Pressure, Flow, Force, and Torque Between the Barrel and Port Plate in an Axial Piston Pump

This paper analyzes the pressure distribution, leakage, force, and torque between the barrel and the port plate of an axial piston pump. A detailed set of new equations is developed, which takes into account important parameters such as tilt, clearance and rotational speed, and timing groove. The pressure distribution is derived for different operating conditions, together with a complementary numerical analysis of the original differential equations, specifically written for this application and used to validate the theoretical solutions. An excellent agreement between the two approaches is shown, allowing an explicit analytical insight into barrel/port plate operating characteristics, including consideration of cavitation. The overall mean force and torques over the barrel are evaluated and show that the torque over the $XX$ axis is much smaller than the torque over the $YY$ axis, as deduced from other nonexplicit simulation approaches. A detailed dynamic analysis is then studied, and it is shown that the torque fluctuation over the $YY$ axis is typically 8% of the torque total magnitude. Of particular novelty is the prediction of a double peak in each torque fluctuation resulting from the more exact modeling of the piston/port plate/timing groove pressure distribution characteristic during motion. A comparison between the temporal torque fluctuation pattern and another work shows a good qualitative agreement. Experimental and analytical results for the present study demonstrate that barrel dynamics do contain a component primarily directed by the torque dynamics.