8/17/2017 7 Common Failures of Hydraulic Seals

TECHNOLOGIES > MOTION CONTROL

7 Common Failures of Hydraulic Seals

Proper hydraulic-cylinder operation hinges on choosing the best seal for the job. A good working knowledge of
available seal optionsand what ultimately causes their failurehelps achieve that goal.

Carlos Gonzalez | Jul 12, 2017

Download this article in PDF format.

Seals play an important role in hydraulic cylindersthey contain the fluid and prevent the leakage of fluid between
components. They fall into two main categories: dynamic and static. Dynamic seals are used in between parts that are in
relative motion. The seals for a rod sealing system protect the dynamic reciprocating motion for the piston rod and head.
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relative motion. The seals for a rod sealing system protect the dynamic reciprocating motion for the piston rod and head.
The dynamic reciprocating motion between the piston and cylinder bore is another area of a hydraulic cylinder that uses
dynamic seals.

SKF

This cross-section of a hydraulic cylinder highlights the crucial seals needed for its operation. (Courtesy of SKF)

Static seals are used between fixed components. In a hydraulic cylinder, static seals are typically employed between the
piston and the piston rod, and between the head and cylinder bore tube.

The following is a list of dynamic seals and the special function each has in relation to cylinder performance:

Piston seals

MENU They function as a pressure barrier. SEARCH LOG IN REGISTER

They prevent fluid from passing the piston and are essential for maintaining the position at rest and controlling the motion of the cylinder.

Rod seals

They are a pressure barrier and maintain the operating fluid inside the cylinder.

The rod seal regulates the fluid film, which extends with the surface of the piston rod. This is important to prevent rod corrosion, lubricate
the wiper seal, and lubricate the rod seal itself.

Rod seals also accept the lubrication film as it comes back to the cylinder upon retraction of the rod.

Buffer seals

When pressure peaks occur due to excess system pressure, buffer seals protect the rod seal from the pressure rise.

They improve rod seal performance by attenuating the fluctuations in system pressure. They allow the rod seal to perform with more
constant or gradual pressure changes.

They act as a filter against contaminants that may damage the rod seal.

Wiper seals

Wiper seals are important due to their ability to block external contaminants from entering the hydraulic system and cylinder assembly.

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They accept the lubrication film in the cylinder as the rod retracts.

Guide rings

Guide rings prevent metal-to-metal contacts between cylinder components.

They keep the piston rod and piston position accurately centered. This is crucial to the performance of the rod sealing and piston sealing
system.

They react against the radial load caused by side loads acted upon the cylinder assembly.

What Causes Seal Failures?

MFP

Shown above and below are common examples of seal failures, and solutions on how to fix them. Seal failures can be
caused by excessive heat, improper installation, contamination, and excessive pressure spikes, among other reasons.
(Courtesy of MFP)

MFP

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Due to time of use or exposure to abuse, hydraulic seals will eventually fail and need to be replaced. A design engineer may
be able to reduce the damage inflicted on hydraulic seals if they keep in mind what typically causes failures, and try to
prevent their damaging impact.

1. Hardening

Hydraulic seals become hard when exposed to high temperatures. This is caused by either high fluid operating
temperatures in the application or high-speed heat generation from stroking operations. When seals harden, they crack
and lose elasticity, leading to seal failure.

2. Wear

Whether due to insufficient lubrication or excessive lateral load, wear on the dynamic face of a seal lip can cause
considerable damage.

3. Scarring

Installation tools and processes are important to the operating life of seals. Improper installation can cause cuts or dents
in the dynamic lip of the seal, which affects hydraulic seal efficiency as well as introduces foreign elements into the
hydraulic fluid.
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4. Fracture

Fracturing is the condition resulting in burns, breaking, long cracks, and a complete breaking off of the dynamic side of
seal. This is due to excessive backpressure, high-pressure shocks/spikes, or use of low-grade materials during the
manufacturing process of the seal.

5. Improper installation

As mentioned before, improper installation can create problems with hydraulic seals. It may result in uncleanliness,
unsafe handling, contamination, and incorrect sizing of the chosen seal. Deciding the seal prior to build is important to
make certain that the design is done correctly to ensure proper sealing.

6. Contamination

Introduction of external flotsam and jetsam into the hydraulic rod causes contamination. When particles such as dirt,
mud, powder, or other tiny elements attach themselves to the piston, they dirty the seal. The dirtier the seal, the more it
loses its ability to hermetically prevent contaminants from the piston area.

7. Chemical Erosion

Seal material will break down when it encounters a corrosive fluid. This will occur when the improper seal material is
chosen for an application. The use of non-compatible materials leads to chemical attack by oil additives, hydrolysis,
and/or oxidation reduction of seal elements. This will result in the loss of seal lip interface, softening of the seal
durometer, swelling, and/or shrinkage of the seal. Discoloration of the seal is an indicator of chemical erosion.

Criteria for Selecting Seals

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There are specific design considerations when selecting seals. The right seal for the required application will depend on
the application parameters and the information collected from the operating conditions of the hydraulic cylinders. Prior to
selecting any seals, one should investigate the following considerations:

Fluid pressure range: This includes not just the operating range of the fluid system pressure, but also the severity and frequency of the
system pressure peaks.

Temperature range: The resting and operating temperature range of fluid and cylinder assembly are important on seal selection.

Stroke speed: The velocity of the piston rods stroke will impact the seals lifetime.

Fluid type: The fluid media and the viscosity are important for seal efficiency and effectiveness.

Hardware dimensions: The size of the seal will determined the size of the cylinder. This includes the rod and bore dimension, seal groove
dimensions, gaps, cylinders overall length, surface finish specifications, and the stroke length.

Cylinder application: How the cylinder is used will impact how long the seals can last under certain operating conditions. This includes
cylinder installation, environmental factors, and exposure to harsh conditions

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COMMUNITY

Has Flash Memorys Replacement Been Found?

RRAM could be the next generation of computer memory.

Stephen Mraz | Aug 16, 2017

Nonvolatile memory, which stores data even when power is removed, is familiar as the basis for flash memory in thumb
drives. But flash technology has essentially reached its size and performance limits, according to some physicists and
researchers. For several years, the computer industry has been searching for a replacement. Research being done at the
National Institute of Technology (NIST) suggests resistive random access memory (RRAM) could form the basis for the
next-generation of nonvolatile computer memory.

RRAM could surpass flash in many key respects: It is potentially faster and less energy-intensive. It could also pack far
more memory into a given spaceits switches are so small that a terabyte could be stored in a space the size of a postage
stamp. But RRAM has yet to be broadly commercialized because of technical hurdles that need addressing.

One hurdle is its variability. A practical memory switch needs two distinct states representing either a one or a zero, and
designers need a predictable way to make the switch flip. Conventional memory switches flip reliably when they receive a
pulse of electricity, but were not there yet with RRAM switches, which are still flighty.

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Hanacek and Nminibapiel/NIST

This RRAM switch is flipped on and off when an electrical pulse moves oxygen ions around, creating or breaking a conductive path through an insulating oxide. Shorter, less energetic pulses are

more effective at moving ions the right amount to create distinct on/off states, potentially minimizing the longstanding problem of state overlap that has kept RRAM largely in the R&D stage.

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INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATION

Power over Ethernet: Past, Present, and Future

Why do standards and certi ed PoE devices matter, and what we can expect from the technology down the
road?

Craig Chabot | Aug 16, 2017

Download this article in PDF format.

Power over Ethernet (PoE) has become the colloquial term used to describe any technology that allows an Ethernet device
to transmit and receive data, as well as receive power over the same cabling. The benefits of using the same cable for both
data and power are numerous. It allows power to be delivered to small devices without having an electrician wire new
circuits or a transformer to convert ac to dcalso referred to as a wall wart. It can also reduce the weight and cost of
deployments, and when using standardized technology, it ensures a high level of safety.

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However, when it comes to how PoE works from a users standpoint, the general term PoE could actually represent any
number of different, incompatible technologies, which has led to considerable market confusion. To help overcome this
turmoil, the Ethernet Alliance, an industry forum that aims to advance and promote IEEE Ethernet standards, is
launching a certification program that will enable manufacturers to complete certification requirements to earn a
branded logo. The goal is to provide a simple and easy way for users to identify what PoE products will work with each
other and promote interoperability in the marketplace.

The Past

Many different implementations of PoE have been used over the past 20 years. Generally speaking, the different forms of
PoE can be placed into two categories: standardized and proprietary. To help put this into context, heres a brief history of
the technology itself and how it evolved.

The advent of PoE was most commonly referred to as power injection. These power injectors operated simply by
providing power, either ac or dc current, on Ethernet cabling without any true intelligent protocol or safety
considerations.

There are many variants of power injectors, but probably the most common involved using the spare pairs not utilized
by 100Base-TX Ethernet to inject the power. This method can damage or destroy devices that werent designed to accept
power, and as such, couldnt be considered a sustainable method of delivering power over data-communications cabling.
The next natural step for the IEEE 802.3 Working Group, which defines and revises the standard commonly referred to as
Ethernet, was to begin work on an inherently safe way to deploy PoE.

The IEEE 802.3 Working Group began its first PoE project in 1999: IEEE 802.3af, under the cumbersome title Clause 33.
Data Terminal Equipment (DTE) Power via Media Dependent Interface (MDI), was eventually ratified in 2003. It
defined Power Sourcing Equipment (PSE) that delivered power, and Powered Devices (PDs) that received power.

The 802.3af standard allowed for delivery of up to 13 W of power to a PD utilizing just two of the available four twisted
pairs in Ethernet cabling. It also provided additional freedom in which you could physically place a PD, as designed, to
support the entire 100-meter reach of the most common Ethernet speeds. While this may not seem like a lot of power, it
was adequate for many applications, including Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephones, stationary IP cameras,
door access control units, low-power wireless access points, and many others.

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PoE Powers Up to 25.5 W

Despite the popularity of the standard, many devices require more than 13 W for their intended application. The natural
evolution was to allow more power in order to unleash these additional PoE applications. The IEEE 802.3 Working Group
ratified its second PoE standard, IEEE 802.3at, in 2009. While still only delivering power over two pairs, it altered the
original standard by adding an additional power class that delivered up to 25.5 W to a PD. This allowed for pan and tilt
cameras and other devices with similar power requirements to take advantage of a standardized technology.

Once IEEE 802.3af and IEEE 802.3at became entrenched, a call for even more power started to emerge. Several different
proprietary forms of the technology, which were typically based on the IEEE specification, came into existence and
increased available power to PDs by delivering power over all four twisted pairs. Again, these proprietary technologies
used variations on the commonly known PoE term. It is important to note that since these were proprietary technologies,
they by definition did not ensure interoperability, which added to the confusion of what a PoE-branded device actually
meant to the end user.

The Present

Armed with the brief history of these technologies, it is clear that the term PoE was and still is used by many different
organizations to refer to technologies that arent always interoperable with each other. This is especially apparent on the
marketing and packaging of products using the term PoE. It has been all too common that a user purchases a PSE and PD
with PoE branding, only to quickly find that the PD doesnt receive the required power for its application, or that the PD
doesnt receive power all together.

The Ethernet Alliance PoE Certification Program, which will launch in Fall 2017, is designed to address these problems. It
will initially focus on IEEE 802.3af and IEEE 802.3at products, since so many are currently deployed and will continue to
be used in the future. The PoE Certification Program will eliminate confusion and interoperability concerns for end users
simply by verifying that PSEs and PDs will work properly together. All products that successfully pass the specified
requirements will receive a certified PoE logo to provide peace of mind to users.

The Future
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As one could deduce from the history of PoE to present day, theres a seemingly perpetual desire for additional power as
device applications in this space continue to broaden. With that said, the time has arrived once again for a standardized
solution for additional power.

In 2014, the IEEE 802.3 Working Group approved additional work to achieve this goal with the project titled IEEE
802.3bt. This project will standardize the method of utilizing all four twisted pairs to deliver up to 71 W to a PD. IEEE
802.3bt is still in draft form but nearing completion, with a targeted finish date in early 2018.

Due to growing power requirements, the Ethernet Alliance Certification Program has been designed with the evolution of
IEEE 802.3 PoE standards in mind, and will be expanded to support upcoming IEEE PoE standards like IEEE 802.3bt.

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