HY-PRO Filtration Upgrades Hitachi Excavator Hydraulic System Element

HY-PRO Filtration Upgrades Hitachi Excavator Hydraulic System Element
A hydraulic shovel was experiencing contamination related hydraulic failures (swing motors, piston pumps, servos) impacting an entire surface mining unit including several haulers. The excavator had experienced premature component failure in the first 27 months including:

4 variable speed piston pumps ($20,000 exchange, $34,000 new)
3 swing motors replacements<
2 drive motor replacements
Numerous servo valve repairs / replacements
42 hydraulic hose related problems
16 instances of contaminated sensors

The oil was heavily contaminated yielding accelerated oxidation requiring oil replacement after 2,255 hours.  In addition to excessive downtime the excavator was not operating reliably and was approaching the end of the warranty period.
The challenge was to reduce downtime associated with contamination related premature pump failures, minimize costly component repairs or replacements and extend the useful life of the oil.
ISO fluid cleanliness codes were consistently reading 22/20/17 which is not suitable for any precision hydraulic system.  A target ISO code of 15/13/10 was established based on the criticality of the system which lead to improvements in maintenance practices, upgrading to synthetic oil and upgrading the original cellulose return-line element to Hy-Pro DFE Rated glass media.  After the changes copper levels, indicative of pump shoe wear, dropped by 70%.  Fluid service life was extended to 17,000 hours and fluid cleanliness of 15/12/9 was achieved.  The anticipated future cost avoidance was $193,872.

Result
The impact of the fluid change was seen immadiately. Copper levels indicative of pump shoe wear, dropped by an average of 70% and overall componenets waer metal also dropped. The fluid service life was extended to 17000 Hrs. The result is better than the target cleanliness of 15/12/09.