At industrial manufacturing and machining sites, cutting fluids often become contaminated with floating oils, impurities, and iron chips. If left untreated for extended periods, their service life and operational efficiency will significantly decline, thereby affecting the normal and efficient operation of machining equipment. Meanwhile, when the cutting fluid is covered by a sealed layer of oil, anaerobic bacteria are prone to proliferate, leading to the failure of the cutting fluid. Cutting fluid filtration systems require no manual intervention, offer high filtration accuracy, and can effectively prevent the cutting fluid from developing an unpleasant odor, thus extending the service life of both cutting fluids and cutting oils.
For large-scale machining plants that use wet machining and employ cutting fluid filtration, a centralized filtration system is recommended. Centralized filtration systems represent the current trend in wet machining filtration. Compared to individual-machine circulation systems, the advantages of centralized filtration are evident in the following aspects:
1. The filtration accuracy is easy to control.
2. Easy to implement automatic control.
3. Large-scale centralized filtration systems occupy significantly less floor space compared to standalone filtration units.
4. It’s easy to manage—fewer points are required when adding cutting fluid, which reduces the number of personnel needed to oversee cutting fluid management. Waste cutting fluid can be collected and treated centrally, minimizing environmental pollution. The discharged iron chips are collected in a centralized manner, making them easier to transport and dispose of. Furthermore, the usage status of the cutting fluid can be monitored and recorded in a centralized way.
Centralized filtration and recycling of coolant not only help reduce production costs, lessen the physical strain on workers, improve the workshop working environment, and minimize environmental pollution, but also enable centralized treatment of waste coolant, thereby further reducing its impact on the environment. The centralized coolant filtration system ensures long-term stability in coolant quality, reliably meeting the requirements of grinding operations.
Daily Maintenance of Cutting Fluid Usage
In addition to selecting the right quality of coolant and using it appropriately, maintaining the cutting fluid is also a crucial factor in extending its service life. The maintenance tasks for cutting fluids mainly include the following:
⑴ Ensure that the liquid circulation lines remain unobstructed. Promptly remove metal chips, metal powders, mold slime, decomposition products of the cutting fluid itself, grinding wheel dust, and other debris from the circulation lines to prevent blockages.
⑵ Antimicrobial cutting fluids (especially emulsions) are crucial for inhibiting microbial growth. During the use of cutting fluids, it is essential to regularly monitor bacterial levels and take appropriate measures promptly.
⑶ Purification should promptly remove metal powders and other chips as well as floating oils from the cutting fluid, thereby eliminating the environment conducive to bacterial growth.
⑷ Regularly check the pH value of the cutting fluid; if there is a significant change, take appropriate measures promptly.
⑸ Promptly replenish the cutting fluid. Since the cutting fluid continuously depletes during circulation due to splashing, atomization, evaporation, and being carried away by the workpiece material and chips, it is essential to promptly add fresh fluid to maintain a constant total volume of circulating fluid in the system.
The contaminated liquid enters the magnetic separator via the machine tool’s outlet pipe for primary separation. Afterward, the liquid flows into a primary water tank and is then pumped by a transfer pump to a belt filter for secondary precision filtration. The filtered liquid is circulated back to the end user via a supply pump. The impurities removed by the filter are automatically collected in a waste bin. A oil-water separator is installed in the primary water tank to automatically collect and remove floating oil.
