Our partnership has continued to thrive for almost 20 years, since the beginning of Phoenix Materials Testing in 2003, and before then the customer received services from our predecessor ESH Testing. Our customer is a European manufacturer of missiles and missile systems to support the armed forces.
Annual Calibration and Service Visit Proves the Importance of Regular Maintenance to Avoid Costly Machine Repairs - UK Missile and Defence Sector
The Importance of Regular Maintenance
During our site visit, it was apparent that there was a fast-flowing leak from the servo valve on one of the actuators, and the top two bolts were loose from general repair. We tightened the bolts to resolve the issue.
If the bolts had remained loose, there was a high possibility that debris or contaminants could get into the servo valve, causing more damage to the actuator and hydraulic system of the machine.
During this year’s calibration visit, a considerable amount of drift was noted within the 250kn load cell compared to last year’s readings. Although the results were satisfactory for the work being carried out, the amount of drift was concerning and could be an indication that the load cell had reached the end of its life span.
We also found that one of the actuators was not able to reach its maximum applied force of 50Kn, reaching only 10kn. Both hydraulic power packs had been connected to the manifold, which resulted in the oil being pumped from the smaller tank to the larger tank. We pumped new hydraulic oil into the smaller pump and disconnected the larger pump from the manifold.
Case Study Highlights
- Servicing of eight off actuators in varying capacities, plus their hydraulic power units
- Preventative maintenance checks on all equipment
- Repairing minor faults
- Replaced filter elements, drained existing oil, and re-filled new oil into the hydraulic power packs
- Resolving power pack connectivity issues to the manifold
- Ongoing investigations into poor performance of the HPU
Find out more about our routine maintenance and servicing options
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Our Recommendations
The calibration was attempted again, but this time only 20kN of applied force could be reached. The engineers checked the pressure, but it was not able to perform the required pressures, reaching only 50-60bar.
We believed there could be two possible reasons; there could be an issue causing the pump to dump the oil in the system, therefore reverting the pressure back to the tank instead of the actuator, or an issue may have arisen in the pump due to it running dry when both HPUs were connected to the manifold.
In addition to this, it was found that there was a slow leak within the actuator from the connection points between some of the hoses and the actuator. The hoses had noticeable damage on the outer layer from constant use over time.
"We made several recommendations to our customer to help them maintain their machines more efficiently. The hydraulic power pack would require further investigation, as the lack of pressure could cause further damage to the system."
Following the calibration, the Phoenix engineers made several recommendations, including:
- Further investigation is needed to examine the smaller HPU to find out why the pressure reading is so low when the pump is engaged
- New hoses are required on the small HPU to avoid any further leaking or damage
- Over the next six months, the load cell needs to be observed carefully to ensure that it continues to operate as expected. The Phoenix service and calibration engineers will return in six months to conduct a calibration check to see if any further drifting has occurred and replace if required.
It is important to carry out preventative maintenance checks during calibration visits so that any issues can be identified and rectified. Poor machine performance can lead to complete failure and a loss of function, resulting in machine downtime and costly repairs.
If you would like to find out more about our service and calibration plans, and how we can help provide a full maintenance programme for your test machines, contact us on 01384 382 253 or contact us online.
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Or you can call us on +44(0)1384 382 253
Certifications
Rolls Royce Technical Approval for High Temperature and Environmental Testing
The Design, Manufacture, Commissioning, Maintenance and support of Materials Testing Machines. ISO 9001 - ISO 14001, Cert. No. 15997
