Topic 3.2 Hydraulic systems

     To first identify what failures could occur in a hydraulic system, you need to know how the hydraulic system works. When broken down, a hydraulic system is quite simple. You have the reservoir, which stores the hydraulic fluid. The next component is the pump, relief valve, actuators, and a filter that leads back to the reservoir.  

    A hydraulic system could fail because it either has a loss in hydraulic fluid, or a loss in pressure. Some of these failures can be caused by contamination. If it's from contamination, the filter could be malfunctioned, there was contamination in a component at the time of manufacture or repair, or contamination entered the system. This contamination then leads to the valves being clogged up, then causes overheating issues because the valves are unable to regulate the pressure of the hydraulic fluid. " One of the most common causes of this failure is fluid contamination. If the fluids in your system are contaminated then it results in degrading fluid and affects the valve’s ability to control pressure." (sapphirehydraulics, 2020)

    A way this failure is mitigated in the aircraft is by how often the hydraulic fluid is tested. Each aircraft has a set number of hours they can fly in between testing, but also, when a component is changed in the hydraulic system, from what I remember in the Navy, the system had to be cycled and tested. We cycled the system with the jenny, which had a lower tolerance for contamination allowance than the aircraft itself. 

     

Sapphirehydraulics, (2020, October 9). 7 Reasons Why Hydraulic Systems Fail. Sapphirehydraulics. https://sapphirehydraulics.com/7-most-common-reasons-of-hydraulic-failures/

Comments

  1. Eric JFebruary 27, 2022 at 7:25 PM

    Spoken like a true Airframer or AMH (age depended) back in the day. What you mention is very true, especially in reference to mitigating hydraulic contamination. We used that technique many times back in my troubleshooting days. I am still active duty, but was an AE, so I can definitely relate. Hydraulic contamination and high temperature play a huge role, especially in the fly-by-wire flight control system type aircraft such as the F/A-18. Keeping good and clean hydraulics extends the lifespan of actuators and reduce maintenance man-hours expended. Very interesting post. Thanks for the good read!

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