Yarl Hydracentre Contributes Towards Productivity Improvements

The implementation of Yarl Hydracentre's 'Through Life Support' process has contributed towards further productivity improvements at a major Cumbria based forest products facility. The debarking, chipping and packaging machines are all critical to their continuous high output process and all use hydraulic systems as their primary power source. The improvements have been realised through a reduction in unplanned machinery breakdowns and increasing output as a result of selecting fluid power systems to meet the customer's requirements and the machinery configuration.

Working closely with their management and maintenance teams Yarl Hydracentre have developed a process of regular machinery inspection and planned maintenance routines. Regular reporting from  Yarl Hydracentre provides their management team with the information they require to plan their maintenance intervals and budgets.

Yarl Hydracentre have taken responsibility for the system inspection and fluid power maintenance activities. Regular monitoring of the plant enables Yarl Hydracentre engineers to draw conclusions and make recommendations to improve the fluid power system reliability

Like most fluid power systems the primary causes of system failure are contamination of the fluid and excess heat. Yarl Hydracentre measured and identified the route cause of fluid contamination then implemented system design changes and maintenance routines to prevent and maintain control of the system fluid cleanliness. Excess heat levels were measured and rather than adding cooling systems Yarl Hydracentre identified the route cause of the problem implementing circuit and component design changes to prevent the creation of heat and in this case with the added bonus of improved cycle time.

The 'Through Life Support' process combines the three core competences of Yarl Hydracentre with a fourth competence, collaboration    

Through gaining an understanding of our cusomers requirements, business development drivers and our awareness of the fluid power supply chain, Yarl Hydracentre are able to deliver benefits of improved operating performance, greater maintenance cost effectiveness, greater safety & environmental integrity and prolonged component life. 

Yarl Hydracentre; adding value, providing solutions and innovation with accountability and ownership.

New Gas Management Plant for BAe Systems Submarines

BAE Systems Submarine Solutions Dockside Test Organisation, based at Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria identified the requirement for a C02 Vaporiser Gas management system for use during the commissioning phase of the build for Astute Class Submarines.

The critical requirement of the process was to ensure only CO2 vapour is delivered to the submarine at temperature and pressure parameters which are very close to the state in which CO2 can exist in both the liquid and gas state.

Yarl Hydracentre engineers used their knowledge of fluid mechanics to clearly define these parameters for the range of test conditions expected to be experienced during the commissioning phase of the submarines. Having established the project scope, the fluid and gas circuits could be designed and the control logic and parameters defined.

The design employed a number of pressure and temperature sensors to provide inputs to the control plc and, in conjunction with a gas vaporiser, output signals sent to control valves ensuring only CO2 gas is output from the plant.

The plant included a scavenge pump designed to extract gas from the liquid CO2 bottles when the internal pressure dropped below the required output pressure. The pump automatically maintains the required gas output pressure using proportional valve technology in conjunction with the system plc. The Co2 bottle pressures are monitored and when empty the system automatically changes the supply to a second bottle providing BAe Systems with the 4 hour continuous delivery of gas they required.

The complete system was assembled in a compact cabinet at Yarl Hydracentre's Barrow facility. Following Yarl Hydracentre's own commissioning and test programme, BAe Systems Dockside Test Facility engineers witnessed a comprehensive test programme at the Barrow facility which concluded with a full simulation of BAe's gas generation process proving the full functionality of the plant.

 Real Time Fluid Power System Simulation

Engineers at Yarl Hydracentre have introduced a software package providing real time fluid power circuit simulation.

This tool provides our engineers with the ability to simulate a fluid power system performance verifying the circuit design at the very early stages of development. Multiple design options can be reviewed to provide customers with the optimum solution, the output from the simulator used to communicate the options with customers clearly demonstrating the benefits of each scenario.

The simulation allows our engineers to manipulate system inputs and analyse the resulting system performance. It is particularly useful on complex circuits where the dynamic performance of one element may affect the performance of associated elements.

The data base within the software contains performance characteristics for most proprietary pumps, motors, valves and filters, such that the circuit design is accurately represented and simulated.

The software is particularly useful for verifying internal flow rates, confirming the velocities of motors and cylinders assisting with the justification of pump capacities.   

Safety Case Analysis

In real time we are able to fully simulate the operation of a circuit, demonstrating all modes of operation including scenarios not planned as part of the equipment function. This feature is particularly useful for safety case analysis, identifying operational risk well in advance of prototype development. The documented simulation can be used to clearly communicate risk analysis to groups not without the end user. 

Applications

Yarl Hydracentre have used the simulator to verify the synchronisation of hydraulic motors mounted to a food processing mill operating under a number of load and no load conditions, verification of accumulator performance and verification of cylinder performance, taking into account the oil flow rates through extended complex pipe runs.

Diagnostics

By reverse engineering existing fluid power systems creating a simulation which is a true representation of real systems, the simulator can then be used to identify the root cause of poor performance of problematic circuits. The diagnostic tools within the simulator enable our engineers to measure pressure and flow at any selected points within the circuit, quickly providing data required for fault diagnosis. No need to add additional test points to real systems.

The software allows the generation of conventional schematic drawings using internationally recognised symbols and can be presented as a record of the circuit design.