Most manufacturing processes, certainly those requiring the use of machinery, also require coolant. Coolant helps to keep machine components cool during operation. In many ways, it’s just like pouring coolant into your car’s radiator to maintain a healthy operating temperature. Coolant filtration is essential for a number of reasons that we’ll detail in this article.
Let’s take a look at some of the key benefits of looking after your coolant, and why industrial filtration is such a valuable investment for the manufacturing industry.
Extended Equipment Life
Manufacturing settings are not known as sterile environments. With so much machine activity, different materials and varied manufacturing processes occurring, it’s inevitable that the coolant used in your machinery can become contaminated.
If metallic particles contaminate your coolant, they can cause damage to your machinery. By using coolant filtration, you ensure the coolant cycling through your machines is clean and free of particles, therefore extending the life of your tools and equipment, and reducing wear and tear significantly.
Reduce Machine Maintenance
Making your machinery last longer is one thing, but industrial filtration of coolant also reduces your maintenance requirements. As we mentioned, contaminated coolant can cause unnecessary wear and tear, increasing your need for maintenance. More frequent machine servicing costs money and, perhaps even worse, results in downtime. While machines are being serviced, they aren’t in operation, which lowers your productivity.
Longer Coolant Life
The longer your coolant lasts, the less of it you need to buy. It’s a pretty simple equation really, and it’s why filtration is so important in an industrial setting. Coolant and other lubricants can all be reused multiple times if filtered and purified correctly. For example, most manufacturing plants use coolant oil separators to ensure that neither liquid is contaminated, making them ready to be fed back through the machinery as required.
Coolant can be filtered multiple times before it needs to be replaced, so you can save a lot of money by using the correct filtration techniques. You can even find filtration systems that run continuously and automatically, requiring little human intervention.
Reduced Downtime
We already touched on downtime, but it’s a significant factor that warrants mentioning it in more detail. Downtime is when a piece of machinery is not working or an entire process is not occurring. In a manufacturing environment, if one machine is down, it can wreak havoc on the entire operation, delaying other important processes.
Coolant filtration is one way to look after your machinery and reduce the instances of downtime. Overall, this increases your productivity and keeps your profits rolling in.
Better Manufacturing Finishes
Coolant can become contaminated with various particles, such as metal, dust, dirt, and other factory materials. This affects machine operation, especially for smoothing processes. Let’s say your machinery is designed to produce parts with a smooth finish. If metal is present in your coolant, the end product could be scratched or damaged in some way. This means putting a lower-standard product on the market or scrapping an entire batch, which is extremely wasteful.
Even for processes that don’t involve smoothing, industrial coolant filtration helps to maintain stable and consistent machine operation. Therefore, by filtering your coolant correctly, you can achieve greater consistency in product quality.
Environmental Benefits
Naturally, any process that involves recycling and reusing materials is good for the environment. Coolant isn’t a natural product, which makes disposal somewhat problematic. Essentially, disposing of used coolant has an impact on the environment because it needs to end up somewhere. By filtering your coolant, you reduce the need for disposal and decrease your environmental impact.
The benefits of using environmentally friendly manufacturing processes are more varied than you may think. The obvious one is the fact that you’re doing good for the planet, which everybody should be trying to do. But you generate a lot of goodwill by showing consumers that you take as many steps as possible to limit your environmental impact. Consumers want to support companies that limit their pollution.
Plus, with the environmental requirements faced by industrial businesses today, any measures you can take to meet your obligations are useful.
Cost Savings
The cost savings that come from industrial coolant filtration are immense. Remember, industrial machinery requires large volumes of coolant annually. It’s not like the amount you might pour into your car once a year. Because coolant is an operating cost, it makes sense to filter and reuse it. Even if coolant is far from your largest overhead, it adds up over the course of months and years.
Protecting your equipment with pure, clean coolant leads to multiple cost savings. Your machinery will last longer, reducing the need for replacements and repairs. Even servicing isn’t required as regularly if you look after your coolant. In addition, the lessened downtime we previously mentioned will make a difference to your income generation.
Overall, the increased efficiency and productivity gained from coolant filtration add up to significant value over the course of a year.
Looking for High-quality Coolant Filtration Systems?
There are many different ways to filter your coolant for reuse, and the team at Interfil is ready to help you achieve maximum efficiency. Depending on your operations and specific needs, Interfil can recommend the best industrial coolant filtration systems for your needs. We take the time to understand your business in order to give the best advice every time. With years of experience in coolant filtration, you’re in safe hands with the Interfil team. Contact us today to learn more about our industrial coolant filtration solutions range.
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