How much reservoir capacity do I really need?

[dstig1]

Oldnslo- Following you 5x5. I was wondering myself if that was the case, and it makes sense.

Moss - I guess the main point from your note is that hydraulics generate a bunch of heat, no matter what you do, and I get it. My problem is how much and how do I handle it. A radiator and fan are a no-go. I could possibly do just a radiator, but without the fan that will limit how effective it is.

LD1 - Unfortunately I really can't answer your question on how much pressure the broom needs to keep going. No good way to figure that out other than experimentally and I don't get the luxury of working it out on a prototype here as this IS the prototype! There must be significant drag from the bristles spinning on the ground and moving snow or whatever debris is in question so it may be a full 2000 psi or a goodly fraction of it. On the plus side the circuit is pretty simple without a lot of restrictions, other than the relief and the diverter for the angle cylinder. And of course the work done by the motor. I don't see me fitting 40 gallons in this no matter what. I can manage up to about 25 gal but that's about it.

Hmmm. There might be room for a rad and fan on one side if I use only one smaller tank on the other side. I'd have to work out power to the fan but I already need a little bit of wiring to handle the diverter already so maybe it isn't so far-fetched to do. In that case I am able to have at most 15-16 gal reservoir.

Thanks for all the input!

 

[MossRoad]

My point is that I've been running with a 10 gallon reservoir for 20 years, about 1000 hours, all at full throttle. My machine runs at 2500PSI. So I'm running a total of 12GPM at 2500PSI continuously, and another 4GPM in the charge pump for the variable volume pump at unknown PSI. About 2/3 of that time is mowing and brush cutting, the hardest tasks it can do. If I didn't have the hydraulic cooler, I'd want a 15 gallon reservoir. Unless you're running your broom against a load for hours and hours you won't be putting a continuous load on it for hours and hours.

Even if you don't have a fan on the cooler, it will provide a large surface area to dissipate heat, which can be quite effective.

 

[LD1]

You have to understand that the broom was designed with a skidloader in mind. And look at the size of the hydraulic system (capacity and cooling system) on a skidloader. They have a hydraulic cooler as big as their radiator.....which is about double the size of a radiator on our tractors.

And since this isnt built from scratch, and its actually a broom built for a skidloader....Im inclined to think they sized the pump to actually run ~2000psi under normal operating circumstances. Cause for a broom designed for a skidloader with sufficient hydraulic capacity and cooling....why oversize the motor to reduce pressure.

I really think you need to find a way to get at or near 40 gallon mark and/or add a cooler if you dont want to cook the hydraulics.

And a 40gal reservoir isnt as big as one might think. 21" x 21" x 21" is 40 gal

 

[Tx Jim]

I agree with Mossroad. Way back in the 90's I converted a Vermeer R23 hyd rake that had 2 orbit motors designed to operate from tractor breakaway coupler to operate on a pto powered hyd pump. I enclosed tongue of rake to be the hyd reservoir. The boxed tongue held 15 or 20 gallons of oil. The rake could be operated steady for many hrs with no adverse heating of the oil in rake tongue. It appeared to operate cooler than when plugged into tractor hyd system.

 

[oldnslo]

Dstig
When using the brush will it be mostly brush for a distance, backup, then brush for a distance like a parking lot or a more continuous duty like Mile long drive.

Skid loader is not a good example since they typically run undersize lines due to space and also have dozen extra fittings because of all the arm movement which adds to reason why they have large coolers and small reservoirs

a few people have FEL mounted snow blowers and I don’t recall any of them having a cooler but also do not recall reservoir size or pump flow.

 

[Doughknob]

Can u make the tank out of aluminum?

 

[LD1]

I agree with Mossroad. Way back in the 90's I converted a Vermeer R23 hyd rake that had 2 orbit motors designed to operate from tractor breakaway coupler to operate on a pto powered hyd pump. I enclosed tongue of rake to be the hyd reservoir. The boxed tongue held 15 or 20 gallons of oil. The rake could be operated steady for many hrs with no adverse heating of the oil in rake tongue. It appeared to operate cooler than when plugged into tractor hyd system.

How many GPM and at what PSI.

Simply saying you can operate all day on a 15-20 gallon reservoir is irrelevant without the rest of the information.

 

[Tx Jim]

How many GPM and at what PSI.

Simply saying you can operate all day on a 15-20 gallon reservoir is irrelevant without the rest of the information.

I don't have a clue because that was over 25 yrs ago. But I'll bet the broom in question will run cool enough with a 20 gallon hyd reservoir.

 

[LD1]

I don't have a clue because that was over 25 yrs ago. But I'll bet the broom in question will run cool enough with a 20 gallon hyd reservoir.

IF he goes with a 20gpm pump and the motor requires 2000 psi continuous use.....you'd lose that bet.

But there are too many unknown factors. If he drops to a 16gpm pump, and the broom only requires 1000-1200 psi....and its only under load 50% of the time as another poster suggested (only going forward....but no load while backing up).....then yea....20 gal would be sufficient

 

[Tx Jim]

But there are too many unknown factors.