Hydraulic fluid deserves special mention in this context, as the most frequent causes of failure of hydraulic components can be attributed to solid particle contamination in the hydraulic fluid. These particles principally affect the fit of certain components such as valve seats or piston clearance in the cylinder. In addition to the risk of total failure of a component, increased wear of the fit clearances is a serious problem as this jeopardises process reliability. The more a system is subjected to abrasive wear, the more the hydraulic fluid is contaminated with particles so that the problem of contamination and wear is exacerbated.

In order to improve the ultra-fine filtration of the central hydraulic system, ARBURG has for some time been using filter elements for a particle size of 3 µm as standard. The glass-fibre fleece is significantly more effective than the 10 µm paper filters used to date. This increased performance is particularly evident during installation and commissioning of new machines: the interval for the first replacement of the filter element has been increased from 300 to 5000 operating hours. The advantages of the improved ultra-fine filtration are significant long term. Reduced wear to the hydraulic system increases the service life of the components and guarantees a higher degree of process reliability. Costly machine downtime is reduced.

Of course, the filter elements are not exclusively for use in new machines. As genuine ARBURG spare parts, they can be retrofitted to existing series of ALLROUNDER models already in production.