Maintenance professionals who have implemented Oil Analysis Programs (OAP) into their Preventative Maintenance Program understand, at some point, it's going to happen, we don't know when, or where, but one day our new oil is going to start to turn...dark.
In our last post, Improving Rolling Mill Oil with Vacuum Dehydration, we discussed how the
Steel mills typically use lubricants with high demulsibility for rolling mill back-up roller bearings and chocks since relatively high levels of water contaminate the oil from quenching and descaling processes. These rolling mill lubricant oils may be known as Morgoil as they are commonly used on Morgan rolling mill systems.
As an equipment owner or manager, the last thing we want to find in our system is contamination. After all, contamination means loss of efficiency or even downtime, which ultimately costs time and money. Contamination somehow always sneaks its way into our systems. So, how does contamination get in our systems and what are we supposed to do about it?
The old phrase will always stand true, "A penny saved is a penny earned." When it comes to businesses and their pennies, every penny counts. When problems during the production and manufacturing process are fixed, people will say "pennies well spent." So, if pennies are so important, then what about dollars? What about thousands, or hundreds of thousands of dollars? What about millions of dollars? In today's production and manufacturing economy, these kinds of numbers are game-changing.
Our newest and smallest unit yet, the Compact Offline Filter is able
to fit where no other filtration equipment can. Ideal for smaller systems or where a larger offline system wouldn't fit, this solution can be permanently installed or made portable for ease of use.
Demulsibility is the ability of oil to separate from water. Oil and water naturally separate because like molecules attract each other. Oil sticks with oil, water sticks with water. Oil is "hydrophobic", or "afraid of water," which is a benefit when it comes to fluids like turbine oil.
All hydraulic and lube systems have a critical contamination tolerance level that is often defined by, but not limited to, the most sensitive system component such as servo valves or high speed journal bearings. Defining the ISO fluid cleanliness code upper limit is a function of component sensitivity, safety, system criticality and ultimately getting the most our of hydraulic and lube assets.
Our mission is to make our customers as efficient as possible, and we achieve that with the highest quality filtration products and total system cleanliness strategies to maximize uptime, productivity and prevent costly fluid contamination related failures. Been there. Done that. Going to do it again tomorrow. But that's not the only way we make our customers efficient. Extending the useful life of in-service fluids pays big dividends in reliability, saves money on premature fluid replacement costs, and reduces the environmental impact of industry by reducing the amount of fluids used and discarded. Enhancing reliability, saving money, and protecting the environment are not only good business, they're our responsibility. To help reduce oil usage, let's first understand why fluids are condemned and prematurely replaced.
Improving fluid cleanliness means reduced downtime, more reliable equipment, longer fluid life, and fewer maintenance hours. In addition, it also means reduced component replacement and repair expenses.
