Lubrication in Mining Equipment Ashok Kumar Goyal, Rohit Agarwal, Balaram Ghosh and Abhijit Roy
Balmer Lawrie & Co. Ltd., Applications Research Laboratory, P-43, Hide Road Extn, Kolkata, India – 700 088.
Abstract
Mining industry deploys a large number of heavy earth moving equipment like draglines, shovels, dumpers and dozers for the extraction of minerals and coals via surface or underground mining. Effective lubrication to protect the heavily loaded components of mining equipment is a key responsibility of the users, lubricant manufactures and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). The number of breakdown arise due to failure of lubricating components can be reduced by maintaining proper lubrication on production equipment. Dispensing of right lubricant, in right quantity at right time is very crucial to prevent the system failure. Designing of right lubricant for different components of mining equipment viz. enclosed gear drives, open gear drives, different types of bearings, circulating and hydraulic components, is a challenging task for lubricant manufacturers. Present paper elaborates on various criteria & considerations for the development of appropriate lubricants for different components
of mining equipment especially for draglines and shovels.
Introduction
Maintenance of production equipment in mining industry is very essential to keep the equipment in efficient working condition to increase the productivity by reducing downtime. Maintenance people seek to reduce the maintenance costs, increase equipment utilization and improve equipment reliability. To achieve this, maintenance personal often look to upgrade the lubricants to the latest technology. Primary function of any lubricant is to reduce the friction which is normally achieved by introducing an ideal film of oil or sufficient amount of grease between two surfaces in relative motion. This lubricant film prevents the two surfaces to come in contact under the conditions of speed and load imposed on the moving parts. In the absence of proper lubrication machine parts develop friction, heat and rapid wear, which may eventually cause machine failure. Improper - 30 VOLUME 79, NUMBER 1
lubrication also results in frequent downtime, higher operating cost due to lower efficiency. Some of the direct costs resulting from improper lubrication include cost of replacement spares and components, labor for replacements and repair, excess lubricant consumption and labour for inefficient manual lubrication practice. Therefore proper lubrication of each lubricating surface of production equipment is very essential for the smooth operation of any industry. Present paper elaborates about the development of appropriate grease lubricants for different lubricating surfaces of mining draglines and shovels. For the development of suitable grease lubricants mode of application, various tribological aspects and original equipment manufacturers (OEM) recommendations related to lubricants are also taken into consideration.
Mode of Lubrication
Lubricants can be applied on lubricating surfaces by manual or automatic lubrication methods.
