Avoid machine failures with an EFC hydraulic oil filter
In hydraulic drives, the oil has several functions:
- The energy generated in the pump is transported to a cylinder or hydraulic motor by the oil.
- The friction between two surfaces sliding against each other is minimized by the oil.
- Corrosion in the system should be prevented by the oil.
If the oil no longer fulfills one of these tasks correctly, the machine will wear out more quickly and eventually fail.
Machine failures due to dirt particles in the hydraulic oil
The main cause of premature machine failure and premature wear are faults in the lubricating film. In most cases, this is caused by dirt particles in the hydraulic oil that fit exactly into the lubrication gap between two sliding surfaces.
If two surfaces move against each other and a dirt particle comes into contact with both moving surfaces at the same time, material fatigue occurs at the contacting material tips and, as a consequence, breakage. A new dirt particle is formed and the hydraulic component wears out.
As each dirt particle can produce further dirt particles as a result of the process described above, this leads to an avalanche-like increase in unwanted solids in the hydraulic oil and ultimately to the failure of hydraulic components. Regular oil analyses provide information about the condition of the hydraulic oil.
Wear on a hydraulic piston
Smaller dirt particles, which can pass through lubrication gaps without any problems, often hit the material edges of nozzles, slide valves and similar components at high speed. Similar to sandblasting, the surface of the hydraulic component is removed slowly but steadily.
The result is a lack of repeat accuracy and the resulting failure of the component.
In order to prevent malfunctions and failures in the hydraulic system, as many dirt particles as possible must be removed from the hydraulic oil. The size of the dirt particles is not critical, as lubrication gap heights of 1 µm up to well over 100 µm are used in hydraulic systems, i.e. particles that fit exactly into this lubrication gap can cause faults. Even the smaller particles can cause faults due to their abrasive effect.
Solution: Use of electrostatic hydraulic oil filters from FRIESS
These failures can be reduced by up to 90 % by using electrostatic oil cleaning systems. Due to their operating principle, electrostatic hydraulic oil filters remove both very small (up to 0.05 µm) and very large (up to over 100 µm) particles from the oil. Electrostatic technology does not differentiate between large and small particles, but between electrically neutral individual molecules of the hydraulic oil and between solids that are composed of several individual molecules.
This means that the oil and all additives that are added to the oil in liquid form are not affected at all, while solids of all kinds that are not part of the oil components are removed from the oil. In contrast to conventional filtration systems, the size of the particles or molecules is not relevant.
Electrostatic filtration therefore specifically targets the cause of hydraulic faults and eliminates it.