How to maintain lubrication continuity

How to maintain lubrication continuity
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During this time of great uncertainty, your plant may experience a shortage of maintenance staff. Whether it’s caused by furloughs, illness or employees leaving for other job opportunities, the result is the same – your critical production equipment may be at risk, due to inconsistent lubrication. That, in turn, can lead to an increase in unscheduled downtime and costly equipment failure.

Savvy plant managers know that lubrication continuity is a must. They rely on automatic lubrication systems to provide their pumps, conveyors, electric motors, fans and blowers with consistent lubrication at programmed intervals. It can extend your equipment life, prevent unscheduled downtime and enhance worker safety.

Here at Power Lube Industrial, we have been helping companies automate critical lubrication programs for over 35 years. During that time, we have found that there are four typical applications where lubrication continuity is a must:

Conveyors
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Many industries rely on conveyors to move materials from one step of their production process to the next. When one conveyor goes down, it causes other upstream and downstream operations to be idled. That makes downtime in conveyor-driven operations very expensive.

Power Lube’s automatic lubrication solutions can help you in two key areas:

MEMOLUB HPS 480s lubricate head pulley bearings on a quarry belt conveyor.
MEMOLUB HPS 480s lubricate head pulley bearings on a quarry belt conveyor. Lubricant cartridges and batteries are replaced without equipment shutdowns.

Bearings: Head, tail, snub and take-up bearings are used to move coal and aggregates in the power and mining industries. Our lubrication products can be installed outside of the conveyor’s protective guarding, with flexible tubing delivering lubricant to the bearings. That means they provide continuous lubrication without costly equipment shutdown.

Chains: Chain drives are used extensively on conveyors in shipping facilities. In this high-production environment. unscheduled conveyor downtime can cause major logistical headaches. Our lubricators can be installed with a brush to apply either oil or grease to the conveyor chain at precise intervals.

MEMOLUB HPS 240’s lubricate shaft bearings on a Twin City Fans blower.
MEMOLUB HPS 240s lubricate shaft bearings on a Twin City Fans blower.

Fans and blowers
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Fan systems are a critical component in many types of industrial facilities. Fans and blowers are used to exhaust heat and gases, cool equipment, collect dust and as a tool for material handling.

Fan bearings are often located in inaccessible or hazardous locations. That’s why Power Lube offers both single- and multi-point lubricators that can be installed up to 30 feet from the bearings. This enables maintenance staff to quickly and safely replace lubrication cartridges while the equipment is still operating.

A MEMOLUB HPS 120 lubricates the drive motor bearing of a cooling tower fan at a west coast power plant.
A MEMOLUB HPS 120 lubricates the drive motor bearing of a cooling tower fan at a west coast power plant.

Electric motors
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Electric motors drive a wide variety of manufacturing equipment across many industries. It is imperative that proper attention is given to bearing lubrication. Under-lubricating causes increased friction and wear to bearing surfaces, resulting in premature failure. Over-lubricating can damage seals, allowing ingress of grease into motor windings.

We offer an automatic lubrication solution that allows you to program how much and how often lubricant is dispensed. The MEMOLUB lubricators are available in both battery-powered and externally-powered options to provide optimal lubrication to motor bearings.

MEMOLUB Multi-Point systems lubricate bearings on motor shaft and impeller shaft of high-volume pumps.
MEMOLUB Multi-Point systems lubricate bearings on motor and impeller shafts of high-volume pumps.

Industrial pumps
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Pumps are used to move fluid in many industries, including agriculture, municipal freshwater systems and wastewater treatment, power generation and mining. Bearing failures can be avoided by automating the lubrication process.

Our automatic lubrication products provide a small amount of fresh grease at regular intervals so the lubricant doesn’t become aged or ineffective. Our products are often used to lubricate pistons and other moving parts to prevent moisture or contaminants from damaging seals, bearings and motors.

Lubrication continuity – no matter what

Automatic lubricators provide the same amount of lubricant, at a specified interval and to the specified place, consistently. There is no variation in how the lubricant is applied.

They work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week – even when you’re not. You will no longer need to wonder if or when critical bearings were lubricated. They are your best bet to keep your critical equipment running. That’s why they are ideal for plants where maintenance staffing is uncertain or where you must cross-train other workers to take over the lubrication role.

Automatic lubrication simply works.