Reduce Hydraulic System Failure and Downtime

With all hydraulic components and systems small or large, one of the key factors for an efficient system is “cleanliness”. Hydraulics perform many demanding and precise tasks throughout all industries and in many environments. What is often overlooked is that they can be brought to a very sudden and expensive stop by a small amount of contamination.

As a recognised cause of loss in system efficiency that leads to catastrophic failure in 70% of incidents, contamination can lead to major costs in disruption, loss of production and direct repair. Your system’s oil is its lifeblood, its lubrication, its cooling and its ability to perform work. Knowing the cleanliness level of your fluid is the basis for effective contamination control, and minimising system downtime.

With recognition of the potential problems, one method is to implement more frequent filter element changes or the full replacement of fluids to minimise risk. These measures are quite costly and are only band-aid approaches.

Another common approach is to examine the oils and fluids by traditionally taking a sample and sending it to a lab for testing. Unfortunately this can create opportunities for cross-contamination via bad methods or inexperience as even correctly opening a sterile sample bottle in a humid environment can affect your test results. When all care is taken and your oil sample is despatched you are left waiting (up to weeks) for the results. The problem this creates is: what happens to your system in that time? Do you voluntarily stop production for the duration? Or do you continue to run and risk potential failure? Not an easy choice with very expensive equipment.

Technological Advances for Cost Effective Solutions

Alongside the evolution of new system and component designs that demand greater cleanliness for their closer tolerances and higher efficiencies, technology has also made major advances in the realms of contamination control. Advances in both laser and LED technology have lead to the design of very cost effective and superior monitoring equipment. This technology is now being used by leading companies across the world to remove the previous issues of cross-contamination, accuracy and the lengthy wait for results.

The Hydraulic Warehouse offers a range of popular and competitively priced in-line or fully portable MP-Filtri particle counting units into the Australian market. Available to suit a range of fluids these units test and measure in real-time, they detect contaminants well below the capability of the human eye and provide accurate results that enable critical cost saving decisions to made instantly. Action plans for contamination control can be implemented immediately when an issue has been identified, thus reducing system downtime and minimising the risk of system failure and costly repairs caused by contamination.

Capable of handling pressures up to 400 bar, the LPA2 portable, and the MP FIltri ICM in-line models permit up to 100 portable tests per recharge, or unlimited static tests. They each monitor and display in the internationally accepted ISO 4406 and NAS 1638 and both offer further code options. With varying features such as inbuilt flushing valves, moisture and temperature sensing, downloadable or printable results and the ability to store 600 or 4000 test results, then equipment such as this can provide accurate information to not only monitor, but also to reschedule preventative measures, minimise cost and maintain any systems peak efficiency.

For more information on preventing contamination in your hydraulic components or systems, or to discuss the application of particle counting units in your hydraulic system, contact The Hydraulic Warehouse on 1300 734 351.