Hydraulic systems are the workhorses of industrial operations—and when they fail, the consequences extend far beyond repair costs. A hydraulic failure typically means production downtime, cleanup of leaked oil, and potentially damaged equipment. But what if you could catch these failures before the catastrophic moment? One recent deployment showed how monitoring hydraulic oil tanks can provide exactly that early warning.
Our field team had been encouraging site managers to install AT-R sensors on hydraulic oil tanks with a specific failure mode in mind: detecting leaks. The reasoning was straightforward—if hydraulic oil is leaking somewhere in the system, the hydraulic pump has to work harder to maintain pressure, which raises the temperature in the reservoir tank. Temperature monitoring would give operators an early heads-up that something was wrong in the system.
What happened next proved the value of comprehensive monitoring in ways we hadn't anticipated.
The sensor deployment on this hydraulic tank did detect a problem—just not the one we were looking for. Instead of a leak, the heat exchanger attached to the oil tank failed.
Heat exchangers are critical components in hydraulic systems. They keep hydraulic oil at optimal operating temperatures, preventing thermal degradation of the fluid and maintaining consistent system performance. When a heat exchanger fails, the oil temperature rises rapidly—and in this case, the failure also generated significant vibration.
The AT-R sensor detected both anomalies simultaneously: elevated temperature readings and unusual vibration patterns. This dual-signal detection was crucial because it provided operators with a more complete picture of what was happening with the equipment.
The threshold-based alerts triggered immediately when both temperature and vibration exceeded normal operating parameters. Operations received real-time notification of the problem, allowing them to shut down the equipment before the failure cascaded into more serious damage.
By catching the heat exchanger failure early, the site avoided several costly scenarios:
Extended downtime: Hydraulic system failures often cause secondary damage to pumps, cylinders, and other components when allowed to continue operating under stress. Early detection meant repairing just the heat exchanger rather than replacing an entire hydraulic system.
Contamination and cleanup: Overheated hydraulic systems frequently fail catastrophically, rupturing seals and hoses. The resulting oil spill requires extensive cleanup, environmental remediation, and replacement of contaminated fluid throughout the system.
Production loss: When hydraulic systems fail during operation, production stops immediately. The difference between a scheduled heat exchanger replacement and an emergency hydraulic system failure is measured in days of lost production.
This save highlights something important: hydraulic systems fail as often as any other industrial equipment, yet they're frequently under-monitored compared to rotating equipment like motors and gearboxes.
Hydraulic systems power everything from material handling equipment to processing machinery to mobile assets. When they fail, operations stop. When they fail catastrophically, they create massive cleanup challenges and potential environmental incidents.
The multi-parameter monitoring provided by AT-R sensors—temperature, vibration, and magnetic field—proved essential in this case. Temperature alone would have indicated a problem. Vibration alone would have raised questions. Together, they provided clear evidence of heat exchanger failure and gave operators the confidence to act immediately.
This save has prompted broader thinking about hydraulic monitoring strategies. Beyond detecting leaks through temperature rise, monitoring hydraulic oil tanks and associated equipment can catch:
Heat exchanger failures through combined temperature and vibration signatures
Pump bearing wear through vibration analysis
Cooling system issues through temperature trends
Contamination problems that affect system performance
The wireless deployment of AT-R sensors and battery-powered gateways makes it practical to monitor hydraulic systems across entire facilities without complex wiring or infrastructure requirements—critical for equipment spread across large industrial sites.
We started with a hypothesis: monitoring hydraulic tank temperature would help detect leaks. We proved something broader: comprehensive monitoring of hydraulic systems provides early warning across multiple failure modes, some anticipated and some discovered in real-world operation.
That's the power of deploying intelligent monitoring and learning from what the data reveals. Each installation teaches us something new about failure modes, operational patterns, and the most effective ways to protect critical equipment.
Hydraulic systems keep your operations running. Shouldn't you know when they're about to fail?
Ready to extend predictive monitoring to your hydraulic systems? Contact our team to discuss deployment strategies that protect your critical equipment from unexpected failures.