Up Time Magazine- April/May 2008 - (Page 29) Concluding Recommendations In order to maintain the longevity and performance of modern industrial equipment, it is important to follow the critical mothballing procedures cited above. By doing so, machine operators and maintenance professionals can help extend the life and performance of their company’s equipment and simplify the procedure of shutting down equipment for temporary or extended periods of time. For questions about mothballing your equipment, it is recommended that you contact your lubricant provider or equipment manufacturer. and should be flushed, drained, and refilled with the correct lubricant prior to starting. To address concerns that vibration would cause fretting corrosion in the load zone of the shutdown machine, it was determined that the mothballed machine should crawl periodically to prevent fretting corrosion. The steps listed in the main article were used to mothball standard equipment such as -- gear reducers, turbine gear drives, vacuum and centrifugal pumps, for which vibration was not an issue. In this instance, due to vibration and the need to crawl the machine, paper machine oil was used to provide adequate oil viscosity to the bearing load zones while the Mobil Vaprotec Light provides the required 3-phase rust preventive. After analyzing the situation, we developed a plan that would fit the paper mill’s equipment needs. The procedure assumed that the machine’s oil system heating unit could heat the mothballing lubricant to the specified 150-degree operational level. In addition, we circulated oil throughout the system and crawled the equipment to rotate the bearings one-anda-quarter turns, three times per week, to prevent costly fretting corrosion. Following this procedure, the machine was successfully re-started after a six-month shut down period. During the process, this lubricant mothballing process touched more than 40 double spherical roller bearings. The cost of these bearings varies from $1,000 to over $5,000 to replace, not to mention the potential downtime costs associated with replacing a failed bearing. As a result of successfully conducting this mothballing procedure on the paper machine, the customer potentially saved more than $100,000. During the past three years since the equipment began operating again, there have been no bearing failures caused by fretting corrosion or rust. Mike Galloway is a senior lubrication engineer for Mobil Industrial Lubricants. Galloway has been supporting the success of the company for more than 22 years, holding positions in both sales and marketing. During this time, Galloway has been developing an application expertise in off-highway, pulp & paper, rubber, natural gas, plastic injection molding and steel core applications. Galloway is an STLE Certified Lubrication Specialist and holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering University of Kentucky. Shaft alignment in a Flash ® Dealing With a Unique “Mothballing” Challenge Below is a description of the ways a company dealt with both standard and unique situations when faced with “mothballing” a paper machine. The processes described below are similar to the common procedures used when mothballing many types of industrial equipment. Recently, a company that sought to temporarily shut down a papermaking machine consulted Mobil Industrial Lubricants because of an unusual situation. The papermaking machine was located next to a similar machine that would not be shut down. To begin the process, filter elements were replaced on the subject units and 10 percent (by reservoir volume) of a solvent-free, oil soluble cleaner was added to flush the systems over the next 48 hours at normal operation in order to clean up carbon, sludge and other contaminants. Upon shutting the system down, while still warm, the oil was drained and the filter elements were replaced. Once the breathers were pipe plugged, paper machine oil was used to fill to the highest level possible without causing leakage. The paper machine lubricating oil was then mixed with 10 percent (by reservoir volume) of Mobil Vaprotec Light, an ISO Viscosity Grade 32, turbine-quality circulation oil containing anti-oxidants and defoamants. It was then enhanced with a three-phase inhibitor to protect surfaces lightly coated with oil, a liquid phase inhibitor to protect submerged surfaces with oil, and a vapor phase inhibitor to protect surfaces exposed to oil vapors. A red tag was placed on the units clearly showing that it had been properly “mothballed” www.uptimemagazine.com New! Offset shaft alignment in a Flash. A new hardware+software expansion kit is now available for the XA that allows quick and easy alignments of offset (cardan) machine shafts. The system incorporates on-screen Flash® animations that actually walk the user through the offset shaft alignment process! Quickly align your offset shafts to reduce wear on gearboxes, bearings and offset joints. www.vibralign.com l 800-379-2250 Flash is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated. 35 http://www.vibralign.com http://www.uptimemagazine.com
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