Hi all!
My project is a continuation of a project that was already in progress at the Milwaukee School of Engineering before I arrived; my task over the summer is to try to explain the results they are getting.
The project is focused on the prevention of static electricity accumulation in hydraulic lubricant filtration system. Static electricity is undesired because it can cause sudden discharges and sparks, which can damage system components. Static electricity in filtration systems is caused by the triboelectric effect, which is the separation of charge when two substances rub together - ie the lubricant and the filter media. The magnitude of the generated charge depends on the conductivity of the lubricant and filter media, the flow rate of the fluid, and the contact area between the two.
Recently, electrostatic dissipative (ESD) filters have been released on the market to prevent static charge accumulation. MSOE has been testing one of these ESD filters to verify its effectiveness, but while the filter has shown significant reductions in static electricity when the filter is set up as a return filter in the tank, it does not have the same beneficial effects when the filter is setup inline before the tank. My project this summer is to try to figure out why the filter works for one setup and not the other. If I do figure out the cause, my results could set the groundwork for the design of an antistatic filter that works in all applications!
Sophia Dolan
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