Filtration Fixation - Oil & Gas Industry - Diesel Progress
Fuel filters keep new diesels working for oil and gas industry; M&D sees the damage caused by dirty fuel.
By Chad Elmore, Diesel Progress:
It takes fuel to get fuel and as it has for decades, diesel dominates where hundreds of oil and natural gas drill rigs are positioned over shale plays across North America. Diesel engines have evolved and the new emissions-compliant, highpressure common rail (HPCR) power plants have made spec’ing and maintaining proper fuel filtration more important than ever. Now microscopic debris and water levels that are measured on a molecular level can cause significant engine damage.
As new engines join fleets with older units, engine specialists and component suppliers are working to get that message out before machine availability averages are significantly impacted. “We have seen some catastrophic failures,” said Suken Patel, fuel injection production manager for Humble, Texas-based M&D Distributors. “A common rail system is very different from earlier diesels because the velocity of the fuel is a lot higher. Even a 2.0 micron particle, when accelerated, creates a deep scar on anything it hits. It erodes metal, digging deep gullies that destroy injectors and can cause fuel to flood the cylinder. In other cases injector nozzles freeze up because of contaminants. “Older systems pumped diesel fuel as it was needed, but now there is fuel already in the rail. When the injector sticks open, fuel flows straight into the cylinder and when the piston comes back for the compression stroke it will have nowhere to go. Liquids can’t be compressed. So they’ll get a bent rod or a whole lot of other damage.”
M&D Distributors is surrounded by the oil and gas industry. Founded in 1943 as Magneto and Diesel Injector Service, the company’s main focus was — and continues to be — diesel fuel injection.
Contact:
Parker Hannifin Corporation, Racor Division
3400 Finch Road
Modesto, CA 95353
800 344 3286 / 209 521 7860
racortech@parker.com
www.racor.com
www.racornews.com (literature)
