In hydraulic cylinders designed for highly dynamic movements, one of the challenges is to ensure the durability of elastomer seals and minimize wear on the piston caused by the guide rings. Typically, guide rings are used in hydraulic cylinders to guide the piston rod, resulting in a relatively high coefficient of friction. We were interested in the potential of unconventional methods of guiding the piston rod to reduce friction. To investigate this further, we designed and built a modular hydraulic cylinder with an integrated displacement sensor. This innovative design allowed us to perform friction measurements with different types of piston rod guidance, including guide rings, sleeve bearings, and hydrostatic bearings. Surprisingly, we were pleasantly surprised by the superior performance of the sleeve bearing in piston guidance. Unfortunately, our attempts to implement hydrostatic bearings did not yield the desired results.
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