A Guide to Working and Burst Pressure Ratings
What Pressure Ratings Mean for Hydraulic Systems
Hydraulic systems are used across many industries, powering everything from construction machinery to industrial equipment. To keep these systems working properly and safely, it's important to understand pressure ratings.
Pressure ratings show whether hydraulic components can safely handle the pressures they experience during normal operation, helping prevent failures and unexpected breakdowns.
To better understand this topic, it helps to know a few key terms:
Working Pressure: The normal operating pressure a hydraulic system is designed to run at during everyday use.
Burst Pressure: The maximum pressure a component can handle before it fails or ruptures.
Safety Factor: An important ratio that compares burst pressure to working pressure, adding a margin of safety to help protect components under stress. This concept is central to what bursting safety factor refers to in engineering contexts.
These basic concepts play an important role when choosing the right components and keeping hydraulic systems safe and long-lasting. By understanding working pressure, burst pressure, and the safety factor, engineers and technicians can design systems that run efficiently and are better prepared to handle unexpected pressure spikes without failure. This knowledge is key to maintaining the strength, reliability, and performance of hydraulic systems across many different applications.
Understanding Working and Burst Pressure Ratings
Working Pressure
Working pressure, also known as operating pressure, is the typical pressure at which a hydraulic system is designed to operate under normal conditions. It's important because it sets the safe range for components like hoses, fittings, and couplers, helping prevent wear or failure. Working pressure is usually lower than the system's maximum pressure, giving a safety margin. The maximum working pressure is often based on the pump's maximum output, the pressure relief valve settings, or the highest pressure recorded under full load conditions.
Burst Pressure
Burst pressure is the highest pressure a component can handle before it fails or bursts. It's a key safety measure, typically tested and reported by manufacturers in accordance with industry standards, such as ISO 18869 for hydraulic quick disconnects. Burst pressure is much higher than working pressure, giving a safety buffer for unexpected spikes in system pressure. This rating is essential for preventing serious failures and keeping the hydraulic system safe and reliable.
Knowing both working pressure and burst pressure ratings helps you choose components that can safely handle normal operating conditions and withstand occasional pressure surges or malfunctions. These ratings are crucial for ensuring hydraulic systems run safely and efficiently without risk of damage or costly downtime.
Why Correct Pressure Ratings Matter
Using the correct pressure ratings is key to keeping hydraulic systems safe and efficient. These ratings make sure every component can handle the pressures it will face during normal use and unexpected situations. Following these guidelines helps systems run smoothly, preventing premature wear or serious failures.
How Pressure Ratings Affect System Safety and Efficiency
Using the correct pressure ratings helps prevent hydraulic components from being overstressed, which can cause leaks, bursts, or even complete system failures. When components are matched to their proper working and burst pressures, the system runs at its best, using less energy while performing efficiently. This not only extends the life of the system but also keeps it operating at peak efficiency, saving energy and lowering operational costs.
Risks of Using Incorrect Pressure Ratings
Using components that don't meet the required pressure ratings for a system can lead to serious problems:
Auxiliary Hydraulic Coupler Leaks & Safety Hazards: Incorrect pressure ratings can cause components to fail, leading to high-pressure leaks or bursts that pose serious safety risks.
System Downtime: Failures from inadequate pressure ratings can result in significant downtime, costly repairs, and part replacements, all of which increase operational costs and can impact revenue.
Reduced Component Lifespan: Components running outside their rated pressures tend to wear out faster, leading to more frequent replacements and higher maintenance expenses.
Making sure all components have the correct pressure ratings is essential for keeping hydraulic systems safe, reliable, and efficient. Properly rated components help prevent failures, maximize uptime, and protect workers and equipment.
How Pressure Ratings Are Tested and Specified
Pressure Testing and Industry Standards
Determining pressure ratings—especially burst pressure—is a careful process that follows specific testing methods and industry standards. This ensures that all hydraulic components meet the required safety and performance levels before they are used in real-world operations.
Testing Burst Pressure in Hydraulic Components
Burst pressure testing is an important process that measures the highest pressure a component can handle before it fails. Many manufacturers, including EHHYDRAULIC, follow standards like ISO 18869 for these tests. This standard outlines the proper procedures, making sure the tests are thorough and consistent. During a burst pressure test, a component—such as a hydraulic hose or coupler—is gradually subjected to higher pressure until it fails. The results define the component's maximum pressure limit, which is essential for keeping hydraulic systems safe in all types of applications.
The Importance of Industry Standards
Industry standards are key to making sure pressure ratings are consistent and safe across all hydraulic components. Organizations like ISO (International Organization for Standardization) provide guidelines and specifications that manufacturers must follow. These standards help standardize testing methods, rating systems, and safety requirements, ensuring that components made by different companies—or in different locations—can work together safely in a wide range of hydraulic systems.
Following these standards ensures that all components are tested under consistent conditions and meet minimum safety requirements before being released to the market. This consistency is crucial for system designers and engineers, who rely on these ratings to choose the right components and keep hydraulic systems performing safely and efficiently.
By using these strict testing methods and following industry standards, manufacturers can provide accurate and reliable pressure ratings that users can trust when designing or maintaining hydraulic systems. Sticking to these high standards is essential for preventing equipment failures and ensuring that hydraulic systems remain safe, long-lasting, and dependable.
How Safety Factors Keep Hydraulic Systems Safe
A safety factor in hydraulic systems is an important engineering measure that provides a safety margin to reduce the risk of component failure. It's the ratio of a component's burst pressure to its working pressure. This factor ensures that the component can withstand unexpected pressure spikes or surges beyond normal operating conditions without failing.
The Importance of Safety Factors and Their Common Ranges
The safety factor is important because it accounts for uncertainties in system conditions, differences in material properties, and possible wear over time. Bursting safety factor refers to this critical ratio that ensures a buffer against failure. In hydraulic systems, common safety factor values usually range from 3 to 4 or higher, depending on how critical the application is and how much the operating conditions can vary. For most standard applications, a safety factor of 4 provides a strong safety margin. In more controlled or less demanding situations, a safety factor of 3 may be sufficient.
Key Factors That Influence Pressure Ratings
When choosing hydraulic components, it's important to consider factors that can affect their pressure ratings:
Coupler Gender and Connection State: Whether a coupler is male or female, and whether it's connected or disconnected, can have a big impact on its pressure rating.
Material and Design: The materials used and the overall design of a component also affect how much pressure it can handle. Components made from strong materials and designed with optimized flow paths can withstand higher pressures and therefore have higher pressure ratings.
Imagine a hydraulic system operating close to its maximum working pressure. In this case, it's essential to choose components with higher safety factors and the right pressure ratings for each connection state—whether connected, male disconnected, or female disconnected. For example, if a system uses couplers that are frequently connected and disconnected, selecting quick disconnects that maintain strong pressure ratings in all states will improve both reliability and safety.
Knowing how these factors affect pressure ratings ensures that hydraulic components are not only suitable for their intended use but also capable of performing safely and efficiently under varying conditions. This careful selection reduces the risk of component failure, boosts system performance, and helps extend the life of the hydraulic equipment.
EHHYDRAULIC Hydraulic Components: Pressure Ratings Explained
EHHYDRAULIC is dedicated to providing high-quality, reliable hydraulic components that meet the highest safety standards. Here's a simple guide to help you find the working pressure and burst pressure ratings for EH products, so you can choose the right components for your hydraulic systems:
Check the EH's product pages: Each product listed on EH's website includes key pressure information—working pressure, burst pressure, and maximum residual pressure during connection—shown in the properties chart.
Following Testing Standards for Quality Assurance
EHHYDRAULIC takes pride in strictly following international testing standards, like ISO 18869, to ensure that all components are tested under consistent conditions and that their pressure ratings are accurate. This focus on quality assurance means:
Reliability: Each product is tested to handle pressures beyond its rated capacity, ensuring safe performance under both normal and extreme conditions.
Consistency: By adhering to global standards, EHHYDRAULIC products deliver uniform quality and performance, no matter where they are used.
Transparency: EHHYDRAULIC provides detailed testing data and pressure ratings, including results from burst pressure testing, helping customers trust that the products are suitable for a wide range of hydraulic applications.
By following these standards, you can confidently choose EHHYDRAULIC hydraulic components, knowing they meet your system's requirements and are backed by a strong commitment to safety, quality, and performance.
Understanding and using the correct working and burst pressure ratings in hydraulic systems isn't just a best practice—it's essential for keeping equipment safe, efficient, and long-lasting. By following established standards and choosing components with accurate pressure ratings, system designers and operators can prevent failures, reduce operational costs, and keep systems running at their best throughout their lifecycle.
