Lubricants maintenance

Most oil companies offer a planned lubrication maintenance (PLM) service that will meet these requirements with the minimum of effort on the part of the customer. These schemes provide logical routing for the lubrication operative, balanced workloads and clear instructions to those responsible for specific tasks associated with lubrication and fault-reporting facilities. Many schemes are now designed for computer operation, which also accommodate plant and grade changes, operation costs and manpower planning. It is essential that any such scheme should be adaptable to individual requirements. 

In its simplest and most basic form, lubricant analysis is performed to improve the quality of machine and lubrication maintenance decisions. When analysis is... 

Remaining Steps It seems that anytime a problem is encountered with any part of the lubrication system, an oil change is immediately scheduled with the assumption that the problem will be solved. This is referred to as lazy lubrication maintenance. Indeed, in certain cases the oil must be changed as a part of... 

Refers to the ability of an oil to separate from water, as determined by test method ASTM D 1401 or D 2711. Demulsibility is an important consideration in lubricant maintenance in many circulating lubrication systems. Refer to Demulsifier and Dynamic Demulsibility. 

Features required for plant lubrication, maintenance, and replacement, including vendor support. 

Provide training in effective plant lubrication procedures and techniques. The lubricator, maintenance personnel, and maintenance supervisors should attend. 

If maintenance is performed, there are two principal maintenance strategies preventive and breakdown maintenance. These are not mutually exclusive, and may be combined even in the same piece of equipment. Take for example a private motor car. The owner performs a mixture of preventive maintenance (by adding lubricating oil, topping up the battery fluid, hydraulic fluid and coolant) with breakdown maintenance (e.g. only replacing the starter motor when it fails, rather than at regular intervals). 

Breakdown maintenance is suitable for equipment whose failure does not threaten production, safety or the environment, and where the cost of preventing failure would be greater than the consequence of failure. In this case, the equipment would be repaired either on location or in a workshop. Even with this policy, it is assumed that the recommended lubrication and minor servicing is performed, just as with a motor car. 

A PPM program is needed to avoid equipment failures, utiHty outages, and production intermptions. From a cost savings angle it is extremely important to do preventive maintenance in order to avoid breakdowns. Periodic inspections and a good lubrication program uncover conditions that could lead to breakdowns. When problems are found eady, they can be taken care of without work intermption and costly repairs. Sometimes faciHty managers are so afraid of downtime that preventive maintenance is done too often. In other cases production does not allow adequate time to provide proper maintenance. 

Color Coding. New machinery and equipment must conform to OSHA standards and OEM specifications for color coding. Color coding can also help to speed up maintenance procedures. Examples include lubrication information, orientation, timing marks, torque requirements, etc. 

Porous bron2e and iron, a variety of plastics, carbon—graphite, wood, and mbber are widely used in dry sliding or under conditions of sparse lubrication. These materials have commonly allowed design simplifications, freedom from regular maintenance, reduced sensitivity to contamination, and good performance at low speeds and with intermittent lubrication. Although these materials are often used dry or with sparse lubrication, performance normally improves the closer the approach to full-film lubrication. 

In selec ting the machines of choice, the use of specific speed and diameter best describe the flow. Figure 10-67 shows the characteristics of the three types of compressors. Other considerations in chemical plant service such as problems with gases which may be corrosive or have abrasive solids in suspension must be dealt with. Gases at elevated temperatures may create a potential explosion hazard, while air at the same temperatures may be handled qmte normally minute amounts of lubricating oil or water may contaminate the process gas and so may not be permissible, and for continuous-process use, a high degree of equipment rehability is required, since frequent shutdowns for inspec tion or maintenance cannot be tolerated. 

Tube-end rolling before welding may leave lubricant from the tube expander in the tube hole. Fouhng during normal operation followed by maintenance operations will leave various impurities in and near the tube ends. Satisfactory welds are rarely possible under such conditions, since tube-end welding requires extreme cleanliness in the area to be welded. 

Maintenance and Reliability Preventive maintenance requires that all engines be shut down at periodic intervals for inspection and repair. For properly maintained heavy-duty engines availability is over 97 percent, with maintenance costs of 2.50 to 5 per horse-power-year and lubricating-oil consumption of 1 to 2 gal/hp-year. While this represents a high degree of reliability, outages of heavy-duty engines are more frequent than those of electric motors or steam turbines. 

Hot running Preventive maintenance bearings., Monitor bearings temperature Purging and sealing to keep solvents out, if solvent (even vapor) exposure is possible Use improved bearing lubricant CCPS G-29... 

Hot bearings pro- Avoid by regular preventive maintenance (PM) viding a source of inspections, lubrication and belt checks Ignition., Ugg improved lubrication CCPS G-23 CCPS G-29 CCPS G-34... 

Most often, the bearing or the lubricant is blamed for the failure. This is like blaming the fuse for an electrical failure. The failure is most likely a result of some abnormal operating condition, or lack of proper maintenance. In short, something causes the bearing to fail prematurely. 

A monthly lubrication schedule can then be issued to the appropriate maintenance personnel to serve as a reminder. The issuing of the lubrication schedule does not ensure its compliance, and supervisors should check to see that required lubrication is performed. 

Operating experience has proven that unless a continuous program of required lubrication is followed, even the most well-designed units are sure to fail. A proper lubrication management program must incorporate a monthly lubrication schedule, an evaluation of new lubrication products, and supervision to ensure the prescribed procedures are carried out by maintenance personnel. 

In the event of failures due to lubrication problems, the failures should be thoroughly analyzed to determine if they were indeed caused by lubricant failure or incorrect maintenance procedures. Once the problem has been isolated, corrective action can be initiated to prevent subsequent similar failures—whether it requires changing lubricants or procedures. 

Clapp, A.M., Fundamentals of Lubricating Relating to Operating and Maintenance of Turbomachinery, Proceedings of the 1st Turbomachinery Symposium, Texas A M University, 1972. 

Operating costs fuel, lubricating oil and cooling water, and normal, preventive and emergency maintenance. 

Several steps can be taken to maximize the run time for the reciprocating compressor. Since wear is a function of rubbing speed, the piston speed can be kept to a minimum. Chapter 3 made recommendations for piston speed. Reliability problems due to valves are reputed to account tor 40% of the maintenance cost of the compressor. Valves are the single largest cause for unplanned shutdowns. Basically, valve life can he increased by keeping the speed of the compressor as low as practical. At 360 rpm, the valves are operated six times a second. At 1,200 rpm, ihc valves operate 20 times a second or 1,728,000 times in a day. It is not difficult to understand why the valves are considered critical. To keep the reliability in mind, valve type, material selection and application considerations such as volume ratio, gas corrosiveness, and gas cleanliness need attention by the experts. One final note is that while lubrication is an asset to the rubbing parts, it is not necessarily good for valve reliability. 

Organized material safety data sheet information for the specific process highlighting potential trouble spots for maintenance materials, including materials of construction, lubricants, or packing. 

Customer supplied products that are issued for incorporation into supplies don t often require maintenance however, items for use in conjunction with the contract may be retained for such a duration that maintenance is necessary. If the products require any maintenance you should be provided with a maintenance specification and the appropriate equipment to do the job. Maintenance may include both preventive and corrective maintenance but you should clarify with your customer which it is. You may have the means for preventive maintenance, such as lubrication and calibration, but not for repairs. Always establish your obligations in the contract regarding customer supplied product, because you could take on commitments for which you are not contractually covered if something should go wrong. You need to establish who will supply the spares and re-certify the equipment following repair. 

---