Maintenance of accumulator

Maintenance of accumulator

Accumulators are subject to the safety legislation of pressure vessels when the pressure and volume exceed certain limits.

Accumulator is one of the, dangerous, items in the hydraulic system. With a large pressurized fluid volume store hydraulic energy, if released in an uncontrolled manner can cause serious injury.

Accumulator should be equipped with a safety unloading valve. This valve allows the accumulators to be isolated and discharged to the tank prior to system maintenance.

The precharge pressure will vary for different applications and is critical in the proper operation of the accumulator.It is therefore wise to contact the manufacturer or consult the manufacturer’s data before using an accumulator in a system.

Never overpressure any accumulator during precharge or operation as the vessel could explode. As this procedure implied safety measures must be carried out by skilled person.

Maintenance is the first step to eliminate malfunction and breakdowns in the hydraulic system.

For safety reason all accumulators should be drained down before attempting any service or maintenance of accumulator on a hydraulic system

A good measure of warning about pressure in the accumulator is to use a sign with the following message: ’’Attention, Accumulators under pressure, beware’’

Records should be kept of past failures and the action initiated along with data containing details such as oil tests, oil changes, filter replacements, preacharging a hydro-pneumatic accumulator, etc.

Basic maintenance action plan:

1. Using common sense for a good maintenance. Think before act is the most important step but the one most overlooked.
2. When talking about Hydraulic always try to work in a clean environment.
3. Always check manual, instruction, procedure, recommendation and drawings of hydraulic equipment manufactures.
4. Hydraulic system intervention required skill personnel.

Over 70% of fault in hydraulic system are due to contamination. Filters can reduce this percentage if maintenance on them is carried out.

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