Mining
Mining & Construction
Equipment in this industry is frequently exposed to severe environmental and working conditions. An effective oil analysis program will help to identify component failures before they occur.
Routinely monitoring fluid and component condition with oil analysis, coolant analysis and fuel analysis can save valuable time and thousands of dollars in lost production.
Oil analysis monitors lubricant properties for signs of contamination and indications that machine wear is occurring. Coolant analysis monitors changes in coolant properties, due to chemical reactions occurring within the cooling system, before they escalate to cooling system or engine failure. It also identifies coolant mixing and deficiencies in cooling system maintenance practices.
Testing fuel deliveries can reduce operational expenses and ensure satisfactory ignition and combustion, compatibility with fuel injection systems and convenient handling at all levels without degradation or contamination
Petrolabs offers multiple levels of fluid testing and analysis and can develop test slates specific to application and equipment type.
Equipment Types
- Diesel Engines
- Transmissions
- Differentials
- Final Drives
- Planetaries
- Hydraulics
- Cooling Systems
- Fuel Storage Tanks & Bulk Delivery
Typical Oil Analysis Tests For Petrochemicals
- Water
- Chemistry such as TAN, TBN Oxidation, Nitration and Sulfation
- Viscosity
- Contamination/Particle Count
- Wear such as concentration of wear metals
- Ferrous Counts
Possible Solutions
- MicroLab 30
- MicroLab 40
- CoolCheck 2
- LubeTrack
Fluid contamination is a leading cause of slower performance, erratic operation, lost productivity, higher operating costs and catastrophic failure of mobile construction machines and equipment. Triple R Technology has proven added value for many customers globally active in the construction market working with mobile vehicles and mobile installations.
Mobile machinery typically use many oil systems to perform tasks in varied locations. The mobile units are by definition expensive equipment that must work when on site. Often, other processes begin only after the mobile machinery has finished its job, so production stops have to be avoided at all expense since stops can delay an entire project.
Unaddressed contaminations lead to inefficiencies with fluid, engine oil as well as hydraulic oil. In hydraulic systems productivity losses can be undetected as efficiencies can drop to 20% before the operator even detects a change in operation. That is losing a day in productivity due to efficiencies each week.
There was a time where hydraulic pressures were much lower than they are today, that clearances between internal metal to metal surfaces where not as tight and we were concerned about contaminants we could see. But as customers ask for more power, higher breakdown forces and faster cycle times, the machinery industry is responding with more sophisticated fluid system designs, higher pressures, tighter clearances and electro-hydraulics have made mobile machinery more productive and easier to operate. However, they have also increased the need for clean fluid systems throughout the life of the product. Operators and maintenance teams now have to be concerned about dirt and other contaminants they cannot see, particles as small as 2 to 5µ. Those small particles can be the beginning of premature wear and efficiency loss and it does not take too many particles to contaminate a system.
A consequence of the outdoor construction application is also that the mobile machinery is prone to water condensation as well as particle contamination in the oil. Triple R Filtration technology can be used with standard filter elements or in case of higher amounts of water with Water Eater Elements (WE) on the mobile equipment to remove particles and condensed water in only one process. It is clear that breakdowns due to contaminated oil results in dramatic effects.
Triple R Filtration systems effectively remove condensed water, sludge, water and particles with one and the same filter element. This high level oil purification increases the reliability, uptime and lifetime of expensive components such as motors, proportional and servo valves.
Typical effects of oil contamination can be cylinder drift, jerky steering, slower performance, erratic operation, shorter service intervals, higher operating costs, lost productivity and catastrophic failure.
Applications include:
- Cranes
- Bulldozers
- Excavators
- Stone Crushers
- Compressors
- Power generators
- Garbage trucks
- Concrete trucks
- Street sweepers

