How Can Bypass Filtration Units Revolutionise the Plastic Moulding Process?

Every manufacturer within the Plastic Moulding trade knows that machinery breakdowns and the associated costs and downtime are a huge burden for the industry and their profits. Injection moulding equipment is found in factories manufacturing everything from wheelie bins, to car parts and lawnmowers. One major factor in machinery breakdown can be dirty oil in the hydraulic system; causing inefficiency, blockages and failure. This leads in turn to lots of down time and repair costs. Breakdowns and inefficiency due to poorly filtered oil is a widespread problem.

There tend to be at least three filters already in the hydraulic system of an injection moulding machine, fitted by the OEM; a suction strainer, a pressure filter and a return line filter. These three filters can be very expensive to change, but must be changed regularly in order to ensure that oil remains clean and free of contaminants. Changing these filters involves shutting down the machinery, purchasing expensive new filters and all the associated downtime and service costs.

Apex offer a bypass filtration unit, which can be fitted to the hydraulic system of almost any injection moulding machine. The unit works by cleaning a very small amount of oil at a time, (so it is able to filter it to a very high standard) and sending it back to the reservoir clean. Apex partner with a British company which manufactures the steel unit and filter element. The unit is mostly used for engines and vehicles – but Apex has discovered the huge benefits found in fitting it to hydraulic systems and has overseen the dramatic effects of its usage.

Apex offer a bypass filtration unit, which can be fitted to the hydraulic system of almost any injection moulding machine. The unit works by cleaning a very small amount of oil at a time, (so it is able to filter it to a very high standard) and sending it back to the reservoir clean. Apex partner with a British company which manufactures the steel unit and filter element. The unit is mostly used for engines and vehicles – but Apex has discovered the huge benefits found in fitting it to hydraulic systems and has overseen the dramatic effects of its usage.

One business that has experienced a dramatic improvement in its machinery thanks to the filtration units, is a small family company with five oil injection moulding machines. The machines were poorly maintained and the oil in the reservoirs had not been changed in 10 years, resulting in huge running costs due to inefficiency. When the oil was analysed it was found to be NAS 12. (National Aerospace Standard. NAS 12 is the most highly contaminated reading possible. Oil would be expected to come out of a barrel at NAS 8 and then be cleaned up by the filtration system before entering the workings of the machinery). NAS 12 within the hydraulic system can result in inefficiency, blockages, failure and breakdowns. Apex fitted a filtration unit onto one of the machines. Initially they changed the filters every six weeks, and then as the oil became cleaner they started changing them every 12 weeks. The oil went from NAS 12 to NAS 6! This made a massive difference to the running costs of the machinery and the customer fitted the rest of his machines with the filtration units, now enjoying no breakdowns caused by dirty oil and almost no downtime.

Once a filtration unit has been fitted, Apex warranty the oil, committing to a service life of ten years.

The filtration units keep oil so clean, that the machinery should see no breakdowns associated with components being damaged by dirty oil. This saves the operator massive amounts in service costs, as well as all the loss of profit experienced while machinery is out of action.

The filtration units keep oil so clean, that the machinery should see no breakdowns associated with components being damaged by dirty oil. This saves the operator massive amounts in service costs, as well as all the loss of profit experienced while machinery is out of action.

One of the biggest benefits of the filtration units is that a service engineer can isolate the filtration unit filters and change them without stopping the machinery, meaning no downtime for the equipment.

The filters in the filtration unit are also substantially less expensive than the OEM filters are likely to be. The straightforward change also means that labour costs are minimal. The filtration unit filter could be termed a “sacrificial filter” as regular changes of it mean that the other filters remain cleaner for far longer, and can even last as long as the oil (up to ten years).

The valve on the top of the filter housing forces the oil back in before changing the filter, so that oil doesn’t spill over the sides as the filter is changed, meaning that the filter comes out dry. This results in three main benefits; no spillage of oil into the immediate environment; no waste of expensive hydraulic fluid; no contamination resulting from dirty oil that has been exposed to the atmosphere being put back into the machine.

Apex can arrange for changing of the rig filters. We also dispose of the filters (which are subject to laws on controlled disposal) free of charge for the customer.