The Main Difference between Industrial Shock Absorbers and other Shock Damping Devices

May 12th, 2021

Different pieces of industrial equipment are typically designed to resist a wide variety of elements in their surroundings during their operations. Additionally, they can often mitigate any changes in terms of load value, allowing them to still work and operate without any issues.

However, there are instances wherein the varying elements of an operation or process promote unforeseen load changes. These changes may then result in shock load, a term that is described as the sudden and drastic increase of load. While shock loads can be common in different pieces of industrial equipment during their applications, they can still generate changes that can be truly damaging to them.

To effectively mitigate the forces behind shock loads, industries often turn to devices that can be very helpful for their pieces of industrial equipment. And one of these devices is industrial shock absorbers.

An Overview of Industrial Shock Absorbers

Industrial shock absorbers are devices that can effectively mitigate the forces behind shock loads and preserve the quality of industrial equipment pieces. With these devices, they can remove the kinetic energy from the load that is being stopped, convert it to thermal energy, and release it as heat. Since kinetic energy is separated from the load, pieces of industrial equipment and their surrounding structures can now be protected from shock loads, preventing any damages that typically occur during operations.

The entire composition of industrial shock absorbers allows them to carry out their intended functions. They are basically comprised of a double-walled cylinder, a piston, and a return mechanism for the piston. The inner cylinder has a non-compressible fluid and orifices that are arranged at exponential intervals, allowing them to complement the kinetic energy equation.

As the load interacts with the piston, the piston will pressurise the fluid so that it travels towards the orifices. Subsequently, the orifices will be closed off one by one, making sure that the pressure and stopping force will stay constant. Once the fluid is pressurised and forced through the orifices, the fluid’s temperature will increase very quickly, which then releases the heat to the surrounding environment.

How Other Shock Damping Devices Work

There are other shock damping devices that can also be used in minimising or even preventing shock loads. However, industrial shock absorbers are still considered to be the best in terms of preventing shock loads as they can provide constant stopping force throughout their stopping strokes.

Shock damping devices like springs and rubber bumpers can slow down or stop loads. The only problem with these devices is that they will only introduce the absorbed kinetic energy back to the equipment, creating a bouncing action of the load. Slowing or stopping the load can also be done by dashpots. However, they only rely on air to obtain non-linear resistance, which allows the stopping force to peak at either the start or the end of the stroke.

Pneumatic cushions, alternatively, work similarly to industrial shock absorbers in terms of converting kinetic to thermal energy. The only problem is that their stopping forces are non-linear, which only increases the forces by the end of their stopping stroke.

To gain access to quality industrial shock absorbers, feel free to call us at ENKOSI.

 

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