One of our members wrote me with this question:
“I’d like to hear your opinion about isolation valves on pump intake lines. Within our company there is an ongoing debate over whether we should use a more expensive ball valve or a cheaper butterfly valve?”
At the root of this question is the negative effect of turbulence in the pump … Read more
As a means of power transmission, hydraulics has many advantages. But overall efficiency is NOT one of them. A single-reduction gearbox has an efficiency of 98 to 99 percent, double-reduction 96 to 97 percent and triple-reduction 95 percent. And a chain drive in good condition has an efficiency of 97 to 98 percent.
The hydraulic pump is the hardest working component of a hydraulic system. And as the pump wears in service, internal leakage increases and therefore the percentage of output flow available to do useful work (volumetric efficiency) decreases. If volumetric efficiency falls below a level considered acceptable for the application, the pump will need to be changed-out. In a condition-based maintenance …