If you are looking to replace or retrofit a Hydraulic Power Unit, you need to understand the key components which have made modern HPUs smaller, quieter, and more efficient.

Gone are the days of being limited to just a fixed-speed Hydraulic Power Unit.  In fact, the new variable-speed HPUs are far more energy efficient, and they are starting to dominate the market. Add in the fact that these new units include built-in sensors, diagnostics, and even cloud capabilities, making them very easy to connect to an IoT (Internet of Things) environment, and it’s fairly easy to see why they have become so popular.  The sheer amount of predictive maintenance data alone makes the investment worth it!

The most important part of replacing a Hydraulic Power Unit is understanding how the modern hydraulic system design differs from the older conventional systems in aspects like size, noise, energy efficiency, connectivity, and total cost of ownership.  Let’s take a look at those differences…

The Main Differences Between Conventional and Modern Hydraulic Power Units

Hydraulic Power Unit Size

HPU size is often determined by the size of its hydraulic fluid reservoir. For traditional HPUs, the reservoir minimum is normally two to five times the maximum pump flow.

Conversely, modern HPUs can be designed to a 1:1 flow/reservoir size ratio due to pump controls,  advanced manifold design, and the use of variable frequency-driven motors to drive the pumps.  As a result, a unit that produces a max flow of 150 GPM per minute may only need a reservoir capacity of 150 gallons, or 75 percent less reservoir capacity than a traditional HPU.

Hydraulic Power Unit Noise

By operating at variable speeds, modern units are quieter because they don’t demand their full power at all times.  Instead, they are only delivering the power needed at any given time.

Furthermore, modern systems can be built from materials that dampen sound and minimize vibrations by using designs like a liquid-cooled motor, compact arrangement of components, unitary housing, and built-in sound-insulating mats.

Hydraulic Power Unit Energy Efficiency

A fixed-speed HPU operates at 100 percent motor speed at all times. In turn, any energy not being used to do work is converted to heat. This all results in higher energy costs and excess heat production that must be controlled using cooling – which requires even more energy.

Variable-speed systems adjust energy output to match the demands of the operation. As such, variable-speed HPUs have demonstrated energy savings of up to 80 percent. Lower, more controlled operating speeds also reduce the unit’s heat output, allowing it to run cooler and reduce or eliminate the need for additional cooling measures and their associated costs.

Hydraulic Power Unit Connectivity

With a modern HPU, access to cloud-based diagnostics and data analytics tools streamlines workflows and reduces the demand on personnel to capture critical data and troubleshoot equipment in person.

Some HPUs include case drain flow/temperature, particle counter, energy consumption, pump damage, and other monitoring parameters, with real-time access to performance and usage reports 24/7 via dashboards on a mobile device.

Hydraulic Power Unit Total Cost of Ownership

Modern variable-speed HPUs may be more of an investment upfront, but manufacturers with high energy costs driven by fixed-speed HPUs will see more value and a faster return on their investment.

 

Atlantic Hydraulic Systems has designed, manufactured, and commissioned many key elements in the fight against the rising tides of the world.

We live in a busy society which is dependent on our ability to travel, transact business, gather at social events, and connect with other humans on multiple levels. With each passing day, however, our need to connect is also contributing to adverse affects on our planet.

The Earth’s Temperature Is Slowly Rising And Our Water Levels Are Rising Along With It

Ultimately, the earth is getting warmer and that increase in temperature – however subtle or blatant it may be – is contributing to higher ocean tides and rising water levels on a global scale.

Our oceans absorb over 90% of the excess heat generated by our planet and that is throwing some major complications into the delicate ecosphere. Increases in temperature are adding to the overall water volume on the planet by melting giant ice sheets and glaciers. This, thereby, contributes to sea level rise.

As sea levels rise, there’s an adverse effect on our lands, weather, and the frequency of floods in areas which are otherwise usually free of flood dangers.

To that end, our society is placing ever more emphasis on stormwater management, flood protection and water control gates to either mitigate damage, or outright prevent damage from rising water levels.

Atlantic Hydraulic Systems Is Playing A Major Role In Mitigating And/Or Preventing Unnecessary Damage From Rising Tides

In turn, Atlantic Hydraulic Systems has designed, manufactured, and commissioned many key elements in the fight against the rising tides of the world including Hydraulic

 Power Units, Hydraulic Control Panels and Hoist Winch Control Panels for water control management systems like: Crest Gates, Sluice Gates, and Tainter Gates.

Important aspects in the hydraulic power unit and control system design for Crest, Sluice and Tainter Gates are:

• Designing for emergency gate closure and opening in a no power condition
• Ability of the gate hydraulics to detect gate blockages while moving to protect structure
• Gate position feedback and monitoring
• Design for no single point failure event possibility using redundant pumps & controls
• Ability to control operation locally or via a SCADA system – which is a control system architecture for high-level supervision of machines and processes.

 

Our Recent Projects To Help Combat The Effects Of Floodwater and Rising Tides

Atlantic Hydraulic Systems designed, manufactured and commissioned the flood gate hydraulics and control systems at Seabrook Gates in New Orleans. Atlantic’s on-site technicians directed the installation of the HPU, hydraulic cylinders, hydraulic plumbing and both high voltage and control wiring.

The gates are controlled using a user-friendly graphic interface and provides closed loop position control of the gates and safety interlocks with the gates locking

mechanisms.

We even designed, manufactured and installed the hydraulic system for the Orleans

 Avenue Gates in New Orleans, LA after Hurricane Katrina.

Five hydraulically driven winches were placed to lift and lower massive gates to prevent water flow in the canal during a storm.

The HPU is designed to communicate with the municipal SCADA systems as well as to be run manually.

Most Recently, after Hurricane Sandy, we were commissioned to design and manufacture both the temporary and permanent hydraulic systems during the

 Metropolitan Ave Bridge machinery replacement in New York, NY. Now, two of our 60

HP hydraulic power units and four 10″ bore x 96″ stroke cylinders drive the two massive leaves of the bridge in addition to four of our 7.5 HP hydraulic power units which drive the tail locks into place.

 

We at Atlantic Hydraulic Systems may not be able to control the earth’s temperature – but we are certainly on the forefront of how we can prevent or mitigate any damage of the rising tides or flooding which may be happening as a result.