Do You Know What’s Happening In Your Hydraulic Tank?
It may surprise you to hear that many hydraulic reservoirs are oversized and inefficient!
Tank Optimization can give you important insights into how fluid moves inside your reservoir, and put you on the path towards a more efficient, cost effective, sustainable machine.
What Is Tank Optimization?
Tank Optimization aims to reduce reservoir size and improve performance by addressing the following:
What Can Tank Optimization Do For You?
The ultimate end goal of Tank Optimization is to improve system efficiency, and a reduction in tank size and fluid volume can have a range of benefits for the design, energy consumption, cost, and carbon footprint:
Increased Machine Space
A smaller hydraulic reservoir creates opportunities for design improvements. Tank Optimization can enable a larger fuel tank or battery, additional supply storage, or even an overall downsizing of the machine!
Improved Energy Efficiency
Reducing the tank size/overall fluid volume reduces both the weight and warmup time of the hydraulic system, allowing the equipment to operate with lower energy consumption.
Conservation of Resources
A smaller hydraulic tank means less oil is needed on the first fill for OEMs and on all subsequent fills for the end user, saving on oil-related costs! Additionally, the tank assembly will require less material to manufacture.
Increased Sustainability
Improving fuel efficiency, reducing oil volume, and minimizing the material needed to construct the system’s reservoir through Tank Optimization all contribute to a reduced carbon footprint.
How Does Tank Optimization Work?
Through cutting-edge simulations and CFD analyses, Schroeder Industries provides our customers with real world data on various tank dynamics and characteristics to uncover inefficiencies in the tank assembly and develop optimized solutions for virtually any application.
Schroeder’s experts assess a range of characteristics in the tank analysis process:
Flow Simulations
One of the most important tank characteristics is flow. Flow simulations assess the flow patterns and velocity of fluid in the tank. Is the flow fast and turbulent? Are there stagnant pockets (dead zones) in the reservoir?
Thermal Simulations
Temperature can also reveal a lot about a reservoir’s design. How quickly/evenly does the fluid reach operating temperature? Do hot spots indicate faster fluid degradation? Do cold spots indicate stagnation?
Deaeration Simulations
Removing air from the hydraulic fluid is one of the most important roles of the hydraulic tank and return filter. These simulations determine air residence time in the reservoir, and whether it has time to effectively exit the fluid.
Sloshing Simulations
A sub-optimal tank can actually be one of the biggest contributors to air contamination! Sloshing simulations reveal if splashing within the reservoir could be trapping air in the hydraulic fluid and worsening air contamination.
Structural Analysis
The structure of a reservoir influences not just how fluid circulates, but also whether it will deflect when full or possibly fail or become damaged when mounting or bearing further loads.
Tank Optimization In Action
Schroeder Industries has helped dozens of customers downsize their reservoirs and maximize the efficiency of their tank assemblies, reducing cost and more!
Check out the following case studies, and ask our experts about a Tank Optimization consultation:
An OEM producing ride-on snow removal equipment,
wanting to be more competitive in the market, sought solutions to improve their hydraulic oil cleanliness and optimize their systems.
By combining Tank Optimization with the advanced deaeration of Air Fusion Technology filtration, Schroeder Industries was able to downsize the reservoir from 9 gallons to 2 gallons, allowing the customer to improve their equipment design and become more competitive!
Here’s how Tank Optimization helped this customer:
Reservoir Downsized by 7 Gallons and 51lbs
Design Improvements: Runs 2x Longer Than Competitor
Nearly $100 USD Initial Cost Savings Per Unit
Initial CO2 Reduction: 100lbs Per Unit
With a smaller and more efficient hydraulic reservoir, CO2 savings will compound over the equipment’s lifespan!
An OEM manufacturing fire trucks wanted to free up
space for more firefighting equipment and overall
reduce the weight & improve the performance of their
existing tank assembly.
Through Tank Optimization and the efficiency of a TNK25 complete tank package, Schroeder Industries was able to downsize their reservoir by more than half!
Here’s how Tank Optimization helped this customer:
Reservoir Downsized by 30 Gallons and 230lbs
Initial Cost Savings Per Unit of $946 USD
Additional Machine Space Created for Equipment Storage
Initial CO2 Reduction: 702lbs Per Unit
With a smaller and more efficient hydraulic reservoir, CO2 savings will compound over the equipment’s lifespan!
An OEM manufacturing a variety of hydraulic refuse trucks sought ways to improve the design and efficiency of their side loader model.
Through Tank Optimization and the in-tank benefits of Schroeder’s BRT filter, Schroeder Industries was able to downsize their existing 75 gallon reservoir.
Here’s how Tank Optimization helped this customer:
Reservoir Downsized by 19 Gallons
Weight Reduction of 335lbs Per Assembly
$380 Initial Oil Cost Savings Per Unit
Initial CO2 Reduction: 450lbs Per Unit
With a smaller and more efficient hydraulic reservoir, CO2 savings will compound over the equipment’s lifespan!
An OEM developing a variety of equipment for the oil and gas industry sought to increase the efficiency of the hydraulic wet kits powering their massive snubbing unit rigs, which operate using a very large industrial reservoir.
Through Tank Optimization, Schroeder Industries was able slash nearly 3/4 ton of weight from their tank assembly!
Here’s how Tank Optimization helped this customer:
Reservoir Downsized by 160 Gallons
Weight Reduction of 1411lbs Per Assembly
$3,200 Initial Oil Cost Savings Per Unit
Initial CO2 Reduction: 3780lbs Per Unit
With a smaller and more efficient hydraulic reservoir, CO2 savings will compound over the equipment’s lifespan!
Request a Quote – Tank Optimization
Don’t let your tank assembly be just an afterthought! Work with our experts and see what Tank Optimization can do for you: