If you don’t understand the initial design requirements and potential operational requirements then you may not provide a correct hydraulic system design.
Quite a few years ago I was called to a chemical tanker that had stirrers in the top as the chemical inside needed agitation or it would solidify. The customer had a problem with the hydraulic drive motors which were having shaft seal leakage. Also the speed of the motors were not consistent. The motors were a standard gerotor type and the system had no flow control.
The problems with the hydraulic system were:
- The original motors had a pressure shock when they first started due to the torque needed over a minimal time period.
- There was no flow control and each motor turned at a different speed so the chemical’s viscosity was different over the tank.
The solution was to install new motors with drains to remove excess pressure and a Bosch Rexroth pressure compensated flow control valve. The motors were connected in series to minimise the valves required and have a consistent flow and speed. The result was when we went back for a service two years later, there had been no hydraulic motor failures and the motors were turning at the exact same speed that we left them.
The designer of the original system did not fully understand the application and this resulted in the hydraulic system problems we saw.
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