United Equipment Accessories is a leader in custom motion solutions, including custom rotary unions. We work with our customers to find the right solution to meet their project’s needs. One such project was a large custom rotary union solution for a crane application. Before the development of this rotary union, the largest rotary union that UEA had manufactured had an 8-inch bore diameter. This design called for 9-inch bore diameter. The final rotary union measured 36 inches in length and weighed in around 850 pounds. To meet the specific requirements of this custom design, the rotary union had 14 ports and had a max pressure of 5500 psi.
Because this was one of the largest rotary unions that we had produced, we had to tackle several challenges in the design and manufacturing process. One such problem was high torque of the rotary union due to its size. To combat the high torque, we used PTFE seals that have low friction.
The second challenge that we faced with this rotary union was handling the product throughout the manufacturing process. To safely move the rotary union, we designed a unique table to transport the rotary union to each part of the manufacturing process. Additionally, we used cranes located throughout our machine shop.
UEA isn’t afraid to jump into a challenge such as developing this large crane rotary union. All of our hydraulic solutions are engineered to meet the end users’ requirements.
Vinay Patil
Mechanical Design Engineer