Machinery Lubrication magazine published by Noria Corporation
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1171112
1954 1956 1958 1962 1966 1969 1970 1973 1976 1988 1978 could attempt to save money by making no investment in contamination control, but the result likely would be unreliable operations and eventually unexpected, premature downtime. Choosing the right amount to invest in contamination control to optimize your return on investment should be the goal. How Clean? How clean should your systems be? You must decide what your motives are. What is the system's failure history? Is the consequence of downtime too great? is is a strategic maintenance decision. In theory, you are attempting to minimize the net eff ect between the investment and the correlated savings from improved reli- ability. In other words, the cost that goes into the oil's cleanliness should be at such an amount that any more or less invest- ment would increase the overall net eff ect. In reality, this exact amount is impossible to pinpoint, but with some considerations of the known factors, you can determine a required cleanliness level with some confi - dence of the benefi ts. In some instances, the benefits of cleaner oil may not outweigh the means, but for the vast majority, the failure of these machines incurs too much risk to not invest in some level of contamination control. In this case, the required level of oil cleanliness can be calculated. The industry's culmination of this cleanliness question has given rise to many methods over the years, one of which is outlined in the ISO 12669 standard. Following is a more detailed discussion of this method along with options for how to best implement it. Required Cleanliness Level As mentioned previously, it's not realistic to assume that someone can "clean up the oil" to the point where all contaminants are removed. Every step cleaner requires a greater maintenance cost, either with better equipment or more time and labor. So, before you start working in one direction, you must establish a target to optimize the costs. is target is the required cleanliness level (RCL). ML Initiated the fl uid power academic program at Oklahoma State University FLUID POWER PIONEER Dr. Ernest C. Fitch (1924-2011), also known as "Bucko," fi rst began his involvement in fl uid power in the early 1950s when he started the fl uid power academic program at Oklahoma State University. This topic become the focus of his career. In 1956 and into the 1960s, he was awarded major contracts in fl uid power research by NASA and the U.S. Air Force to study the effects of contaminants and investigate contamination control test methods for hydraulic systems. During the decades that followed, his contributions became a cornerstone in an industry that was quickly revolutionized by the benefi ts of contamina- tion control. He continued his industry-leading research for more than 30 years, served on many standards committees, and authored several books and more than 200 technical papers. His Fluid Power Research Center provided the research for many ISO standards used today in this industry, including those for particle counters, fi lter beta ratings and fl uid sampling procedures, to name just a few. An extended account of his life can be found at MachineryLubrication.com. Received fi rst contract for research in fl uid power Awarded U.S. Air Force contract to study fl uid contamination in aircraft hydraulic systems Awarded a six-year contract from NASA as a result of a report entitled "Basic Science Program in Filtration Mechanics" Graduated fi rst doctoral student (Roger H. Tucker) in contamination control U.S. Army initiated contamination control program with the basic Fluid Power Research program Fluid Power Research Center approved as the new name for the program by Oklahoma State University Began serving on standards committees, including the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), SAE International, ASTM, American National Standards Institute (ANSI), ISO, BSI Group, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), European Committee for Hydraulics and Pneumatics (CETOP), and Hydravlika Named fl uid power industries professor by the Oklahoma State University Board of Regents Retired from Oklahoma State University Published fi rst edition of "Fluid Contamination Control" Dr. Ernest C. Fitch Timeline www . machinerylubrication.com | September - October 2019 | 37