What Is an Industrial Oil Filtration System?
An industrial oil filtration system is a device used to regenerate lubricating oil or hydraulic oil used in hydraulic equipment from its deteriorated state. Normally, deteriorated oil used in equipment is discarded and replaced with new oil.
However, this method causes all kinds of problems, including the cost of purchasing new oil, oil disposal costs, and increased environmental impact. Therefore, it is important to recycle and reuse oil to reduce costs and environmental impact.
In addition, since industrial oil filtration systems can filter oil while hydraulic equipment is operating, they can also help prevent hydraulic equipment breakdowns. This is because hydraulic equipment malfunctions are mostly caused by contaminated hydraulic oil. Therefore, the introduction of an industrial oil filtration system will ensure the stable operation of hydraulic equipment.
Uses of Industrial Oil Filtration Systems
Industrial oil filtration systems are mainly used in factories where hydraulic equipment is installed. Hydraulic equipment is used as a power source for steelmaking machinery and machine tools and is therefore an indispensable piece of equipment in the production of products.
In recent years, many factories have operated 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and the failure of hydraulic equipment is an obstacle to stable operation.
In addition to hydraulic fluids and lubricants used in hydraulic equipment, industrial oil filtration systems are also used in the food and automotive industries. An example of the food industry is the restaurant industry. Food oil is used in fryers for deep frying food, and if old oil is used continuously, the fried food becomes sticky and impurities adhere to the food. Using old oil will result in the deterioration of quality. Therefore, industrial oil filtration systems are used to clean oil to reduce oil costs and stabilize quality.
In the automotive industry, the oil filtration system is used as a “filtration device” for coolant fluid used in automobile machining.
Industrial oil filtration systems recover chips and sludge generated during cutting operations, thereby extending the life of the coolant fluid and reducing consumption.
Principle of Industrial Oil Filtration Systems
The general filtration method is based on a mechanism in which oil is passed through a porous filter material to remove solid particles. Other than this method, some mechanisms use magnets or centrifugal force to remove oxidation products from the oil. This topic describes the most widely incorporated porous filter.
There are three types of porous filters: Surface Type, Edge Type, and Depth Type, depending on oil flow and solid particle supplementation.
1. Surface Type
The surface type employs a simple filtration method, in which filtration is performed only on the surface of the filter. Therefore, the pressure loss due to the filter is small, but the absorption capacity of solid grains is also small. The filter is mainly made of wire mesh for coarser fineness. For fine filtration, paper is impregnated with coalescing resin and heat-formed.
2. Edge Type
In the edge type, a gap is created along the radial direction from the periphery of the filter material, and oil is filtered as it passes through the gap. This method is employed when the fluid pressure is high. Also, the filter material can be used repeatedly.
3. Porous Filter
In the porous filter, care must be taken to prevent solid particles from clogging only the outer surface of the filter media. Filters are made of thin felt, compressed cotton, cellulose fiber, flannel, molded asbestos, or sintered metal powder.