production management
Latest innovations are making cutting fluid filtration and recycling easier and more cost
effective than ever before. By Steed Webzell
Filtering out costs
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Accustrip’s central
plant keeps track
of every litre in the
system and never
mixes clean and
contaminated
fluid.
WITH virtually all machine shops
scrutinising costs in the current
economic difficulties, the effective
filtration and recycling of cutting fluids
is today a much greater priority.
Unfortunately the very nature of cutting
metal on machine tools leads to the
ingress of contaminants such as chips,
tramp oil, grease, dirt and dust into the
cutting fluid. If left, this situation can
lead to the formation of bacteria and
fungus, which is not good for the
ongoing health of the coolant, or the
operator. In order to reuse the cutting
fluid it needs to be cleansed of
impurities using filters and separators.
Today, there are a number of new
innovations designed to automate the
task and provide ongoing savings for the
end user.
For instance, the basis of Accustrip
coolant filtration products (available in
the UK from MacInnes Tooling) is a
patented oil separation system -
essentially a mechanical system with no
moving parts that requires no external
energy to operate. The system extracts
99% of all tramp oil from the coolant in
a process that requires no more than 30-
40 minutes sedimentation time to draw
the tramp oil to the surface ready to
skim. Today Accustrip has a range of
products incorporating this innovative
technology, including its ‘True Full
Flow Central Plant’, a system that keeps
track of every single litre of coolant in
the system and never mixes clean
coolant with contaminated coolant,
ensuring extended fluid life.
Because the Accustrip system does not
require a reserve quantity of coolant in
the sumps beneath each machine it is
possible to lower sump coolant level,
leaving just enough to transport the
tramp oil, chips and other particles
generated by the process to an external
collecting vat that pumps the
contaminated coolant back to the
central plant system for treatment. The
benefits are that the coolant never stands
still, which means minimal risk of
bacterial or fungal growth.
‘One of the Volvo production facilities
in Sweden purchased a True Full Flow
Central Plant last year,’ says Accustrip’s
export manager Morten Dissing. ‘The
requirements were to provide Volvo
with a system that could deliver 5,000
litres of clean coolant per minute to 16
machining centres producing parts
made from cast iron, steel, stainless steel,
aluminium and titanium. The customer
wanted guarantees that more than 95%
of all particles down to 30µm could be
filtered from the coolant and that the
oil separation system could remove
more than 99% of the free tramp oil.’
Thanks to the innovative design of the
Accustrip system at Volvo, the total
amount of coolant it holds, including
the coolant in the pipelines and in the
machining centres is just 20,000 litres.
Fulfilling the same requirements using
a traditional central plant system would
need more than 150,000 litres. The
return on investment for Volvo is
estimated to be less than two years.
Accustrip has now transferred the
technology from its central plant
systems to other products,
such as oil separators and
automatic filtration units,
which are designed to serve
up to four machine tools
simultaneously.
Filtration innovations
For today’s manufacturing
companies, every small
saving in basic housekeeping is
important. Here, Master Chemical
Europe says that its latest innovation can
make a valuable contribution by helping
the manufacturer achieve the best
return on cutting oil. The company’s
new Clean Tower oil filtration system is
designed to reduce oil consumption by
improving its condition to maximise
productivity and working life. Clean
Tower complements existing filtration
systems as its compact design allows it to
be easily moved around the shop floor.
The unit filters oil down to 3µm,
performance that is generally expected
from more complex and expensive
systems.
According to Master Chemical, field
trials of Clean Tower have proved its
value at a manufacturer of carbide
tooling that was facing compromised
productivity and product quality as a
result of particulate in grinding oil. Two
Clean Towers were installed to
supplement existing filtration systems
on two separate grinding machines.
They have proven to be extremely
effective at keeping the grinding oil in
prime condition, negating the need for
disposal and thereby reducing costs.
Grinding, by its very nature, poses
particular problems regarding coolant
filtration as the metal removed from the
workpiece is far finer than that
produced by milling or turning
operations. For this reason, the new Eco
Filter from Kemet International is now
available to anyone wishing to have
clean coolant and cutting oils down to a
level of 0.01µm. An added benefit is the
lack of filter cartridges and paper bands,
ensuring there is nothing to replace or
clean. The whole concept is based
around a system of two filters, each
containing a coil around a second coil
which, with the correct flow rate,
generates static, attracting the small
particles. When the filters reach a point
of saturation, a simple sliding
mechanism and change of flow moves
the sludge into a container and the
filters move back into operation, a
20 MWP july 2009
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