Clean Lube Oil Increases the Life of Rotational Equipment

Lubrication oil cleanliness is probably the single most important factor determining your rotational equipment longevity.

The British Hydromechanics Research Association (BHRA) conducted a three year controlled “field” study of 117 hydraulic machines.  The field trial was established with the sole purpose of correlating fluid cleanliness to breakdown frequency.  The results published are extremely compelling and worthwhile heeding.

You would assume that operating machinery within oil cleanliness specifications should assure that the life of the equipment is reasonable, R&M is fair and downtime minimised.  But what if the lube circuit oil is maintained at several levels of cleanliness above the norm?  The answer is surprising and the BHRA study shows that based on a datum of ISO 18/15 oil that oil that is two grades ‘cleaner’ will outperform the datum oil by 1.8x reliability based on breakdowns.  If the oil is running dirtier at ISO 22/19 then breakdowns are far more frequent and more than twice as problematic.

The chart also shows that the new ‘clean’ oil received from a supplier is typically ISO 21/18, and potentially harmful to your machinery if not polished before first use. 

If you suffer an event that compromises the cleanliness of your oil contact BioKem and seek advice as the oil can be recovered, dehydrated, filtered and polished so that it exceeds a new oil spec … a cheaper and possibly quicker solution than ordering new oil.

Research

In the 1990’s Nippon Steel implemented a hydraulic system contamination control program plant-wide, involving both improved filtration and rigorous fluid cleanliness monitoring, and pump replacement frequencies were reduced to one fifth and the cumulative frequency of all tribological failures (i.e., failures relating to wear and contamination) were reduced to one tenth.

Kawasaki Steel also implemented a similar oil contamination control program and almost achieved a 97% reduction in hydraulic component failures. Such claims as these spurred the British Hydromechanics Research Association (BHRA) and the U.S. Navy to conduct their own controlled studies to substantiate benefits of proactive contamination.

The BHRA study covered a three-year period and was based on the carefully monitored field experience of 117 hydraulic machines across various categories (i.e., injection moulding, machine tools, material handling, mobile/construction, marine, metal working, test stands, and miscellaneous). The results of the study showed a dramatic relationship between fluid contamination levels and service life.  Improved system cleanliness achieved extended actual mean time between failures (MTBF) from 10 to 50 times, depending on cleanliness.  A study by the Naval Air Development Centre in Warminster, Pennsylvania performed on aircraft hydraulic pumps showed nearly a 4-fold wear-life extension with a 66 percent improvement in filtration and a 13-fold wear-life extension with a 93 percent improvement in filtration. Solution

BioKem has the equipment to perform on-site oil purification to rectify post-event lubrication circuit contamination without discarding the oil and installation of conditioning vacuum dehydration equipment running kidney loop filtration.  BioKem can also presecribe and supply static solutions to resolve chronic oil cleanliness concerns.  Should you require a professional service to filter or HOF your circuitry, spools, coolers, lube tanks, manifolds then contact BioKem Oil Services.

www.biokem.com.au