Fundamentals of Fluid Power-Part 1

Chapter 4: Contamination and filtration

Contamination of hydraulic systems
Purity classes for hydraulic fluids
Functional principle of the particle separation
Configuration possibilities of filters
Particle counting
Contamination of hydraulic systems

Types Causes
Sludge, coating, acids Ageing processes

Metallic ions Friction, wear

Molecular

Oxygen Dissolved air

Storage, maintenance,
Water
entrainment during operation
Fluids
Foreign fluids Combined systems, maintenance

Chips, tinder, etc. Manufacturing

Storage, assembly, maintenance,

Dust, sand
Solid particles entrainment during operation

Abrasion Wear

Contamination
Verschmutzungand
undfiltration
Filtration Table 4-1 2 of 23
Murrenhoff
Englisch
Solid particle contamination of hydraulic systems

 Wear Cylinder External particle


 Initial contamination entrainment via sealing
within the cylinder systems
 Wear
 Initial contamination
 Wear Valve within the valve
 Initial contamination

within the pump

Pump
Particle


entrainment via
vent filter
Tank

 External particle entrainment by Initial contamination

service or system opening of the fluid

Contamination
Verschmutzungand
undfiltration
Filtration Figure 4.1-1 3 of 23
Murrenhoff
Englisch
Main wear mechanisms of tribological contacts

Abrasion Adhesion Erosion Surface

destruction
Micro-chipping by Shearing of parts of Release of particles Micro-cracks
penetration of hard the surface layer by due to the flow of a through alternating
particles or high contact particle-loaded fluid mechanical stresses
roughness peaks in pressure and with high velocity und release of
one of the friction insufficient particles by
partners lubrication (Galling) undermining of the
Origin

cracks
Relative movement Load Load

Increase of clearances
Leakage
Effects

Decrease of efficiency
Scratches Holes Particle release Dimples
Striae Scale-shaped Edge wear Pittings
particles

Contamination
Verschmutzungand
undfiltration
Filtration Figure 4.1-2 4 of 23
Murrenhoff
Englisch
Particle sizes and typical clearances in hydraulics

Components Typical
Clearances
100
Pumps/Motors
90
Gear 0,5 - 5 µm
80 Vane 5 - 13 µm
70 Piston 5 - 40 µm
Diameter [µm]

60 Valves
50 Servovalve 1 - 4 µm
Proportionalvalve 1 - 6 µm
40
Switching valve 2 - 8 µm
30
microscopical range Bearings
20
Sleeve bearing 0,5 - 100 µm
10 Rolling bearing 0,1 - 3 µm
Ball bearing 1 - 25 µm
Fine particle Coarse particle Human hair

Contamination
Verschmutzungand
undfiltration
Filtration Figure 4.1-3 5 of 23
Murrenhoff
Englisch
Purity classes for hydraulic fluids and classification example

Particle-count per ml Ordinal-

number
from to
Counting result
2500000 - > 28
Particle size Count per 1 ml
1300000 2500000 28
> 4 µm 1452,53
640000 1300000 27
320000 640000 26 > 6 µm 274,4
160000 320000 25 > 14 µm 18,51
80000 160000 24
40000 80000 23
20000 40000 22
10000 20000 21
5000 10000 20
2500 5000 19
1300 2500 18
640 1300 17 Classification of the ordinal numbers
320 640 16
Particle size Count per ml Ordin. number
160 320 15
80 160 14 > 4 µm 1452,53 18
40 80 13 > 6 µm 274,4 15
20 40 12 > 14 µm 18,51 11
10 20 11
5 10 10
2,5 5 9
1,3 2,5 8
0,64 1,3 7
0,32 0,64 6
0,16 0,32 5
0,08 0,16 4 ISO 4406:1999 18/15/11
0,04 0,08 3
0,02 0,04 2
0,01 0,02 1
0 0,01 0
Level of purity according Example for the classification
to ISO 4406:1999 of a counting result

Contamination
Verschmutzungand
undfiltration
Filtration Figure 4.1-4 6 of 23
Murrenhoff
Englisch
Typical purity classes for different fresh oils

Fresh oil, delivered in barrels Fresh oil, delivered in tank truck

(1 tick mark
Fresh oil, delivered in mini-container Required for modern hydraulic systems = 10µm)

Contamination
Verschmutzungand
undfiltration
Filtration Figure 4.1-5 7 of 23
Murrenhoff
Englisch
Recommended purity classes for hydraulic systems
System type Purity class
Micro-contamination sensitive systems with servo-hydraulics 15/13/10
Industrial hydraulics, proportional technology 17/15/12
Industrial hydraulics, proportional technology, high pressure systems 17/15/12
Industrial hydraulics and mobile hydraulics
- Electro-magnetic control valve technology 18/15/12
- Mid pressure and low pressure systems 19/16/14
Industrial hydraulics and mobile hydraulics, low wear-protection requirements 20/18/15
Forced oil lubrication of gear boxes 18/16/13
Component
Pumps/Motors
- Axial piston 18/16/13
- Radial piston 19/17/13
- Gear 20/18/15
- Vane 19/17/14
Valves
- Directional valves 20/18/15
- Pressure valves 19/17/14
- Flow control valves 19/17/14
- Check valves 20/18/15
- Proportional valves 18/16/13
- Servo valves 16/14/11
Cylinders 20/18/15

Contamination
Verschmutzungand
undfiltration
Filtration Table 4-2 8 of 23
Murrenhoff
Englisch
Correction factors for differing boundary conditions

Differing boundary condition Correction factor

System pressure less than 100 bar 1 class worse
greater than 160 bar 1 class better

Expectations concerning the life cycle of the up to 10 years no correction

machine more than 10 years 1 class better

Repair and spare part costs high 1 class better

Breakdown costs due to downtime up to 10.000 € / h no correction

more than 10.000 € / h 1 class better

System which drastically influences the manufacturing process 1 class better

Contamination
Verschmutzungand
undfiltration
Filtration Table 4-3 9 of 23
Murrenhoff
Englisch
Filter fleece in new condition (left) and in used condition (right)

Contamination
Verschmutzungand
undfiltration
Filtration Figure 4.2-1 10 of 23
Murrenhoff
Englisch
Functional principle of the particle separation
Surface Deep bed Magnetic Electrostatic
filtration filtration separation filtration
Separation by Adherence due to Separation by Adherence due to
mechanical block inertia/diffusion magnetic forces electrostatic forces
effect

Principle
Flow +
Flow N
Flow
-
S +
+

Simple structure Low flow-resistance Low pressure Separation of

Advantages

Low pressure High dirt pick-up difference smallest particles

difference when capacity Separation of <1 µm
unladen smallest particles Separation of
Easy Cleaning <1 µm oxidation products
Easy cleaning and water
Low dirt pick-up Not re-usable Low dirt pick-up Complex structure
capacity Complex structure capacity Additional energy
High flow- High separation demand
Disadvantages

resistance when capacity only by Only by-pass use

laden complex structure possible
Low separation Installation space
performance of non- requirements
magnetic particles

Contamination
Verschmutzungand
undfiltration
Filtration Figure 4.2-2 11 of 23
Murrenhoff
Englisch
Sectional view of a depth filter (Argo-Hytos)

Bypass valve

Inlet Outlet

Filter element

Contamination
Verschmutzungand
undfiltration
Filtration Figure 4.2-3 12 of 23
Murrenhoff
Englisch
Structure of a filter element (Argo-Hytos)

Strainer-
Protective tissue

Protective fleece

Glas-fibre fleece
actual filter material

Protective fleece

Supporting tissue

Contamination
Verschmutzungand
undfiltration
Filtration Figure 4.2-4 13 of 23
Murrenhoff
Englisch
Definition of the β-value and separation ratio

N x, u N x,u
N x, d  value:  =
x N x,d

u upstream
d downstream
N x,u N x,d
x Particle size [µm]  =
Separation ratio: x
Nx Particle count > x µm / ml N x,u

1
= 1-
x

Contamination
Verschmutzungand
undfiltration
Filtration To chapter 4.2 14 of 23
Murrenhoff
Englisch
β-value and separation ratio of hydraulic depth filters

β-Values Separation ratio

1000 100
90
80

Separation ratio [%]

70
100
60
β-Value

50
40
10 30
20
β10µm(c)=200 Filter β10µm(c)=200 Filter
β25µm(c)=200 Filter 10 β25µm(c)=200 Filter
1 1
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Particle size [µm(c)] Particle size [µm(c)]

Contamination
Verschmutzungand
undfiltration
Filtration Figure 4.2-5 15 of 23
Murrenhoff
Englisch
Differential pressure of a depth filter

4 1 Differential pressure
100
Differential pressure [%]

of filter housing
90
2 Differential pressure
80 of unladen filter
Sensitivity range contamination indicator
70 element
60 5 3 Differential pressure
50 of unladen whole
40 filter
30 4 Maximum differential
20 pressure of whole
2 3 filter
10
1 5 Load-depending
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 filter element
pressure difference
Absorbed contamination amount [%]

Contamination
Verschmutzungand
undfiltration
Filtration Figure 4.2-6 16 of 23
Murrenhoff
Englisch
Characteristics of protective filters and work filters

Protective filter Working filter

Component protection Purification of the fluid

No by-pass valve Optional by-pass valve

Coarse filter rating Fine filter rating

Contamination
Verschmutzungand
undfiltration
Filtration Table 4-4 17 of 23
Murrenhoff
Englisch
Configuration possibilities of filters

High-pressure filter

High-pressure pump
Load
Return flow filter

Low-pressure filter

Feed pump By-pass filter

Filling filter Breather filter

Suction filter

Reservoir

Contamination
Verschmutzungand
undfiltration
Filtration Figure 4.2-7 18 of 23
Murrenhoff
Englisch
Return-flow suction filter in a mobile working machine

Working hydraulic Hydrostatic transmission

Return-flow suction filter

Contamination
Verschmutzungand
undfiltration
Filtration Figure 4.2-8 19 of 23
Murrenhoff
Englisch
Light-blocking method

W P = P0 W P = P0 - ∆P

E E E Receiver
S Sender
Q Flow
P Measured Power
S S P0 Output power
∆P Power loss
Q

Strainer Measuring cell Flow-control valve

Contamination
Verschmutzungand
undfiltration
Filtration Figure 4.3-1 20 of 23
Murrenhoff
Englisch
Possible measurement errors of the light-blocking method

Particle orientation Saturation Coincidence

E E E

S S S

Contamination
Verschmutzungand
undfiltration
Filtration Figure 4.3-2 21 of 23
Murrenhoff
Englisch
Strainer-blocking method

∆p0 ∆ p1 > ∆ p0

Q Q

Contamination
Verschmutzungand
undfiltration
Filtration Figure 4.3-3 22 of 23
Murrenhoff
Englisch
Microscopical counting method

Analysing membrane with Analysing field with

pore size < 1 µm AField = 1/100 • AMembrane

Contamination
Verschmutzungand
undfiltration
Filtration Figure 4.3-4 23 of 23
Murrenhoff
Englisch
Thank you for your
attention.
Questions?