The media will be the message
unknown nodeEngine hardware changes being driven by the push to decrease GHG emissions and fuel consumption will increase the heat load on engine oil, points out David Cline, global oil filtration product manager for Parker Racor. “The new [PC-11] engine oils are being designed to protect the engine components from increased temperatures as well as the load, but they must also be lower in viscosity to meet the fuel economy requirements,” he points out.
“The new engine designs will challenge the current filter media efficiency and capacity requirements when it comes to component protection and oil drain intervals,” he continues. “Changes in the filter elements themselves will be needed to maintain clean lube oil for the engine manufacturers’ suggested drain intervals per application.”
Currently, he explains, oil filtration medium comes in many performance levels of cellulose, synthetic and glass fiber combinations, with the efficiency range rather narrow. In the future, he says these combinations will be tailored directly to the engine filtration requirements to maintain higher efficiency throughout the operating cycle and capacity needed to meet oil-drain intervals targeted by engine makers.
“Filtration must offer more capacity and tighter efficiencies to protect engines [given the] ever increasing demands on heavy trucks,” says Donald Chilton, vice president, product management, WIX Filters. “Our engineers are working on advanced filter-media designs in partnership with media manufacturers to meet new requirements. Fuel filters are already going to low micron/highly efficient media. Air filters are advancing the same way as well. Most of these products are already on the Tier 4 engine platforms.”
Roma Fatima, lube filtration product manager for Cummins Filtration, points out that lower-viscosity oils can affect how a filter does its job. “To take advantage of the lower flow restriction inherent with PC-11 oils,” she advises, “Cummins Filtration has begun configuring lube filters with our patented NanoNet nanofiber media. The design of these non-woven nanofibers features an increase of ‘void space,’ or pores, within the media structure, which allow more liquid to pass through than conventional media types.”
Fatima explains that the nanofiber media helps further lower the flow restriction created at the filter during cold starts as well as when oil oxidation occurs or when there is higher contamination due to extended service intervals. “But the low flow restriction is not sacrificed at the expense of particle removal, as NanoNet is very efficient at removing the particles most detrimental to an engine.”
“Media formulations have to be compatible with higher operating temperatures and lower viscosity means oil will be thinner,” says Veli Kalayci, director, engine liquid products for Donaldson. “As a result, smaller particles could have a greater impact, cause more damage and create increased wear. To that end, tighter, higher efficiency filtration will likely be needed to prevent this damage and wear.”
He also points out that the impact of new lower-viscosity oils on drain intervals will be determined as newer engines make their way into testing and eventually into use. “In filtration,” Kalayci explains, “it’s critical to offer the best balance between filtration efficiency, restriction across the filter and filter capacity/life — all of which have to be managed under dynamic conditions and with the right compatibility between materials and the application environment.”
Kalayci notes that new media formulations will come into play. “For example, Donaldson’s Synteq XP is used in hydraulic, fuel and crankcase ventilation applications and it offers a new path for even higher performance for lube oil filtration.”
