Posted to News on 13th Aug 2020, 10:04
Air bleed orifices improve hydraulic system efficiency
Like engineers in other sectors, many machine builders who are turning to hydraulics remain keen to reduce the weight and size of their designs. Concurrently, there is often a need to cater for increased system pressures and also to reduce system pressure losses and to assist with this, The Lee Company has just introduced a new range of air bleed orifices. Lee's Industrial Micro Hydraulics Group (IMH) has developed its new 5.5mm Air Bleed Orifice as a solution to the problem of removing trapped air in hydraulic systems - which can clearly cause issues with system performance given that air is compressible and hydraulic fluid is not. Trapped air causes slower system reaction times, a "spongy feel' and can degrade performance in a system.
For some engineers, the traditional way to remove trapped air is often to drill a small hole approximately 0.5mm in diameter in the manifold allowing this air to escape back to the sump, thus eliminating its negative effect on overall system performance. However, this drilled hole also allows hydraulic fluid to flow out of the system resulting in the potential for significant hydraulic loss, inefficient system performance, wasted energy and potential environmental problems.
Lee states that its Air Bleed Orifice removes this trapped air whilst keeping hydraulic pressure losses to an absolute minimum. It utilises a small precision flow orifice, with an integral 25um safety screen for contaminant protection which allows trapped air to escape but is small enough to restrict most hydraulic fluid from passing through it. Crucially, this minimises system losses and enables designers to optimise system component sizing. This can significantly contribute to improved efficiency, a reduction in overall system weight and (ultimately) lower costs.
The Air Bleed Orifice is 100 per cent flow tested for consistent performance, and Lee says that it helps to reduce system losses by up to 99 per cent whilst the integral safety screen ensures reliability. Its compact size and self-retained design for easy installation make it suitable for high volume applications in automotive, off-road, machine and other industrial hydraulic systems says Lee.
For more information about the new 5.5mm Air Bleed Orifice visit www.leeproducts.co.uk.
