Lubrication points
Challenges
Challenges
For industries that involve the handling of crushed bulk materials such as the quarrying, cement and mining industries, the key challenges associated with conveyor pulley bearing lubrication are worker safety and contamination prevention.
Accessing the lubrication points on large conveyors can involve extensive stair climbing, access ladder ascents / descents to gravity take-up pulleys and steep gradient walkways. Product spillage and potential trip hazards such as water hoses can add to the chance of injury due to trips or falls. Depending on the design of safety guards, conveyors can also present potential pinch points.
Contamination of bearings by solid particles (dirt / ore / dust) and water, via poorly lubricated shaft seals, is the leading cause of conveyor pulley bearing failures.Advantages of automatic lubrication
Advantages of automatic lubrication
Well designed automation programs can improve workplace safety and prevent contamination entry into bearings.
Automated systems can reduce the frequency at which a lubrication point must be visited, thereby reducing worker exposure to trip hazards. This is particularly the case for seal purge lubrication points which require frequent additions of grease in order to maintain a purge of clean grease through the seal.
Automated systems can generally be located outside of safety guards in order to provide easy access for the purpose of inspections and servicing, while equipment is operating.
To prevent bearing contamination, automated systems deliver grease in small amounts at short time intervals, in order to maintain a regular purge of grease through shaft seals – if clean grease is flowing through the seal to atmosphere, dirt and water is prevented from entering.
Solutions
Applications
Conveyors
Conveyor pulley bearing configurations can vary considerably and as such lubrication programs must be designed to take the specific requirements of different bearing and seal combinations into account. Overall, for typical spherical roller bearings with labyrinth or taconite seals, the lubrication strategy must address two requirements:
1) The re-lubrication of the bearing rolling elements to prevent lubricant starvation and;
2) The regular purging of seals to prevent the entry of contaminants.