Tractors, combines, wheel loaders, bulldozers, and excavators—you know, the big stuff— are called upon daily to perform the heavy lifting on the front lines of the agricultural and construction industries. Their job descriptions include tilling the soil, bringing in the harvest, building the roads, and anything else that contributes to meeting many of the world's most vital needs. Each of these machines is designed to perform specific jobs requiring many components to be in continuous motion.
Whether harvesting corn or preparing a construction site, that equipment is going to either lift, push, pull, or dig, so that means a hydraulic system is critical to the operation.
If the hydraulic system is down, the equipment is out of operation and projects come to a screeching halt. A relatively inexpensive item, a check valve, can protect hydraulic system components worth significantly more, saving a business thousands of dollars in repairs and downtime. With both dollars and reputations on the line, the small but mighty check valve could be a lifesaver.
Before the 1960s, mobile equipment relied upon cables and pullies to get the job done. Since then, hydraulics took over, rendering today's machines more productive, durable, and cost-effective. The heart of the hydraulic system of this equipment is the pump. Its function is to get pressurized fluid to its assigned destination without interruption.
If the pump is malfunctioning, not only performance but also the safety of operators and other workers are at risk.
In terms of protecting the integrity of a pump, the check valve is THE crucial component. It is the pump's last line of defense against damaging fluid backflow. A hydraulic system is a one-way street, and this valve is the traffic cop ensuring it stays that way.
For the level of protection provided, a check valve is remarkably simple in design, incorporating very few components—the body, poppet, spring, and retainer. The pressure of the fluid passing through the system opens the valve. Since it is a unidirectional flow device, the check valve keeps fluids moving in the desired direction. Also, it’s used in specific applications to maintain a system for optimum readiness and performance.
For mobile agricultural and construction equipment, in particular, the four most important functions of a check valve are:
Performance-conscious OEMs and end-users demand quality design and reliability. To this end, they turn to Parker. Long known for its innovative products and exacting standards, Parker check valves are engineered to perform under the most demanding conditions in which mobile agricultural and construction equipment operate.
Parker's check valves are available in various sizes, pressure ratings, flow capacities, and crack pressures, to meet the requirements of most hydraulic system applications.
• Parker's DT Series Check Valves cover the widest variety of applications out there. These hard seat check valves are offered in sizes from ¼" to 1-1/4" with the added benefit and convenience of compact design. Select sizes are also available in 45°, 90°, and tee shape fittings, which can help optimize system design by reducing labor and leak points. If you are unsure where to start looking for check valves, the DT Series is a great first option.
• Parker's CV Series Check Valves are another hard seat check valve option for your application. Built using a rugged, two-piece modular design, CV Series results in less pressure drop for increased performance in critical applications.
• Parker's CPIFF Series Check Valves are a soft seat check valve option for your application. The CPIFF valve’s poppet is streamlined with minimum restriction of flow in one direction. Flow is blocked in the reverse direction as the soft seat creates a leak-free seal in the closed position.
Parker maintains a large inventory of check valves in standard configurations for mobile agricultural and construction equipment that can be reviewed online.
Contributed by Lori Aus, senior product sales manager, Quick Coupling Division, Parker Hannifin.