylinder chamber. The orifice may provide a varying restriction to vary and control the velocity or rate at which the piston rod returns to its fully extended position.