PFHB Isolates Hydraulic Component Failures Case Study
A company shredding discarded grocery bags and other plastic films to produce recycled products was experiencing frequent hydraulic motor and charge pump failures on a closed loop hydraulic system driving a bag shredder.
Microscopic slivers of the plastic generated by the process would find their way into the fluid and cause the pump or motor to fail. These failures created a large cloud of debris particles in the hydraulic fluid which would travel to the next component and further repeat this sequence of failure and increased fluid contamination until the failure is catastrophic throughout the system.Generally occurring twice a year, these instances would cost the company approximately $110k in repairs, not taking into account the added cost for the downtime and maintenance hours. The frequency of these catastrophic failures needed to be reduced to increase profitability and plant efficiency.
When asked to survey the system, Hy-Pro noted a lack of filtration between the pump & motors and inefficient filter elements being implemented in existing housings. To make matters worse, because of the need to reverse the flow direction within the system, standard unidirectional filtration would not be sufficient to protect components from the ingested plastic.
All elements were upgraded to Hy-Pro DFE Rated G8 Dualglass filter elements. PFHB bi-directional flow filter housings were also installed on each hydraulic line leading to & from the pump to isolate each component in case of a failure. With bi-directional filtration on both sides of the motors, all contamination traveling to and from the motor would be captured by a filter and the failures they were experiencing would be prevented.
Failure rates have been reduced by more than half since upgrading to Hy-Pro elements and installing additional filtration. The debris cloud dumped into the hydraulic fluid during a recent pump failure was isolated by the filter elements inside the new PFHB filter assemblies. This saved the company over $60k compared to previous incidents where the motors would have been destroyed as well.
The DFE rated filter elements and PFHB Bi-Directional Filter Housing used in this application are ideal in various other applications including Steel Mills, Board Plants, Scrap Yards, Concrete Mixers, and other Hydrostatic Loop Circuit applications in which flow can reverse direction.
What HY-PRO provided:
- DFE Rated G8 Dualglass Filter Elements
- PFHB Bi-Directional High Pressure Filter Assemblies
