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June 2011
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Breakthrough technology from Eaton enables high-pressure hydraulic hose assemblies to report their own imminent failure, via embedded real-time monitoring.
 Dubbed LifeSense, this 'hose that knows' condition monitoring system has just been introduced to the North American market at the International Fluid Power Exposition in Las Vegas, and will make its European debut at Hannover Messe, in Germany, on April 4.
The system, which with Purdue University and the Purdue Research Foundation's Office of Technology Commercialisation, continuously monitors hydraulic hose health and alert users when an assembly is approaching end of life.
Doug Jahnke, Eaton product marketing manager, says that, unlike similar products that estimate or predict hose failure mathematically, LifeSense detects hose degradation and alert users so that the assembly can be replaced to prevent downtime. A single monitoring unit can handle input from multiple hose assemblies.
"Most hydraulic maintenance programs are designed to avoid hose failures by replacing assemblies at regular intervals, using a schedule based on usage data or past experience," explains Jahnke.
"As a result, a large number of perfectly good hydraulic hose assemblies are discarded long before the end of their useful life out of fear that they might fail."
Eaton says that laboratory tests show LifeSense hose allows plants to use virtually all of the useful life of a hydraulic hose assembly, yielding more than 50% extra life, and saving on replacement costs and associated downtime while providing peace of mind.
"Additionally, hydraulic hose failure is one of the largest causes of unplanned maintenance events," states Jahnke. "Hose failures in the field present serious safety issues, environmental concerns and result in unscheduled system downtime, all of which have serious economic impacts."
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Author
Brian Tinham
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