Water separation through the diesel filter protects the injectors and pressure pumps from damage
Today, more than ever, the diesel filter is an essential component to ensure the proper functioning of diesel engines. Often the formation of sludge in petrol station tanks and the presence of water in tankers can damage engines.
SOFIMA Filters offers a wide range of advanced technological solutions for diesel filtration, capable of satisfying the needs of virtually all fleets. A result obtained thanks to the know-how that the UFI Filters Group has achieved by developing its own filter media in-house.
A long experience
In the 1990s, the use of common-rail in diesel engines revealed that an increased diesel flow did not allow good water separation with conventional filters.
Due to the high pressures, pumps and injectors are manufactured to very tight tolerances. Therefore, the slightest presence of dirt, water or other contaminants can cause serious damage. Many problems are, for example, caused by corrosion of the injector nozzles and the pressure pump.
Although European standard EN 590 sets a maximum of 200 ppm (parts per million) of water in diesel, the amount of water present can be much higher.
SOFIMA filters for the aftermarket benefit from UFI Filters‘ solid experience in original equipment. This means you can be sure that the product has been developed to meet more stringent water separation standards than those required by regulations.
Poor quality diesel filters, based on pleated paper filter media or unsuitable materials, do not sufficiently fulfil their function of separating water from diesel fuel. As a result, they put the integrity of the engine at risk.
Thus, the purchase of a low-level product to achieve some savings can compromise a car’s injection system, causing far greater economic damage.
War on impurities
SOFIMA filtration systems are made with the most advanced materials and technologies to resist ‘bad fuel’. SOFIMA offers the aftermarket an innovative and exclusive solution for the filtration of water from diesel fuel: DFM (Deep Filtration Media).
This filter material uses a formula designed and manufactured in-house and contains polyamide fibres. In contrast to conventional diesel filters, the DFM filter filters the fuel from the inside out through a continuous filter thickness. The porosity, diameter and distribution of the fibres vary depending on the depth, favouring the phenomenon of water coalescence.
This phenomenon occurs when smaller droplets of a liquid dispersed in another non-miscible liquid (such as water in diesel) tend to join larger ones.
The secret of this SOFIMA technology is the gradient structure of the filter media. Proceeding from the inside to the outside, one finds concentric zones with an innermost pre-filtration section with coarser fibres. The outermost layers are characterised by denser fibres and a lower average porosity.
This depth filtration structure not only removes impurities, but also accumulates them gradually, extending the life of the filter. Due to coalescence, water particles combine to form larger entities, which fall by gravity into the water storage chamber.
One of the most popular filters with this technology on the market is available in the SOFIMA catalogue with the code S 6H2O NE. Equipped with DFM filter material, it is developed for Multijet engines, such as applications from 2003 onwards on Fiat 500, Doblò, Lancia Ypsilon, Opel/Vauxhall Corsa C, Fiat Ducato, Citroën Jumper, Peugeot Boxer.
Belonging to the second generation GEN2 is instead the S 6052 NE filter for more recent applications from 2012 onwards, such as Alfa Romeo Giulietta, Mito and Tonale, Fiat 500, Doblò, Ducato, Tipo, Jeep Renegade, Lancia New Ypsilon, Maserati Ghibli, Opel/Vauxhall Combo, to name but a few.
Since 2016, SOFIMA’s new generation GEN2 PLUS filters have been using a hydrophobic mesh covering the filter media to block any water residue. The filtering efficiency thus achieved is 96% for particles as small as 4 microns, smaller than that of a hair.
The filters equipped with this new system are those of the H2O family, such as S 0H2O NE for Alfa Romeo Stelvio, or S 3H2O NE for Citroën Jumper and Peugeot Boxer, or S 6H2O NE for Fiat Ducato, but also S 6079 NE for Alfa Romeo Tonale and Fiat Tipo.
SOFIMA filter media is created by combining different materials such as cellulose, glass fibres and hydrophobic fabrics. One of the reasons for their success is that they can be designed with different fibre structures and arrangements.
This means that filters can be tailored to the specific needs of each application. The result is an aftermarket range of products that covers all market needs in terms of filtration.
All information on the SOFIMA diesel filter range is available in the dedicated catalogue.
