Hydraulic pump unloading valve

[finechem]

new to hydraulics - I have a bank of 4 hydraulic pumps @ nominal 90 gpm each powering various hydraulic equipment (reactor agitators, etc.). The pumps each deliver to an unloading valve and then to system or reservoir. As the fluid is returned (from plant) it goes through a cooling heat exchanger and then back to reservior. Pumps are turned off/on depending on required load. When we only have one pump on and a low flow condition the unloading valve sends flow back to reservior and the cooling heat exchanger is by-passed (recall exchanger is on return from plant) - this results in a very high temperature increase if not discovered. Question, can I re-route discharge from the unloading valve from the reservior to system return line where it will catch the exchanger? Thanks.

 

[MikeHalloran]

An unloading valve _should_ return the pump discharge to the reservoir at essentially zero pressure, so there shouldn't be much heat buildup.

That said, yes, you could modify the system to return through the return heat exchanger, but first check that the unloading valves are actually working correctly.



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[Ashereng]

finechem,

It is usually frowned upon to multiple post - it just creates multiple threads of the same topic and people are not getting the benefit of the other threads.

You may want to insert a link to your other posting, which currently already has 13 replies?


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Albert Einstein
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[finechem]

Sorry for confusion - see thread378-159514 in Piping & fluid mechanics engineering. The discussion has become a good one with equipment and operating condition recommendations.