Causes of Hydraulic system breakdown

• Clogged or dirty oil filters

• Inadequate supply of oil in the reservoir
• Leaking seals
• Loose inlet lines that cause the pump to take in air
• Incorrect type of oil
• Excessive oil temperature and pressure
 Oxidation and Corrosion Of Hyd. Fluids

• Oxidation caused by chemical reaction of oxygen

with oil reducing life of fluid.
• Petroleum based oils more susceptible because
oxygen readily combines with hydrogen and
carbon.
• Products of oxidation are soluble in oil and acidic
in nature causing corrosion to the system
 Factors hastening oxidation
• Heat
• Pressure
• Contaminants
• Water
• Metal surface
Oxidation is mostly affected by temperature.
Rate of oxidation is very slow below 1400F , but
doubles for every 200F temp rise. Additives are
added incorporated to inhibit oxidation but
taking into account the cost factor and
environmental conditions.
 Rust and Corrosion

• Rust is chemical reaction between iron or steel

and oxygen.
• Moisture present in atmosphere provides oxygen
• Corrosion is the chemical reaction between metal
and acid
• The result of corrosion is eating away of metal
parts leading to more leaks
• Both can be prevented by incorporating additives
that plate on metal surfaces to prevent chemical
reaction.
 Fire resistant fluids
• A fire resistant fluid is one that can be ignited
but will not support combustion when the
ignition source is removed.
• Flammability is the ease of ignition and ability to
propagate a flame.
• It is tested for the following to detect the
flammability,
– Flash point
– Fire point
– Auto ignition point
 Fire resistant fluids commonly in use
• Water-glycol solutions - consists of a solution of
40%water and 60% glycol
• Water in oil emulsions - consists of about of 40%
water completely dispersed in a special oil base i.e.,
small droplets of water completely surrounded by
oil
• Straight synthetics - is chemically formulated to
inhibit combustion and in general has the highest
fire-resistant temperature.
• High water content fluids - consists of 90% of water
and 10% concentrate. Contains additives that
improve viscosity, rust protection, and protection
and bacteria growth.
 Foam resistant fluids
• Air can become dissolved or entrained in hydraulic
fluids. For example, if the return line to the reservoir
is not sub merged, the jet of oil entering the liquid
surface will carry air with it. This causes air bubbles
and they will rise to the surface which the pump
intakes and leading to pump damage due to
cavitations.
• Prevention is by proper design and using additives.
 Fluid lubricating ability

• Hydraulic fluids must have good lubricity to prevent

wear between the closely fitted working parts.
• Direct metal to metal contact is avoided by film
strength of fluids having adequate viscosity.
• Parts affected include pump vanes, valve spools,
piston rings, and rod bearings.
 Fluid neutralization number

• Fluid neutralization number is a measure of the

relative acidity or alkalinity of a hydraulic fluid
and specified by a pH factor.

• Small neutralization number is recommended as

high acidity or alkalinity causes corrosion of metal
parts.
 Maintaining and Disposing of fluids
• Select the optimum fluid for the application involved
• Use a well designed filtration system to reduce
contamination and increase the useful life of the fluid.
Filtration should be continuous and filters changed at
regular intervals.
• Follow proper storage procedures for the unused fluid
supply.
• Transporting fluids from storage containers to system
should be carefully done to avoid contamination
• Fluids checked at regular intervals for viscosity, acidity,
etc.

(cont….)
• The entire hydraulic system should be maintained
according to manufacturer’s specification.
• Corrective action should be taken to reduce
leakage from operating hydraulic systems
• Disposal of fluids must be done properly because
fluid is considered to be a waste material when it
has deteriorated to the point where it is no longer
suitable for use in hydraulic system.
 Contamination
• Contamination may lead to inaccurate
functioning of hydraulic devices
• Contamination can be caused by,
– Built into system during component
maintenance and assembly
– Generated within the system during operation.
– Introduced into system from external
environment
 Strainers
• A strainer is a coarse filter and a strainer
removes only larger particles.
• They are installed in pump suction line to
remove contaminants large enough to
damage the pumps
• Condition of strainer found out by fitting a
pressure guage
 Filters
• A filter is a device whose function is to
retain, by some porous medium, insoluble
contaminants from a fluid.
• The smallest particle size that can be
removed by a strainer is about 150μm,
while a filter can remove particle size of
about 1 μm.
 Types of filters
• Mechanical:
– Contains a metal or cloth screen.
– Can remove only relatively coarse particles
• Absorbent:
– Are porous and permeable materials such as paper,
wood pulp, asbestos etc.
– The particles are absorbed as the fluid passes through
the filter material
Adsorption is a surface phenomenon and refers to
the tendency of particles to cling to the surface of filter.
Normally used materials are activated clay and
chemically treated paper.
 Beta ratio of filters
• A better parameter for establishing how well a
filter traps particles is called the beta ratio..
• It is determined during testing of a filter receiving
a specified steady state flow containing fine dust
of selected particle size.
• The test begins with a clean filter and ends when
the pressure drop across the filter has reached a
specified value indicating that it reached its
saturation limit.
 Fluid cleanliness levels
• The basis for controlling the particle
contamination of a hydraulic fluid is to
measure the fluid’s cleanliness level. This
means counting the particles per unit
volume for particle sizes and comparing
with to a required cleanliness level.
• Counted using sensitive optical
instruments.
 Wear of moving parts due to solid particle
contamination of the fluid
• One of the major problems caused by contaminants
is that they prevent hydraulic fluid from providing
proper lubrication of moving internal parts of
hydraulic components.
• Solid contaminants can be classified by their size
relative to the clearance between the moving parts.
 Classification of contaminants
• Smaller than the clearance can collect
inside the clearance when system is not
operating and block lubricant flow.
• Contaminants causes the breakdown of
lube oil film
• Large contaminants block lube oil flow by
collecting at the entrance of clearance.
 Problems caused by gases
• Gases can be present in a hydraulic fluid in
three ways
– Free air
– Entrained gas
– Dissolved air
 Free air
• Air can exist in a free pocket located at
some high point of a hydraulic system.
• This air either existed when system was
initially filled or due to air bubbles rising
into the free pocket.
• It causes the fluid to reduction in stiffness,
resulting in spongy and unstable operation
of hydraulic actuators
 Entrained gas

• Can be created when flowing fluid sweeps air out of

a gas pocket and carries along with fluid stream
• Can also occur when the pressure drops below the
vapour pressure of fluid.
• Cavitation and spongy nature are the effects.
 Dissolved air
• Normally fluid contains 6% of dissolved air
but when put into system they become
10%
• Normally doesn’t cause any problem but if
separated into gas bubbles may cause
cavitation
 Ways to prevent cavitation
• Keep suction line velocities below 1.2m/s
• Keep pump inlet lines as short as possible
• Minimize the number of fittings in the
pump inlet line
• Mount the pump as close as possible to the
reservoir
• Use low-pressure drop pump inlet filters or
strainers.
• Use a properly designed reservoir that will
remove the entrained air from the fluid
before it enters the pump inlet line
• Use a proper grade of oil
• Maintain the oil temperature within
specified limits
 FAIL SAFE CIRCUIT
When an accident
occurs, the operator
has to stop all the
hydraulic actions. For
this, an emergency
cut off valve is
installed between the
pump and control
valves. By actuating
the emergency stop
valve, damage to the
machine is stopped.
But the sequence of
operation is allowed
to continue , when
the emergency valve
is released.
 Fail safe control circuit

The use of a cut off

valve in a safety circuit
is described as follows.
When the
actuator reaches the
position ‘A’, the push
button marked
‘FORWARD’ is pressed
and the valve(2) is
shifted to left position,
allowing the oil
pressure to flow to
blank end of the
cylinder(3). The oil
from the rod end flows
through the orifice of
the control valve(4),
through valve(2) to the
reservoir(tank).
 If the operator
observes a jam occurring,
the ‘EMERGENCY’ button
has to be pressed, then the
oil pressure is blocked when
the solenoid valve(1) shifts,
stopping the movement of
the cylinder.
When the jam or
obstruction is cleared, the
‘EMERGENCY’ button has to
be released, so that the
piston continues the forward
movement.
To reverse the cylinder,
‘REVERSE’ button to be
pressed, shifting the
solenoid valve(2) and
allowing the oil to flow to
the rod end of the
cylinder(3). The piston of
cylinder retracts to the
starting position.