Effects of key structural parameters on solid–liquid separation behavior of hydrocyclone separator applied to hydraulic oil purification

Contamination control in fluid power system is a challenge due to the fact that it has been one of the major reasons of wear, failure, and the related downtime. A novel hydraulic oil purifier proposed in this study is considered to be capable of removing the solid particle contaminant, moisture, and gas simultaneously, which consists of two parts: hydrocyclone separator and rotating packed bed (i.e. Higee). A hydrocyclone separator used to be applied to chemical industry is tried to be designed according to experiential parameters in a typical fluid power system for the first time. And then, the mathematical model of the hydrocyclone separator has been established. The distribution of the hydraulic oil and solid particles in swirling flow field inside the base hydrocyclone separator has been simulated with the help of computational fluid dynamics software Fluent. The effects of the cone angle and cylindrical length on the separation performance of the hydrocyclone separator have been subsequently investigated. Based on the simulation results, the hydrocyclone separator with 25° cone angle and 60 mm cylindrical length has been considered as the most satisfied configuration. Simulation analysis of the optimal configuration flow field reflects a relatively pleasant solid–liquid separation performance considered to be beneficial to controlling the contamination level of fluid power system. The research outcome will lay a foundation for the development of the new hydraulic oil purifier proposed in this study.