Hydraulic cylinders are vital components in a wide range of industrial and mobile equipment, responsible for generating the linear force needed for various mechanical operations. However, like any mechanical device, hydraulic cylinders require regular maintenance and occasional repairs to ensure optimal performance and longevity. In this article, we will explore the essential aspects of hydraulic cylinder maintenance and provide practical tips on how to troubleshoot and repair common issues that might arise. Proper care can help avoid costly downtimes and extend the service life of these critical components.
Hydraulic Cylinder Maintenance Procedures
(1) Preparation
① Hydraulic cylinders should be repaired by trained technicians during regular maintenance or in case of failure.
② Should have a maintenance plan, check the fault, prepare materials, spare parts, tools, etc., scheduled for a good period of time.
③ Prepare a good maintenance site, deal with the leakage (leakage) oil equipment to ensure clean, pollution-free operation.
④ Before dismantling the hydraulic cylinder, be sure to support and fix the connecting parts (e.g. slider, etc.), and use lifting tools to lift.
⑤ Pre-evaluation should be carried out on the recovery of performance (including accuracy), safety and reliability of the hydraulic cylinder after repair if necessary.
⑥ The hydraulic cylinder must be serviced after shutdown, including disconnection of the main power supply (power source).
(vii) After dismantling the connector at the oil port, sealing measures should be taken immediately to avoid and minimize pollution of the environment.
⑧ General hydraulic cylinder disassembly should be completed by the manufacturer. The manufacturer and the user agreed to disassemble by the user, the manufacturer should generally provide operating instructions.
Warning: In the disassembly of hydraulic cylinders at the port of the joints and piping before the hydraulic cylinder must be driven by the hydraulic cylinder and the connection (such as slider, etc.) to disconnect, and will be the hydraulic cylinder chamber pressure relief to zero. Otherwise, it may be dangerous to disassemble the hydraulic cylinder.
(2) Disassembly
① In accordance with the drawings and process (operating instructions) disassembly of hydraulic cylinders, to prevent brutal disassembly, such as direct hammering cylinder parts
② Dismantling before inspection, without the installation of online monitoring devices for the degree of contamination of the working medium, should be sampling the working medium in the hydraulic cylinder cavity, and then clean the surface of the hydraulic cylinder. Offline analysis of the working medium should be synchronized with the hydraulic cylinder maintenance
③ After the cleaning treatment, the hydraulic cylinder should be the first installation and connection parts of the inspection, and make a record.
④ The seals on the piston seal (system) and piston rod seal (system) must be inspected and recorded before disassembling, and the disassembly should do its best to ensure its integrity and not to damage other parts. The disassembled seals (including stop, support ring, etc.) must be scrapped, but should be in accordance with the provisions of the regulations.
The disassembled seals (including stops and support rings) must be scrapped, but should be kept for a period of time according to the regulations for inspection.
⑤ In addition to the external dimensions of the hydraulic cylinder, cylinder bore, piston rod diameter, piston diameter, guide sleeve (cylinder head) with the hole and shaft (mainly guide sleeve bore), the surface quality of the seals groove and the size of the inspection, the main parts involved in the failure to focus on checking and analysis.
⑥ To find the cause of failure that failure analysis is a science, should be completed by engineers and technicians with professional knowledge in collaboration with the engineers and technicians to make the “failure analysis report”, the hydraulic cylinder parts and components were to take measures, including reuse, repair, replacement, modify the design of the re-creation, scrapping or return of the entire machine (scrapping) and so on.
⑦ Regular maintenance of the disassembly, there should also be a “failure analysis report. Hydraulic cylinders and cylinder parts function to reduce or have serious damage or hidden danger, continue to use the loss of reliability and safety of parts or the machine to make specific instructions. (8) did not make a “failure analysis report” of the disassembled hydraulic cylinder, shall not be reassembled.
(3) Maintenance
① Need to repair parts should be transported (moved) away from the disassembly workshop.
② Not disassembled hydraulic cylinder is not allowed to weld.
③ Maintenance shall not destroy the original hydraulic cylinder and cylinder parts of the benchmark, in particular, shall not destroy the piston rod two center hole.
④ Repaired hydraulic cylinder should try to meet the relevant standards, such as cylinder bore, piston rod outer diameter, piston threads, oil ports, seals grooves (grooves) and so on.
⑤ Specific problems, specific analysis, and the use of safe, reliable, fast, better than good repair methods to repair. In general, in addition to the replacement of all seals, including retaining rings, support rings, etc., hydraulic cylinders and cylinder parts can be repaired poorly.
⑥Due to strength, stiffness problems and deformation, fracture of the cylinder parts generally can not be repaired and reuse, that is, there is “no repairability”.
(4) Assembly
① Hydraulic cylinder assembly should be carried out in accordance with the hydraulic cylinder assembly process.
The cylinder should be assembled in accordance with the hydraulic cylinder assembly process.
② All parts used for hydraulic cylinder assembly must be qualified parts, including outsourced parts and purchased parts. If it is necessary to use the reused parts which have been damaged and out of specification for assembly, it must be approved.
③ All original seals must be replaced, including retaining ring, support ring, etc.
(iv) Ensure that the hydraulic cylinder cleanliness requirements.
(5) test
① Repaired hydraulic cylinder should be tested on the test bench after passing, and then used in the host computer installation (group) ② the use of the host computer hydraulic system to test the hydraulic cylinder, there are dangers
Possible dangers are:
- a. unpredictable misoperation, malfunctioning
- b. Hydraulic fluid injection, splashing.
- c. Fire or explosion.
- d. Crushing of other parts, etc.
③ Hydraulic cylinders should be connected to the driven parts (e.g. slide) only after at least a sealing performance test.
④ Hydraulic cylinders should be operated without load and at low speed for several times until the air inside the cylinder is purged before connecting with the driven parts.
⑤ Measuring instruments can be used to repeatedly check the leakage in the hydraulic cylinder.
Hydraulic Cylinder Maintenance
Maintenance of the hydraulic cylinder is important to ensure the safety and reliability of the hydraulic cylinder and to extend the service life of the hydraulic cylinder. The maintenance of the hydraulic cylinder should be carried out in strict accordance with the system manual, and the main content of the daily maintenance is to ensure that the working medium is clean and work under the specified temperature. Specifically should include the following:
- Hydraulic oil filtration, replacement or replenishment.
- Guarantee adequate pressure for heat exchanger heat transfer.
- Regularly replace the hydraulic oil and filter the oil, and change the oil in time according to the oil change cycle.
- Detect the oil temperature and oil quality at prescribed regular intervals, and keep the hydraulic cylinder (fluid) working within the prescribed temperature range.
- Overhaul and replace all seals and some parts according to the specified time.
- The piston rod is coated with anti-rust oil every year to keep it clean and prevent rusting.
- General hydraulic cylinder should be carried out after experiencing (severe) vibration, tilting and swaying stress before driving work.
- Occur (now) failure of the hydraulic cylinder should be checked and repaired in a timely manner, shall not work with disease.
- Long-term idling of the hydraulic cylinder should be lowered to the land position of the hydraulic cylinder ministries, but shall not be emptied of hydraulic fluid.
- Protect the outer surface of the hydraulic cylinder from damage and can be repainted.
- Keep good signs and nameplates, do not replace the signs.
- Piston for ripping machine, shall not be used as an accessory to the hydraulic cylinder start lifting and hole or lifting hook (ring).
- Reach the expected service life of the hydraulic cylinder should generally be scrapped. If the user continues to use, it needs special protection.
- Hydraulic cylinder is a hydraulic machine (liquid) of the main components, once the failure, hydraulic machine (liquid) may be forced to stop.
Hydraulic cylinder is a more sophisticated hydraulic components, need to have specialized skills of personnel carefully maintained and maintained. Hydraulic cylinder maintenance and maintenance should be included in the hydraulic machine (liquid) of the technical documents, and to develop specific implementation.
If you have any questions about maintaining or repairing your hydraulic cylinders or need expert advice on optimizing your hydraulic systems, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. Our team of experienced professionals is here to assist you. Contact us today at jeff@east-ai.cn for a personalized consultation or to discuss your specific needs. We look forward to helping you achieve peak performance with your hydraulic equipment!
