BFPA technical conference proves to be a success

18 Sep 2018

BFPA went ‘back-to-basics’ at its recent 2018 Technical Conference to focus on the importance of cleanliness in hydraulic fluids and the impact of contamination upon system performance.

Held at Bath University and co-located with the Bath Power Transmission and Motion Control Conference, almost a hundred interested parties attended the two day event which covered all of the key topics that go to make up this all-important subject.  Electrostatic discharge, free-radical formation, varnish deposition and a host of key subjects were addressed by what was a high calibre speaker line up.

Accompanying the conference was a table top exhibition of BFPA members and sponsors so delegates had plenty to keep themselves occupied during the coffee and lunch breaks.

Chairmen for the two days were respectively Allan Barber of Lubrizol International and Matt Fielder of Stanhope-Seta Ltd. Opened by BFPA CEO Chris Buxton, Matt Fielder also gave a very good keynote address on the development and use of two-micron particle counting Instruments.

The evening of Day One saw the Conference Dinner take place at Bailbrook House Hotel with guest speaker Captain Mike Rose RN who gave a fascinating and well-received account of his life as an Engineer in the Royal Navy.

Other highlights of the evening included the current BFPA President Alastair Johnstone, Manging Director of Bosch Rexroth Ltd, presenting awards for retiring Technical Committee Chairmen including Mike Day, David Phillips, Peter Chapple and Trevor Hornsby.  Unfortunately Trevor and Peter were unable to be present due to ill health so in their absence T&SPC Chairman Jerry Hughes and Geoff Grant of MP Filtri kindly accepted the awards on their behalf.

The Conference concluded with an award for the best conference paper going to Tobias Daley of HYDAC.

For more information on the papers given at the conference please contact Emma Lear on emma@bfpa.co.uk