Hitachi EX8000 Excavator
Mag-Shield® stop Repeat Failures and reduce fluid contamination confidence in contamination alarm
system restored.
Challenges
An EX8000 excavator, operating at a mine in Western Australia, has been experiencing repeated failures of its hydraulic main pumps. This has led to interruptions in the mine’s operations and affected overall productivity.
Further complicating matters, the engineering team has been dealing with ongoing false alarms from the contamination alarm system. This system, which is supposed to detect impurities in the hydraulic fluid, has been frequently signalling false positives. This has resulted in unnecessary operational pauses and has questioned the system’s effectiveness.
This case study aims to delve into these issues, with the goal of enhancing the excavator’s performance.
Solution
In response to the challenges, the operator reached out to the Mag-Shield® team.
A Mag-Shield® magnetic filter solution was installed into the main hydraulic tank of the excavator. This innovative solution is designed to capture iron contamination that is generated during normal operation, as well as any residual contamination following a failure.
This prevents the contamination from recirculating within the system, thereby reducing the frequency of false alarms from the contamination detection system. Furthermore, it allows for accurate oil analysis and diagnostic trending to continue, typically at a lower baseline reference. This case study explores the effectiveness of the MagShield solution in addressing the operational challenges faced by the EX8000 excavator.
The state-of-the-art Mag-Shield® filtration system from MagShield® – NEXT GENERATION BEST PRACTICE for fluid contamination control, has been seamlessly installed in the primary hydraulic tank of the Hitachi EX8000 excavator.
Results
In November 2021, a few weeks after the installation of Mag-Shield®, the excavator experienced failures in pumps numbered 15 and 16. However, unlike previous instances, no subsequent hydraulic failures were reported. This was attributed to the Mag-Shield® ability to prevent the recirculation of residual contamination.
The implementation of Mag-Shield® also led to a notable decrease in the number of contamination alarms. Moreover, these alarms became localized to the areas where the contamination was generated, thereby facilitating more efficient issue identification and resolution.
Encouraged by these positive outcomes, the customer has decided to integrate Mag-Shield® into their entire fleet of excavators. The results observed with the EX8000 excavator are consistent with those experienced with other excavator models and makes that have been equipped with Mag-Shield®.
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