Introduction

Hypothesis of how cylinder functions

The cylinder operates by having fluid exert force on two of the cavities within the actuator – a rod side
and a cap side. The direction of the actuator is manipulated by varying the directional valve which
controls which direction the fluid will travel inside the actuator. In this experiment, we will be
attempting to determine the cap side and rod side areas.

Methods

Figure 1: Fluid circuit

Experiment overview
To determine the cap-side and rod-side areas of the cylinder, the circuit was assembled as shown in
figure 1. The needle valve was turned 1 revolution each time when recording data, and the flowrate, Qa,
and the position of the actuator was recorded with respect to time. The velocity of the piston was found
from the slopes of the position vs time plot and the flowrate was measured using a flow gauge. The flow
rate was then plotted vs velocity and a linear regression was performed. The slope of the regression line
will be the area of the cylinder.

Results

Table 1 and 2 show the velocity and flowrate of each trial for the extension and retraction of the
cylinder. Figure 2 shows the plots of the data and the model fits. Based on the equations on figure 2, the
area of the cap side and rod side was found to be 3.57 in2 and 3.643 in2, respectively.

Table 1: Trials of Extension

Velocity(in/s) Flowrate(GPM) Flowrate(in3/s)
0 turns 3.17 3.72 14.32
1 turn 2.94 3.48 13.398
2 turn 2.65 3.30 12.705
3 turn 2.66 3.30 12.705
4 turn 2.39 2.95 11.358
 Table 2: Trials of Retraction
Velocity(in/s) Flowrate(GPM) Flowrate(in3/s)
0 turns 3.7 3.67 14.13
1 turn 3.38 3.38 13.013
2 turn 2.98 3.08 11.858
3 turn 3.00 3.10 11.935
4 turn 2.63 2.61 10.05

Figure 2: Flowrate vs Velocity for extension and retraction

Discussion

The values obtained for the experiment do not make much sense based on the equation Q=AV. In
extension, the cap side area should be larger than the rod. However, the cap side area and rod side area
that was calculated were very similar, and the cap side was even slightly smaller than the rod side.
Errors may have occurred when using the flow gauge to measure the flow rate. The measured flow rate
might have been greater than it actually was. If a load were to be applied to the actuator, the system
pressure would most likely increase.

Additional investigations
In an additional experiment, it was found that the system pressure will increase as the flowrate
increases as seen in figure 3.
Figure 3: Pressure vs flowrate