10/7/2017 Don't Ignore Extreme Operating Conditions

Don't Ignore Extreme Operating Conditions

Lloyd Leugner
Tags: industrial lubricants
Machinery Lubrication (11/2001)

Much has been said and written about preventive and predictive maintenance programs and condition-monitoring
techniques and applications. Many highly skilled, well-qualified and well-meaning engineers and maintenance managers
diligently and consistently apply sound maintenance ideas to their plant and industrial machinery, yet fail miserably in their
attempts to extend machinery life cycles or improve machine reliability. Why is this so?

One important reason is that plant management fails to consider the extreme operating conditions, to which the plants
machinery may be subjected. This is a particular problem in plants where the management group has little or no technical
training or experience, or ignores recommendations made by those who have.

Machine reliability problems associated with extreme conditions include such things as:

Poorly designed machinery.

Modifications to machinery.
Excessive machine speeds or loads.
Excessive machine vibration.
Extreme temperature conditions.
Excessive contamination levels.
Poor operating practices.

Each of these extreme conditions affects machinery life cycles and equipment reliability, and ultimately the efficiency and
productivity of industry.

Poorly Designed Machinery

The relationship between life cycle costs and machinery design is a concept
that is not always applied when the initial design of replacement machinery is
considered. Put simply, life cycle costs include the total costs related to the
design, manufacture, commissioning, operation and maintenance and finally,
the disposal of any piece of machinery.

For example, if only 40 percent of the life cycle costs are applied to the
design, manufacture and commissioning stages of a new piece of machinery,
it stands to mathematical reason that most of the remaining 60 percent of the
life cycle cost will be spent during its operational lifetime. Regardless of the
level of maintenance or the techniques applied, this machine can experience
failure after failure throughout its operational lifetime.

On the other hand, if 80 percent of the life cycle cost is spent during the
design, manufacture and commissioning of a piece of machinery before it is Figure 1. Shock Load
put into operation, the machine can live a long, reliable and relatively
problem-free life, provided it is operated for the purpose for which it was intended. No amount of maintenance can correct
a poor design.

Machinery Modification
Machinery is modified every day in North American industrial plants without sufficient thought given to the extreme
operational effects such modifications might cause. Consider the modification of a conveyor system in a crushing plant. To

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supply more material to the crushing equipment, the conveyor system was expanded to increase the supply of material.
Wider, stronger belts were installed, along with an improved support roller and bearing system.

The gear drive mechanism which operated the conveyor failed catastrophically some six weeks later. Absolutely no
thought had been given to whether or not the drive system (bearings, gears, lubricants, etc.) could support the increased
capacity.

Effects on Bearing Life

Using speed and load calculations, an engineer can determine expected rolling element bearing life with surprising
accuracy. However, if a typical bearing load is doubled, the life cycle of the bearing may be reduced by as much as 90
percent. Doubling the rated speed, of a bearing can also reduce its life by as much as 50 percent.

Bearing Life
Load X 2 = up to 90 percent reduction
Speed X2 = up to 50 percent reduction

These engineering rules of thumb must be kept in mind whenever production increases are demanded by an unknowing
management, or if machine modifications are considered.

The obvious lesson is that every machine or mechanical drive system is only as strong as its weakest component.
Remember that about 80 percent of bearing failures are usually a symptom of a much larger problem, such as excessive
loads or speeds, extreme vibration conditions, poor lubrication practices, extreme temperatures and improper replacement
(bearing selection and/or poor installation).

Excessive Machine Vibration

Vibration analysis experts suggest, and the statistics related to vibration problems confirm, that most machinery vibration
problems are the direct result of component or drive system misalignment, component unbalance, mechanical looseness
or machine resonance related to its design. Machinery wear or bolt loosening can cause mechanical looseness
conditions. Misalignment can be caused by worn components, such as gear drives, but is caused primarily by poor initial
installation and set up of drive shafts, couplings and belt drives.

Component unbalance can be caused by wear, but frequently it is caused by such

conditions as dirt buildup on fan blades or pump impeller erosion. Resonance is
the term applied to a machines inherent (natural) vibrating frequency. If the
operating speed of the machine is such that its operational frequencies
consistently come near to or continually pass through its resonant frequency, the
operating frequencies can excite the resonant frequency so seriously that the
machine will literally fly apart.

It is difficult to design a machine installation, including the base, piping, duct work,
pedestals, etc., so that there are no natural frequencies coincident with any
significant excitation generated by the machines operating frequencies. In
addition, manufacturers are constantly reducing the machines mass and
increasing capacities and loads in todays equipment. As a result, resonance is a
common and serious problem throughout industry.

Extreme Temperature Conditions

Extreme temperature conditions include both extremely high or low temperatures.
In the case of temperatures below 0F (-18C), industrial equipment requires the
use of multiviscosity lubricants with high viscosity indexes. This will ensure that oil
flows are sufficient to allow the formation of satisfactory oil film thickness that will
prevent wear during machine startup. On the other hand, high temperature
Figure 2. Twisted Shaft Due to
operation should be a greater concern in North American plants. Even a five-
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degree rise in temperature above those recommended can eventually cause Overloading
severe damage.

Many factors can affect temperature, but the most common are the use of lubricants of the wrong viscosity, excessive
loads, speeds (or both), dirt and dust buildup on components (which has an insulating effect), or contaminated lubricants
(which can cause viscosity changes, foaming or other conditions that will dramatically affect the oils ability to transmit
heat). Table 1 lists some common mechanical systems and the recommended operating temperatures.

Bearings Do not exceed 160F (71C).

Hydraulic Bulk oil temperature (at exterior of reservoir) should not

Systems exceed 140F (60C).

Operate best in a range of 120F to 140F (49C to

60C). Keep in mind that an operating temperature rise
Gear
of 90F (50C) combined with an ambient temperature
Drives
of 60F (15.6C) will result in a total oil operating
temperatureof 150F (66C) in gear drives.

Gas Oil temperatures should normally be in the range of

Turbines 130F to 160F (54C to 71C).

Table 1

Another serious problem is the overheated bearings lubricated with grease. It is a common practice to apply more grease
to an already overheated bearing. The additional grease simply adds to the problem, due to frictional churning and
because the lubricant acts as an insulator. The increased temperature reduces oil film thicknesses, resulting in stress on
frictional surfaces that can lead to premature bearing failure. In these cases, consideration should be given to the
application of oil lubrication using a centralized oil mist system. Oil mist systems can reduce bearing temperatures by 20
to 40 percent, because excessive lubricant is never allowed to remain in the bearing housing.

Excessive Contamination
Excessive contamination is the cause of 75 percent of all failures related to lubrication in systems where close tolerances
of machine parts are critical. This includes high-pressure hydraulic systems, precision bearing applications and engines.

It is a common mistake to conclude that if contaminants cannot be seen, theyre not present. Consider this; water
contamination caused by condensation can be as high as 2000 parts per million (ppm), or 0.1 percent, yet may never be
discovered without laboratory analysis. In some machinery where high lubricant flow rates are present, such as in a
turbine, water contamination as low as 250 ppm can cause lubricant foaming. This can also occur in poorly designed
piping systems where high flow rates can cause turbulence. In addition, very small amounts of condensation can
contribute to serious damage in bearings in seasonally used machinery. The water may slowly evaporate (and condense
on internal surfaces) after hot shut down, causing corrosive pitting and spalling of the protected bearing surface.

Now consider dirt and dust contamination. Poor air filter system design and the application of poor quality oil and air filters
cause numerous machine failures in North America annually. Because careful failure analysis and particle counting are
seldom carried out, these failures are filed under normal wear and tear. Dirt and dust particle sizes that cause the most
damage are those that cannot be seen with the naked eye. These contaminants are in the size range of 4 to 40
micrometers and are referred to as silt contamination. This is why many equipment manufacturers and oil companies
highly recommend that new lubricants be filtered prior to installation, and that contamination levels in lubricants in service
should be monitored regularly using particle counting instruments.

In fact, the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers (STLE) states: The cleanliness of lubricants related to
bearing surfaces should be as important to the bearing user as antiseptic measures are to the surgeon!1

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An example of how controlling contamination can effectively increase equipment reliability is illustrated by the proactive
maintenance actions taken by the Suhner Corporation of Switzerland. The company operates a plant in Sackingen,
Germany in which it manufactures electronic and pneumatic motors, gears and machine tools. The manufacturing process
requires the use of sophisticated machinery operated both electronically and hydraulically.

The company began to experience shut downs, stoppages and failures within some of its hydraulically operated
manufacturing machinery. Careful failure analysis soon resulted in the discovery of a contamination problem in the plants
hydraulic systems.

The maintenance group immediately implemented a program where particle analysis of hydraulic oils was carried out to
monitor hydraulic oil condition. Improved filtration methods were then used wherever contamination levels exceed
recommended ISO cleanliness codes (ISO 4406:1999). In addition, standards of plant cleanliness were reviewed and
improved. Since these improvements were made, the reliability of the machines which had experienced problems has
returned to 100 percent. The author visited the plant, and had the opportunity to see first hand, the extremely clean
conditions. One could, quite literally, eat off the floor and every machine tool used in the manufacturing process was
spotless.

Poor Operating Practices

This may be one of the most common causes of machine failure and in the authors opinion, contributes directly to as
much as a two to three percent reduction in plant productivity in North America.

Poor operating practices are the direct result of two conditions prevalent in our present society:

1. An uncaring attitude by workers.

2. A lack of appropriate training of workers.

In fact, these two conditions are directly related to each other, because a lack of training may be the cause of an uncaring
attitude.

Extreme operating conditions can be even more fully understood and recurrences eliminated, if industry personnel
properly and thoroughly carry out a root cause failure analysis every time a component or machine system fails. This root
cause failure analysis must be carried out after every incident or failure, no matter how insignificant or unimportant it
appeared at the time.

References
1. The Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers. Interpreting Service Damage in Rolling Type Bearings.

This paper was presented by L. (Tex) Leugner at the International Maintenance Technology and Information Symposium Edmonton, Alberta, Canada in 1996.

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