Exploiting the Capacity of Industrial Hydraulic Buffers

Industrial hydraulic buffers are standard equipment for industrial machinery. They are used for the reduction of impact loads on structures during processes of kinetic energy reduction. This is realized by a more or less constant buffer force acting along the stroke of the buffer. The product of buffer force and stroke results in the energy being dissipated during a buffering process. The typical constant, restricted buffer force makes sense in order to protect the surrounding structure. On the other hand, a non-constant, optimized buffer force may be useful to exploit the energy potentially dissipated by a buffer. The article considers the basics of hydraulic buffer technology, the question of a non-constant buffer force and the potentials arising with this option.