Real-World Filtration for
Real-World Conditions

Challenging Cyclic Flow Conditions Can Contaminate Hydraulic Fluid Faster

Dirty and dusty is just another day at the office for operators of mining, heavy construction, agriculture and oil and gas equipment. Unfortunately, it’s also the condition of most of their hydraulic fluid. Anyone who uses hydraulic machinery in the field knows the impact dirty fluid can have on equipment performance and longevity.

Until recently, hydraulic fluid filtration products have been tested using controlled laboratory settings. In the real world, however, hydraulic systems are put through an array of challenging assignments daily, including jolting surge-and-flow operations.

Those conditions – referred to as "cyclic" flow – place far greater demand on your hydraulic equipment and its filtration system. The constant jarring can dislodge previously captured contaminants and release them right back into the hydraulic fluid.

Today’s unforgiving working conditions and precision-engineered equipment demand the most effective filtration. That’s why Donaldson has introduced Alpha-Web™ hydraulic filter media.

Protecting the Pump

The pump is the heart of any hydraulic system. Without a healthy pump, your system can be quickly reduced to reservoir of stagnant fluid and a few meters of hoses and clamps.

Contaminated fluid is one of the biggest contributors to poor pump health. Particles, often as small as 4 microns, can rapidly find their way into system pumps and have a significant impact. If those particles aren’t captured and retained, they will continue to circulate through the system multiplying their effect.

A study from the National Institute of Standards and Technology estimated the maintenance cost for a hydraulic pump at approximately $18 per unit of horsepower (hp) per year.* That means a hydraulic pump with a 300hp motor could cost more than $5,400 in maintenance annually.

When you start to consider the downtime required to service or replace a pump along with the ongoing costs associated with lost productivity, the value of effective hydraulic fluid filtration for heavy-duty equipment can add up to a lower total cost of ownership.

Fine Fiber Provides Contaminant Containment

Alpha-Web features a first-of-its-kind fine fiber layer to trap and lock particles during frequent flow changes. Alpha-Web meets the latest ISO 23369 standards designed to replicate real-world, cyclic-flow operating conditions delivering improved protection and value.

Through testing*, Alpha-Web has been shown to improve hydraulic fluid cleanliness levels by two ISO codes over synthetic media. The result is hydraulic fluid that is up to four times cleaner which can help extend component life by up to 60%.‡

• 2 ISO codes better than traditional synthetic media
• Up to 4x cleaner hydraulic fluid
• Extended component life by up to 60%
  

Better contaminant retention through filtration results in cleaner fluid which contributes to better performance, longer equipment life, and less downtime.

A New Alpha Test Standard

Hydraulic equipment often operates in environments that aren’t accurately re-created by bench tests in a lab. You can never truly re-create all the variables and stresses that, say, a construction site might throw at a hydraulic system, and previous standards didn’t require testing procedures that came close to mimicking those variables. Filter manufacturers can now mimic those parameters per the new ISO test and evaluate filter efficiency, capacity, and the capture and retention of dirt particles with dynamic flowrates reproducing real-world conditions. With the 2021 industry ratification of ISO 23369, lab testing to this new standard now replicates real-world filter working conditions more accurately. That means that yesterday’s Beta efficiency hydraulic filtration technology needs to improve to perform well in today’s Alpha efficiency test standards.

In the past, filters were rated to hold or retain a specific amount of contaminant, but that amount didn’t consider how much contaminant the filter would retain under stress or during those stops and starts. It turns out that hydraulic filters that are exposed to varying flow and pressure rates are less efficient than previous lab test methods have indicated.

To put this in more visual terms: Fill a glass of water with dirt or silt. Eventually, the dirt will settle on the bottom and the water will appear to be mostly clear. Now bump the glass slightly. See how the water clouds up a bit? Imagine that glass is constantly being jarred and jostled in unpredictable ways. The bottom of the glass is a hydraulic filter that meets previous ISO standards. It’s great at keeping the dirt out of the fluid under ideal conditions but add any variable like flow fluctuation and it releases some of the contaminants.

Filtration products designed and tested to standard ISO 23369 will be much better at keeping the dirt out of the fluid under stress, thanks to the required cyclic flow tests and "capacity under dynamic flow" tests.

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