A Unique and Innovative flushing test bench for cleanliness assessment of hydraulic components that allows to increase test efficiency and reduce costs

Project Information

CLEAN CABINET

Grant agreement ID: 808658

DOI

10.3030/808658

Project closed

EC signature date 31 January 2018

Start date 1 January 2018

End date 30 April 2018

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies – Nanotechnologies

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

OILSAFE SRL
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - CLEAN CABINET (A Unique and Innovative flushing test bench for cleanliness assessment of hydraulic components that allows to increase test efficiency and reduce costs)

Reporting period: 2018-01-01 to 2018-04-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Many failures in hydraulic systems caused by contaminant particles due to poor cleaning during manufacturing. Big impact on performance (losses in precision, efficiency and yield), rising overall energy consumption. So, end-users of hydraulic parts ask suppliers to guarantee cleanliness.
Tests are complex, not efficient and expensive 2-step processes:
1 extraction and collection of contaminants
2 analysis in clean room lab by skilled operators
CLEAN CABINET is a disruptive cleanliness test bench. It allows to test hydraulic parts at much lower cost and more efficiently, being a big jump from the state-of-art.
It is a single device that integrates contaminant extraction/collection and image analysis. Neither skilled operators nor costly lab are needed. This low-cost system is more efficient, much faster and can be easily integrated in manufacturing lines and in automotive and aeronautic sectors.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Technical
- flushing module
- analysis system
- control unit
Commercial
- very costly solutions: opportunity for new developments.
- Italy: 2nd hydraulic European producer. OilSafe placed in an area that holds 70% of Italian hydraulic sector
- The market drivers and potential risks have been analysed: contingency actions have been posed
- CLEAN CABINET is the only solution that integrates cleaning and analysis into same device: drastic reduction of cost/test ratio
- No IP right issues. Key developments to be patented
- Step by step commercial deployment
- Dissemination and communication: kick-off event during international fair. List of trade fairs and technical conferences in Europe.
Financial
- Projections with different scenarios
- Estimated selling prices
- Expected ROI (5th year) is 5.3 (+ more than 8 new employees).
We have decided to go for phase 2. We have outlined WPs and main tasks.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Procedure for cleanliness testing: contaminants extracted by rinsing and collected by filter. Then, analysis by skilled technicians in a clean room lab. Complex, long and expensive process.
CLEAN CABINET, a compact cleanliness testing system, integrates extraction and analysis into same device, automating the process and enabling non-skilled operators to use it. It is very efficient (more analyses in less time) and can be easily integrated in production lines. The costs drop abruptly.
It is a disruptive solution to improve quality in hydraulic systems (also in automotive/aeronautic systems through which a fluid flows). It leads to reduction of breakdowns and to significant energy savings.

image-1.png