Featured Case Study
PROVEN RESULT:
Extended Lube Oil and Gearbox Operating Life
CUSTOMER
Coal Production Facility
LOCATION / DATE
Gillette, WY / 2009
EQUIPMENT
Coal Loading Gate
APPLICATION / FLUID
Gearbox Lube Oil
Challenge
Silo gearboxes controlling the shoot gates that load the trains with coal had inadequate filtration that only captured contamination down to 20 microns in size. Kinnecott Energy required an OEI magnetic filter to capture wear contamination down to 1 micron and below to reduce premature wear of bearings and other close tolerance components.
Solution
Install an OEI ADD-Vantage 9000 in the gearbox. The ADD-Vantage 9000 includes OEI’s patented magnetic filter element as well as a stainless steel cloth element. The “inside-out” flow control design operates with the magnetic filter element as the primary filter. The high holding capacity allows for extended operating life of the stainless steel cloth element which minimizes by-passing and extends cleaning intervals
Results
A significant amount of ferrous and non-ferrous contamination was captured by OEI magnetic elements. This system has proven to surpass traditional filtration and extend both lube oil and gearbox life.
Gearboxes
North Sea Offshore Wind Turbine Gearbox
Wind turbine gearboxes are susceptible to failure well before their designed service lives because 1) wind turbines consist of a dozen bearings that work simultaneously for years, and 2) the variability of wind patterns leads to fluctuating loads on wind turbine components. These failures are a major cause of downtime, unplanned maintenance, and parts replacement; they are the primary cause of increased opex for energy operators, and higher utility bills for customers.
Improving Wind Turbine Reliability
Traditional filtration is unable to filter wear contamination under 1 micron in size that causes wear on close tolerance components such as bearings, gears and shafts. A bearing failure in a wind turbine gearbox can cost in excess of $500,000. This figures does not account for downtime and maintenance.
Engine Fuel
Electric Motor Generators Fuel Filtration
The challenge was to reduce wear contamination in the generator’s diesel fuel that was causing damage to the injectors and pump. Conventional filters have been ineffective in capturing contamination under 20 microns due to worm holing and channeling.
Generator Diesel Fuel Filtration
A container loading dock facility experienced frequent failures of the Merk Cummins CC 06 engines being used to power the electric motor generators in the cranes. High levels of ferrous metal contamination flowed through the existing conventional filters resulting in reduced operational life of injectors, actuators and camshafts. Further, this caused reduced fuel efficiency, increased emissions and increased fuel consumption.
Gas Plant
Unison Solutions’ Compressor Methane
Conventional filters were failing and unable to protect the compressors used to extract and compress methane gas from refuse landfill sites. The failures occurred as a result of sulfuric gas mixed with the methane reacting with the metal skin of the disposable filter.
OEI magnetic filters are designed for 99+% efficiency: they are optimized for fluid viscosity, flow volume, flow rate, temperature, mobility, and mounting requirements.
Use of the OEI Data Form will provide the necessary specifications for OEI to determine which product is right for you
Equipment – Filter Cross Over Form
Mining Product Kits & Crossovers