Lubricant Tips for August 2007

Lube tips #1:

If you are undertaking a lubricant consolidation process, consider these four steps:

1. Identification Process: Write a list of current lubricants in use and classify them into generic categories.

2. Brand Consolidation: Using a technical lubricants database, identify which of them are identical technically and which of them are unique.

3. Technical Consolidation: Check the equipment requirements, applications and operation environment to identify consolidation opportunities for products in use. Assign a generic lubricant to each machine in the facility.

4. Specification Definition: Produce generic technical specifications for each type of consolidated lubricant, identifying physical, chemical and performance properties required.

Lube tips #2:

Overcoming the challenges

I visited a site last month to discuss the problems on a gearbox which included short bearing life (approximately 2 years) and short oil life (less than 3 months on the 100L sump).

Much of the challenge is the wet environment. Despite the desiccating breathers, there is a severe moisture level in the oil, and the added complication has been the short desiccating breather life of less than a week resulting in high costs in attempt to control the problem.

The oil looked muddy! This was due to the free water in the sample along with the high rust particulate levels from the system.

So what to do? For many, this may simply be a case of living with the problem and scheduling more downtime to cope with the gearbox repairs and oil changes. While some maintenance managers might have attempted to address the problems, they probably would have met resistance from management not to spend on their restricted budgets.

But for this particular maintenance manager, the reason I was there, this was just another of the many challenges he faces in his goal for world class standards. Despite the failure of the desiccating breathers at this stage, he knows that he can solve this issue and enjoy the benefits of life extension on the oil and gearbox, reduced downtimes, and costs, and improved compliance in his safety and quality standards. He is willing to try, whether it be filtration carts, or alternative breather arrangements or even a new oil type. And he is willing to learn from the oil analysis data to seek all areas of improvement.

It occurred to me whilst driving home that despite the challenges, this site will indeed succeed with this attitude.

Lube tips #3:

- A multi-grade oil can provide easier cold starting than a single-grade oil because the multi-grade is thinner than a single grade at cold temperatures and flows more quickly to engine parts.

- Synthetic PAO's are used in worm gear applications for energy savings because of their greater lubricity. They are also recommended for extremely high and low temperature applications. Their naturally high viscosity index allows the same oil to be used for Summer and Winter applications.

- Journal bearings are so named because they support or operate against a rotating shaft. The shaft that is surrounded by the bearing is known as the journal. Hydrostatic journal bearings have the following advantages: extremely low friction, ability to support a load with no shaft rotation, ability to sustain appreciable loads with low-viscosity fluids (such as water,liquid metals, etc.), ability to control stiffness by varying the fluid pressure. Journal bearings cannot carry thrust loads.

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