Page 4 - Parker - The Handbook of Hydraulic Filtration
P. 4
Contamination Basics
Filtration Fact Contamination Causes If any one of these functions is
impaired, the hydraulic system will not
Most Hydraulic Failures
perform as designed. The resulting
Properly sized, installed, and The experience of designers and users
downtime can easily cost a large manu-
maintained hydraulic of hydraulic and lube oil systems has facturing plant thousands of dollars
verified the following fact: over 75% of
filtration plays a key role per hour. Hydraulic fluid maintenance
all system failures are a direct result
helps prevent or reduce unplanned
in machine preventative of contamination!
downtime. This is accomplished
maintenance planning. through a continuous improvement
The cost due to contamination is
program that minimizes and removes
staggering, resulting from: contaminants.
Filtration Fact ▼ Loss of production (downtime)
▼ Component replacement costs Contaminant Damage
The function of a hydraulic ▼ Frequent fluid replacement ▼ Orifice blockage
filter is to clean oil, but the ▼ Costly disposal ▼ Component wear
ultimate purpose is to ▼ Increased overall maintenance costs ▼ Formation of rust or other oxidation
reduce operating costs. ▼ Increased scrap rate ▼ Chemical compound formation
▼ Depletion of additives
Functions of Hydraulic
Fluid ▼ Biological growth
Filtration Fact Contamination interferes with the four
Hydraulic fluid is expected to create a
functions of hydraulic fluids:
The disposal cost of a lubricating film to keep precision parts
1. To act as an energy transmission
drum of waste oil can be separated. Ideally, the film is thick
medium.
enough to completely fill the clearance
4X - 5X the cost of a 2. To lubricate internal moving parts of
between moving parts. This condition
drum of new oil. components. results in low wear rates. When the
3. To act as a heat transfer medium. wear rate is kept low enough, a compo-
4. To seal clearances between moving nent is likely to reach its intended life
parts. expectancy, which may be millions of
pressurization cycles.
Actual photomicrograph of particulate contamination
(Magnified 100x Scale: 1 division = 20 microns)
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