Machinery Lubrication magazine published by Noria Corporation
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1433576
www.machinerylubrication.com | November - December 2021 | 43 ML ML About the Author Wes Cash is the Vice President of Services for Noria Corporation. He serves as a senior technical consultant for Lubrication Program Development projects and as a senior instructor for Noria's Oil Analysis I and Machinery Lubrication I and II training courses. He holds a Machinery Lubrication Engineer (MLE) Machine Lubrication Technician (MLT) Level II certification and a Machine Lubricant Analyst (MLA) Level III certification through the International Council for Machinery Lubrication (ICML). Contact Wes at wcash@noria.com. By making a few adjustments to your current lubrication program, you can ensure that your equipment is running at peak efficiency, all while reducing the energy consumption at your plant. Ad ditive s c a n h e lp p rote c t surfaces and extend the useful life of a lubricant. When selected properly, they can help minimize friction during start-up, which will save energy on equip - ment that may start and stop frequently. Lubricants formulated with friction modifiers allow for a slight chemical film to be estab- lished at cooler temperatures than traditional wear-control additives; this allows for easier starts and stops, less friction, less wear, and ultimately, savings associated with their use. The use of viscosity index improver additives is also common prac- tice. These additives allow for a temporary "thinning" of the fluid in areas of high flow, so they are more easily pumped than a fluid without them present. CORRECT ADDITIVES 4 Often considered a lower main- tenance f unc tion , the task s surrounding adding lubricants se ld o m g et s scr utinize d o r reviewed for improvement s . Most don't know the proper way to use a grease gun or add oil without putting the machine in jeopardy or making it work harder than it needs to. Lubri- cants should be added slowly to greased machines when they are running. Slowly pump the grease to minimize churning. Add oils in a manner that won't create signif- icant turbulence in the system that can impact pump efficiency or kick up debris that leads to the wearing of machine parts. CORRECT APPLICATION METHOD 5 Similar to the previous point, a review of lubrication intervals should be performed to ensure that the application of lubri- cants is done when needed and not resulting in greatly overex- tended intervals or the disposal of healthy lubricants. By doing condition-based lubrication, you can ensure that the lubricant is staying in a healthy condition and there is not an unnecessary break in production based upon some calendar date interval that may not be applicable to the system at hand. 6 CORRECT FREQUENCY