Log in
  
Home > Education & Events > Education
Related topics: Education,Pit & Quarry University, Pit Quarry Content
Education

Chapter 18: Oils and Lubes

November 1, 2007 By: P&Q Staff Pit & Quarry


When considering the importance of reliability in lubricant performance, there is always room for improvement when it comes to house-keeping issues with. Keeping lubricants in machinery clean can be compared to the work of the kidneys in the human body. When the blood is efficiently cleaned, the body runs efficiently and lasts longer.


There are some basic and simple solutions to enhance the life of your equipment and machinery. These are simpler than you might imagine. The fact is, you are ahead of the game if you are monitoring your systems on some level. To find out where you stand on this issue, give some thought to your own operation, and how you view your treatment of lubricants on an everyday basis:

1. Do you monitor system or equipment failures, and how is the data managed?

2. How and where do you currently store your lubricants?

3. Is contamination of your lubricants a concern?

4. Do you sample your stored lubricants regularly?

5. Have you upgraded your current storage and handling program?

 

Industry trends in cleanliness levels

 

OEMs have determined that a large part of the equipment-failure rate, especially while under warranty periods, can be traced to problems with cleanliness. Premature component failure has been attributed to these causes:

  • Dirt: 45 percent.
  • Misassembly: 13 percent.
  • Misalignment: 13 percent.

 

Today's systems run at higher pressures and higher volumes. Systems have more horsepower, are faster and are manufactured in more compact sizes with even higher breakout forces. External contaminants are responsible for 45 percent of premature component failure.

Figure 2 shows a reservoir bottom with dirt, sticky deposits, metal shavings, and fibers – not an uncommon sight. We don't have the history on this machinery, but you could well imagine that there were some operational problems that warranted repair. It is estimated that preventing dirt ingress is about 1/10th the expense of repairing a system once it has been damaged. In many applications the cost of that damage escalates when downtime and lost productivity are included.

  • Were you aware that more than 75 percent of hydraulic-system failures result from contaminated fluid (caused by particulate and water introduction through the breather cap)?
  • Did you know that lubrication failure is the number-one reason for gearbox returns during the warranty period?
  • How about the fact that industry spends upwards of $200 billion annually fighting the problem of mechanical wear occurring as a result of contamination?
  • And, were you aware that the most common cause cited for denial of warranty claims in hydraulic systems is contamination?

 

 

Where does it all come from?

 

These are the main sources of particulate contamination:

  • Originated from system components.
  • Generated by system components.
  • Entered from outside the components.
  • Introduced during oil sampling.
  • Caused by inadequate reservoir covers.
  • Added by routine maintenance.

 

1 2 3 4 5

Add Comment