On the Contact Behavior Analysis and New Design of High Pressure Piston Seals

In this paper, the geometry effectiveness and contact modes as functions of real contact length on a cap ring have been analyzed for high pressure sealing mechanism in reciprocating actuator. The reaction force and elastic strain energy density are very important parameters for analyzing the sealing performance of an ACGT ring seal. For the high pressure of 800bar and the maximum speed of 3m/s, the main piston is reciprocating along the linear line against the cylinder wall. The computed results indicate that the length ratio of a cap ring is more influential design parameter compared to that of the tribological contact mode. Thus, this paper recommends the discrete contact area rather than a conventional flat contact model. Especially, the sealing capacity is more improved when the length ratio of a cap ring is below 0.625.