2017 International Forest Industries Magazines October November 2017 | Page 64

Hydraulic sealing system with
CLEAN GENIUS
Keeps hydraulic
systems dry, even in
the event of leaks
I
n agricultural machines,
numerous functions are
performed hydraulically. High-
performance seals make these
technologies extremely reliable.
So it’s frequently troublesome
when hydraulic oil needs to be
fed to any sort of rotary actuators.
Agricultural machines commonly
contain variators, for example, for
adjusting speed (threshing drum,
reel, blower for cleaning the grain,
cooling fans).
These actuators always need
an rotary intake assembly, which
feeds the oil through the rotating
component (variator disk or fan
hub) to a linear cylinder. The seals
of these rotary intake assemblies
require a minimal amount of
leakage for their own lubrication,
which describes the “sweating” of
these components. As the number
of operating hours increases and
especially when the hydraulic oil is
dirty, the sweating becomes a leak.
A couple of drops of oil are not the
actual problem and according to
a DIN standard, this must even be
expected by the customer.
However, if these drops end
up in the wrong place and, for
instance, come into contact with
the variator belt, or are blown by
the cooling fan onto the engine
and turbocharger, or enter the
radiator core when the fan is
switched over, the consequential
costs are tremendous and outages
at the wrong time are inevitable.
Such potential fire risks are also a
thorn in the side for the insurance
industry.
The goal of the Clean Genius
innovation is to drain away all
oil leaked from these actuators
in a controlled manner, either
back to the oil reservoir or, even
better, to a small transparent
leakage monitoring container.
In this way, the condition of the
seals can be observed at any
time via the amount of leakage
in a corresponding period.
Replacement of the seals can thus
also be scheduled and postponed
to off-peak times. Because a dual
seal system is always necessary
for this technical solution, this
alone increases the service life
accordingly.
The most important benefit,
however, is that costs due to
consequential damage and outages
can be avoided!
Oil leaked from the rotary intake assembly as well as from the
related work cylinders and possibly also from auxiliary seals
(O-rings as shown) is drained away via a second thin line.
Leaked oil is guided to the
drainage channel between the two
O‑rings. The same applies for the
underlying adjustment cylinder, if
applicable.
Leakage return line
Leakage monitoring
container
62 International Forest Industries | OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2017
Feed and drain lines