The Eaton Trax web-based hydraulic hose tracking system is scheduled for launch in the second quarter of 2014, with the piloting of the system to be concluded in the first quarter of 2014 at one of mining major Anglo American’s mines, in South Africa, says diversified power management company Eaton Hydraulics sub-Saharan Africa hydraulic sector GM Emil Berning.

Anglo American’s local subsidiary approached Eaton for the development of a system to provide more real-time information on its hydraulic hoses about a year ago, he adds.

“Anglo American required a system specifically focused on analysing failures and operating efficiencies to assist the company in extending its operational productivity and worker safety and reducing negative environmental impacts,” states Berning.

He says Eaton contracted JSE-listed Allied Technologies, better known as Altech, to develop the technology and software for the Eaton Trax system. “This assists customers in reducing asset downtime by providing them with fast and accurate information about those failures,” he notes.

“Therefore, the Eaton Trax system enables companies to accelerate the hose assembly replacement process where up-time is critical,” says Berning.

Berning adds that Eaton Trax’s reporting tool assists in providing both mining companies and businesses from other industries with continuous improvement and preventative maintenance programmes.

New Markets and Technologies

“Eaton has been actively and steadily seeking to drive its business growth faster, outside of North America, which has resulted in the company generating more than 50% of its business revenue from other regions,” says Eaton Hydraulics commercial director Raja Rajagopalan.

In the past year, Eaton acquired several companies, including electrical equipment manufacturer Cooper Industries, Turkish manufacturer of hydraulic, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and industrial hoses Polimer Kaucuk, and South Korea-based JEIL, a manufacturer of hydraulic components. 

Rajagopalan notes that Polimer’s products are sold worldwide under the SEL Hose brand name.

He adds that acquiring Polimer Kaucuk has helped Eaton gain access to new markets through Polimer’s existing presence, in Central and Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa. “The addition of PVC and industrial hoses from this acquisition to Eaton’s existing product portfolio has made us a one stop shop for hose application.  

“This acquisition has also helped us launch Eaton Winner branded hydraulic hoses globally, and has enabled us to provide a cost-effective solution to our customers in the sub-Saharan region,” says Rajagopalan.

Rajagopalan points out that the Eaton Aeroquip has been a solid brand in the hydraulics hose market.
The Eaton Aeroquip range includes hoses, fittings, adapters, couplings, crimpers and fluid connectors for a wide range of applications in industrial, aerospace and automotive markets. The company has started field testing the LifeSense technology recently.

Eaton’s LifeSense range of hydraulic hose condition monitoring and notification systems monitors the health of hydraulic hose assemblies in real time. The LifeSense technology provides advanced notification if a hose is approaching the end of its useful operating life.

Rajagopalan emphasises that this function is critically important for insuring uptime, as operators will get notified ahead of time when a hose is reaching the end of its life span and requires repair or replacement.

The LifeSense system has been made available for field testing in South Africa since mid-2011 and has three iterations.

The first is the wired solution, which consists of the hydraulic hose, with a wire connected to a smartbox – a monitor that informs the operator of the potential failure of a LifeSense technology-enabled hose.

The second is the wireless solution, which the company is trialling and which could link up with the third iteration – the vehicle diagnostics application.

Berning says that Eaton is simultaneously working on the second and third iterations of the LifeSense system, both of which are new, as these upgrades are closely related to each other through their functionalities.

“The wireless version of the LifeSense system has not yet been officially launched, but it is available to the public, although final trialling of the system still has to be completed,” notes Berning.

However, Rajagopalan points out that some applications may not be suitable for wireless functionalities.

“We are testing some of our wired LifeSense Technology products at fixed-base operations, at airports, and in this type of environment the customers do not want wireless functionalities, as the wireless signals might interfere with other frequency transmissions,” he explains.

Moreover, he points out that the LifeSense is activated only when the hose is nearing the end of its useful life, which ensures that the hose is used fully during its life span. This will have direct positive impact on reducing replacement costs.

“Equipment breakdowns can be extremely costly and using the LifeSense early warning system can eliminate these stoppages in critical applications, potentially saving them millions of rands by avoiding unnecessary equipment breakdown,” Berning states.

Rajagopalan emphasises that with manufacturing locations in the Asia Pacific  region, Europe, Middle East, Africa and the Americas and innovation/engineering deployed in each of the regions,  Eaton is well positioned to meet the requirements of its customers, ranging from the small-scale operators to large multinational corporations.

Eaton, through its service partners, possesses a service provider network of about 100 on-site workshops operating at mines in Southern Africa.

“Eaton provides these maintenance teams with training, competence testing and certification. We regularly check to ensure these maintenance teams are working according to both Eaton and industry operating standards,” Berning concludes.