Hydraulic Fluid Contamination and How it Can Negatively Impact Your Ground Support Equipment

What Is Hydraulic Fluid Contamination?

Hydraulic fluid contamination is when foreign particles, debris or moisture pollute your system's hydraulic fluid. Any type of contamination of hydraulic fluid can cause severe damage to hydraulic systems. In fact, it's been found that more than 75 percent of hydraulic system failures can be directly traced back to dangerous contamination levels in the hydraulic fluid. When hydraulic contamination issues arise, decreased efficiency, expensive repairs and system failures are common occurrences.

What Are the Sources of Fluid Contamination?

In order to effectively prevent hydraulic fluid contamination — and the damage it can cause — it's important to understand the various sources of fluid contamination. Because at the end of the day, contamination can occur almost anywhere. But if you know when and where it's happening, you can take the right steps to correct and minimize any contamination.

Hydraulic Fluid Manufacturing

During the manufacturing and/or assembly process, built-in contamination can occur. While you can't do much to prevent this, you can mitigate the effects by using filters and regularly flushing old hydraulic fluid.

Hydraulic Fluid Production & Storage

Yes, you read that correctly. Contaminants can very easily make their way into hydraulic fluids during the production process and subsequent storage. Because of this, it's crucial that you use a filtration system with any fresh hydraulic fluid prior to placing it in your GSE.

Moisture can also develop while the fluid is in storage, even with "waterproof" containers. This process is called "breathing" and occurs when a container experiences drastic changes in temperatures. By simply storing your containers in a temperature-controlled environment on their sides, you can help minimize these effects.

Handling & Transfer

When handling and transferring hydraulic fluid, you are naturally exposing it to possible contamination via moisture and particles from the environment. So, be sure to keep containers closed when not in use, especially when in an environment that is relatively unclean. It's also important to remember that different types of fluids should never be mixed, so always flush the system before replacing the fluid in your electric aircraft tug or other GSE.

Operation & Maintenance of GSE

During daily operations, hydraulic fluid contamination is bound to occur. When opening a closed hydraulic system, take care to keep hoses and fittings clean and free of debris. It's also a good idea to use lint-free rags. Be sure to use and maintain filters to prevent any internally generated contamination.

Regularly Test & Analyze Hydraulic Fluid

A rigorous program of hydraulic fluid contamination testing, fluid analysis and measurement is the most important part of your reduction strategy. Using a hydraulic testing kit, you'll be able to sample hydraulic fluid at various points in the system. You can then perform an analysis in-house or send it out to a reputable laboratory for further testing. This analysis can give you an accurate measurement of your system's contamination levels, a metric with which to evaluate the cleanliness of your system and the ability to track down the source of the contamination.

Remove Particulate Contamination

If you've identified above-average contamination levels, you'll need to remove the contaminants. It's important to understand that removing contaminants from your hydraulic system is not just time-consuming but also extremely expensive. You'll need to flush the contaminated system, add fresh hydraulic fluid and possibly even remove the old fluid and add new filters.

Keep Everything Clean

When equipment is in the field (and even off the field), it can be difficult to keep contamination under control. Dirt and sand can fall into the hydraulic tank and ports can be left open, allowing moisture to condense. During repairs and maintenance, contamination can easily make its way into your system if you're not careful. The following are just a few things to be mindful of during repairs and maintenance.

• Keep ports closed during repairs.
• Remove any abrasive particles that may be lingering on your workbench from a prior repair.
• Wipe down and thoroughly clean the end of the hydraulic hose before reattaching it.

To combat hydraulic fluid contamination in and out of the field, you need to keep things clean. This includes work surfaces, tools, equipment and the GSE itself. When opening up your GSE's hydraulic system, be extra careful to ensure contamination never has a chance to make its way into the system.

Properly Store & Handle Hydraulic Fluid

To combat minimal contamination, you should properly store and handle hydraulic fluid to reduce moisture. This means ensuring lids are tightly secured, containers are stored on their sides to prevent water from collecting on the top and hydraulic fluid is kept at a consistent temperature to prevent condensation.

Filter Fresh Hydraulic Fluid

Finally, you need to filter any and all hydraulic fluid that enters your GSE hydraulic systems using high-quality filters. This helps to trap any particles that do happen to make their way into your system from the fresh hydraulic fluid.