In a condition-based maintenance environment, the decision to change-out a hydraulic pump or motor is usually based on either remaining bearing life or deteriorating efficiency, whichever occurs first.

Despite recent advances in predictive maintenance technologies, the maintenance professional’s ability to determine the remaining bearing life of a pump or motor, with a high degree of accuracy, remains elusive.

Deteriorating efficiency on the other hand is easy to detect. Because it typically shows itself through increased cycle times. In other words, the machine slows down. When this occurs, quantification of the efficiency loss is not always necessary. Reason being, if the machine slows to the point where its cycle time in unacceptably slow, the pump or motor is changed out.… continue reading »

It’s now more important than ever to ensure that every dollar spent on operating and maintaining hydraulic equipment is a dollar well spent. Furthermore, it’s imperative that the hydraulic equipment you design, repair or maintain doesn’t LEAK money.

Hydraulic systems are often considered perennial consumers of oil and in turn, make-up fluid an inherent cost of operating hydraulic equipment. But to calculate the real cost of one or more ‘minor’ leaks on a hydraulic machine, the expense associated with all of the following need to be considered:

• Make-up oil.
• Clean-up.
• Disposal.
• Contaminant ingression.
• Safety.

Make-Up Oil

The cost of make-up oil should be the most obvious cost of hydraulic system leaks.… continue reading »

Given that removing contaminants from the oil to extend hydraulic component life is the primary objective of filtration, it is a paradox for filters to be located where they reduce the service life of components they were installed to protect.

So when considering the possible locations for filters in a hydraulic system, the overarching principle should be: first, do no harm. In other words, the cure must not be worse than the disease. With this in mind, let us consider the pros and cons of the various hydraulic filter locations:

Pressure Filtration – Locating filtering media in the pressure line provides maximum protection for components located immediately downstream.… continue reading »