Effect of macro geometry on the performance characteristics of reciprocating seals

Since reciprocating motion is commonly encountered in many industrial applications like hydraulic cylinders, performance characteristics of reciprocating seals is important for design of such systems. In this paper, some reciprocating seals having different macro geometry have been investigated experimentally. An experimental setup has been developed to perform as a hydraulic cylinder. Experiments have been carried out with different types of hydraulic seals which are made of NBR. Through the experiments, variation of the friction force applied to the hard chrome coated piston rod by seals, have been measured under various oil pressures in the main cylinder. In the second step of experiments, the amount of leakage from the seal in one out-stroke of the piston rod has been determined for various oil pressures. The effect of oil viscosity to the performance characteristic of reciprocating seals has also been studied. As a result of systematical experiments, the variations of friction force and leakage amount with oil pressure for various types of reciprocating seals have been obtained.