Great care goes into ensuring that electrical power stays inside

electric cables. Likewise, great care should be taken to ensure that

hydraulic fluid stays inside hoses.

6 Insurances for Safe

Hydraulic Hose Assemblies
Oct 22, 2020

by Alan Hitchcox

When an engineer tries to search for information on

“hydraulic hose installation,” they will find thousands of different sources
and guides. Most sources outline best practices for safety and reliability. For
example, hoses should be installed with enough slack to allow for expansion
and contraction from pressure cycles. They should never be bent tighter than
their minimum bend radius, and routing should prevent machine motion from
causing twisting.
 
However, many applications require additional safety measures beyond these
basics to prevent catastrophic failures that can harm equipment and people. A
load unexpectedly dropping could sever a hose or cause it to separate from its
end fitting. The result could be a serious accident causing severe damage to
property and personnel. Even less catastrophic failures, such as a pinhole leak
in a hose, can seriously injure people, or worse.
 
Although steel tubing is generally preferred for hydraulic lines, hoses are
specified when fluid lines must be flexible to accommodate machine
motion. Hose assemblies are also used when circuit lines must snake their
way around and between obstacles within a machine. The complex bends and
labor-intensive routing required in these instances can be impractical for steel
tubing.
 
Fortunately, many solutions are available to help prevent these types of
failures. Of course, they are not intended as a cure-all for
any hose malfunction. Instead, each is designed to reduce or prevent the
consequences of specific failures.
 
Building Safety into Hose Assemblies

 
Because hoses are widely used where motion occurs, they can repeatedly rub
against machine surfaces and other hoses. This is especially true in automated
machines, where cyclical motion can cause premature wear from
the hose continually rubbing against a potentially abrasive surface. And the
presence of dirt, sand, or other contaminants only makes the problem worse.
Most hydraulic hose manufacturers offer products with cover materials
offering higher wear resistance than their standard products. But even this
may not be enough in extreme cases.

1) Wear sleeves
For these more demanding applications, hose wear sleeves can provide
additional protection. These sleeves fit over a hose — or several hoses — to
act as a barrier between the hose cover and the machine surface. This type of
sleeve not only prevents the hose from rubbing directly against an adjacent
surface but also keeps several hoses bundled together and shields them from
UV rays from sunlight, which could otherwise degrade compounds in
the hose cover.

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2) Spiral wraps
A similar type of hose protection is a spiral wrap. The wrap is made of a
thermoplastic that has been pre-stressed to act as a spring to wrap around
hoses easily. They provide less environmental protection that sleeves, wraps
used primarily to keep several hoses bundled together. They are also quick
and easy to install on existing equipment. Unless sleeves have a hook-and-
loop or fastener along their length, they must be installed from the free end of
the hose.

3) Heatshield sleeves 
Even though best practices avoid installing hydraulic lines near a source of
heat, sometimes, it cannot be avoided. Sometimes locating a
hydraulic hose near a hot exhaust manifold may be the most practical route.
For cases like these, a heat-resistant sleeve can be installed around the hose to
shield it from the heat source. Of course, other safety measures should be
explored for extreme cases like this, such as using a fire-resistant hydraulic
fluid.
 
4) Safety sleeves
ISO 3457 and EN474-1 require that hydraulic hoses located within 1.0 meter
of an operator and containing fluid at a pressure exceeding 5MPa (50 bar) or
having a temperature exceeding 50°C, must be guarded. Safety sleeves are
designed to contain pinhole leaks and bursts at high pressure to protect
operators and other people within 1 meter of the hose. The sleeve also
provides a channel to drain accumulated fluid from the sleeve. The feature
not only prevents the sleeve itself from bursting but also provides a visual
indication that the hose has been compromised.

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5) Hose Restraints
Although accidents can occur in any application, some can be anticipated.
For example, a log-harvesting machine could have a hydraulic hose pulled
from its end fitting if a falling tree limb or other heavy object struck
a hose. Depending on the circumstances, the free end of the hose could flail
around wildly, spraying hot hydraulic fluid everywhere in the area. To
prevent this from occurring, a restraint can be installed on a critical hose to
restrict movement if it gets ripped loose. The restraint consists of a high-
strength cable securely attached to the hose end and a stationary section of
the machine.
6) Velocity Fuse
But the restraint alone may not keep fluid from flowing freely from
the hose end. Some restraints may automatically shut off flow once
the hose pulls loose. But if the hose itself is severed, the restraint will not
terminate flow. For these cases, a velocity fuse can be specified to block flow
if it detects a sudden flow surge. These devices are available with a variety of
options, such as self-resetting capability, time delay, and for limiting volume
or pressure.

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Piping Projects
 
Safety Training is Essential
 
Even though many of these solutions can prevent accidents from occurring,
comprehensive training in machine operation and maintenance is still
essential. This is especially true with hydraulic equipment because high
pressure can still exist in-circuit lines even long after a machine has been shut
down. Fluid trapped in a circuit can also allow a load to suddenly and
unexpectedly drop if a valve or fitting is loosened by someone with
inadequate knowledge of the system or proper safety practices for the
machine. 
 
Alan Hitchcox is an editor and technical writer based in suburban Dallas,
Texas.