Donaldson Company Inc. has introduced the Donaldson Hy-Pro Reservoir Headspace Dryer. The Reservoir Headspace Dryer (RHD) removes free, emulsified, and dissolved water from hydraulic and lubrication fluids in their reservoirs by generating dry air and circulating it through the headspace. The process enables moisture to transfer from the oil to the dry air stream. The […]
Compact offline filtration systems clean up gearboxes
Kidney loop filtration systems are designed to filter fluid from large systems, and are usually made up of a continuous filtration machine on a portable cart that allows users to transport them from machine to machine. But on smaller systems, these portable designs might be overkill. For smaller hydraulic systems, gear boxes, or diesel fuel…
When should you completely drain your hydraulic system and why?
By Josh Cosford, Contributing Editor If you work with a hydraulic technician who services and repairs hydraulics, especially including work on power units, leave this article for a moment and go ask them, “What’s the craziest thing you’ve seen inside an old reservoir?” My own answer isn’t so memorable; it’s just a half-collapsed suction filter […]
Contamination: still the biggest problem for fluid power systems
Industrial systems, whether pneumatic or hydraulic, must prevent a variety of contamination sources to run reliably. By: Josh Cosford, Contributing Editor Fluid power systems experience many problems. Poor designs, inferior quality components, maintenance neglect, severe climate, and operator error can all inflict trouble on your innocent machine. However, most of these problems are rare cases…
Harvesting reliable machinery in farming
Agricultural machinery is up against a variety of harsh environmental conditions, so proper protection of the hydraulic systems is necessary. By Josh Cosford, Contributing Editor The agricultural industry is unique in many ways, not the least of which is the source of nourishment for billions of people, which is not something mining or forestry can […]
Why is hydraulic contamination still an issue?
I’ve got contamination on the brain. In the past couple of weeks, I have edited several articles focused on the perils of contamination and how to prevent it. In our May issue, we talk about the importance of contamination control in agricultural machinery. We also talk industrial contamination control in our June issue, where we […]
Hunting ghosts in your machines with sonar
Air is a troublesome contaminant in hydraulic fluid. Once it enters and becomes entrained, it’s a pain to remove. If it goes undetected or unmitigated, it can delay system response, decrease performance, degrade the fluid, and wreak havoc on hydraulic pumps. “It’s not like the bubbles that rise to the surface in your glass of […]
How do you prevent microbes in hydraulic oil?
By Josh Cosford, Contributing Editor Microbes aren’t the most common contaminant in hydraulic oil, but they do become a problem when conditions are ripe for their proliferation. Anaerobic bacteria of various forms are the most common to be found within hydraulic fluid, although it’s not unheard of to see fungi (molds and yeasts) in very […]
Hydraulic oil analysis part 8: a round-up of all oil analysis tests
By Josh Cosford, Contributing Editor As the last article in the series on laboratory-based hydraulic oil analyses, we thought we’d provide a single article to recap the tests in one convenient location. For the past six months we’ve discussed just as many topics important to your predictive maintenance program. Each one of these parameters is […]
Where does built-in hydraulic contamination come from?
By Josh Cosford, Contributing Editor When I sat in my first fluid power class 18 years ago, I remember learning about built-in contamination and how the reservoir was the biggest offender. The welds and their slag were the biggest problems, the teacher stated, but a close second was the debris from pipe threading machines. Looking […]
Filter maintenance 101
Setting planned and intelligent filter maintenance programs can reduce downtime, increase efficiency and usher your hydraulic systems into the IoT future. By Josh Cosford, Contributing Editor Plant maintenance practices vary by industry, by economic conditions, by process and by employees. Some plants may have strict preventive maintenance programs, following a rigid schedule of maintenance tasks […]