By Jim Fitch
Hydraulics & Pneumatics Magazine
Here is the latest component for hydraulic system filtration and contamination control Water is a very serious contaminant in oil hydraulic systems. Yet, water contamination is rarely identified, poorly understood, and, until recently, considered very difficult to remove. In most cases, the damage done by water is blamed on other factors. Water often works together with other contaminants to produce a combined synergistic degradation of fluid and components.
In the past, hydraulic filtration processes were designed to separate solid contaminants from the hydraulic fluid and, over the last 20 years, the hydraulics industry has made great progress in implementing and maintaining well-conceived solid-contaminant filtration on hydraulic equipment. However, the recent introduction of water-removing filters appears destined to change the focus of fluid power contamination control.