A world leading OEM approached Magnom Corp, to develop a filtration solution for the transmission
systems produced and used by the company,
The objective/desire was to improve the life of the transmissions and if possible increase the performance and availability of the systems,
The big as was… to also reduce the servicing frequency of the systems, and thus reduce the ownership cost to the end user.
Product development were confident of increasing the transmission life using Magnom magnetic filter technology, and delivering at least some of the additional benefits desired,
However the end results… exceeded the expectations off all those involved with this development project,
Please read on!
Space envelope for suction unit proposition,
information/product sample provided by the OEM
The CAD designed prototype proposition
Working within the space envelope provided,
And with an acceptable flow area,
Five individual Magnom core units were selected
Maximising the contaminant capacity of the solution
within the space envelope.
We have located the fluid entry port
of the solution at the lowest point in
the design,
To prevent the cavitation issues
experienced with the existing strainer.
Actual Prototype Product
It was envisaged that Magnom could add significant benefit in, fluid clean up following production and assembly, run/break in and continuous
wear and tear during normal use.
From our wealth of experience in the transmission environment, Magnom where/are confident of demonstrating the added value that could be gained
form incorporating Magnom in the OEM transmission systems.
Initial results!
The first vehicle to provide results from testing, completed 759 hours before the operator expressed concern with the performance of the transmission,
The senior development engineer confirmed that the transmission had significantly overheated,
and that it was so overheated, fluid was coming out of the filler and breather.
This had been due to the incorrect wiring of a temperature sensor.
It was decided that the transmission should be removed from the vehicle and returned to the Factory and stripped for analysis.
Surprisingly, even though the transmission had been subject to this excessive heat (the torque converter had turned blue),
all of the internal components where within tolerance,
The Magnom prototype was removed for inspection and a further new unit was provided for the continued evaluation in the Magnom in the same transmission.
The transmission we reassembled with no need for ANY new components and refilled with fresh oil
The OEM’s development engineer commented,
“usually the white metal bearing in the pump is the first thing to indicate issues in the transmission,
but there is no sign of this wear on this or the rest of the pump,
It is in better condition than we would expect to see on a vehicle, that had not had any failure at all that had covered the same number of hours as the test transmission”
I inspected the pump for myself, there was only an indication of high spots on the bearing where the surface was starting to bed in, Truly amazing!
This is I believe testimony indeed to the effectiveness of Magnom, given the attrition suffered by the test transmission.
The test Magnom prototype was removed by the OEM team and weighed so as to ascertain the weight of the captured contaminant,
the actual amount of contaminant contained within the Magnom was 20 grams.
Samples of the contaminant removed from the fluid ‘pre-pump’ by the Magnom’s core, where also so taken for analysis
Analysis was performed thus;-
A small sample of the contamination was washed in a chemically pure solvent and filtered through a 1.3 micron filter,
viewing the residue with the flat field microscope.
Observations,
Most all the debris was ferrous, with just one or two grains of silica in the sample.
The ferrous material is mostly in the 5 micron to 50 micron size range with some larger particles,
up to say 120 microns across
The larger lumps are mainly flat’ish rather than granular and are irregular in appearance.
The really interesting point that these results highlight is that, ALL of the contamination stopped from entering the pump
and transmission system by the Magnom, would have passed straight through the 125 micron strainer
currently being used in the transmission.
Conclusion,
The Magnom Magnetic Core Technology performed extremely well in this comprehensive and arduous trial.
Quantification of the benefits gained from the adopting of Magnom technology into this application fall under a number of potential headings;-
There apparently being little benefit realised from the use of the current 125 > micron strainer.
The pump would (with the conventional strainer) have digested ALL 20 grams of super hard, super fine ferrous contamination removed by the
Magnom, as would any other critical components in the system, situated down stream of any conventional filtration.
It is fair to assume, that the use of Magnom Technology will deliver on the original stipulations requested by the OEM, and as a added benefit
have a very significant beneficial impact on the service life of the conventional filtration and would also keep the system more effectively
protected, while the conventional filter was in by pass mode, during start up, cold conditions
and when blocked etc.
This protection could have a very significant impact on warranty cost and customer satisfaction, and could help demonstrate to the customers
distributors and indeed end users that company is adopting new technologies/solutions on an ongoing basis, to benefit them directly.
Moving forward,
The rebuilt transmission has now been refitted with the prototype Magnom and is being put back on test alongside the other test vehicles
equipped with the Magnom transmission prototype.
The data gathered will further reinforce decisions to adopt the technology on a wide variety of systems
Armed with this information we can start to better understand the total benefit of using the Magnom in applications across a wide spectrum of usage.
These include;-
Extended pump life/protection
Extended valve life/protection
Extended filter life/service intervals
Extended transmission life,
Extended fluid life/ service intervals
Reduction in warranty claims
The use of tighter tolerances in the design and manufacturing process
Customer satisfaction(warranty related)
Effective clean up of the system following manufacture and assembly