Customer description - Annular cooler pelletizing plant overview
A wet ball mill is a kind of equipment that uses a grinding medium and a certain amount of liquid (water or anhydrous ethanol) to grind materials. Unlike dry ball mill, wet ball mill adopts the wet grinding method. The characteristic of wet grinding is that the material needs to be soaked in liquid for grinding. To rotate the mill, there are open gears and pinion arrangements for which it needs to be properly lubricated for uninterrupted operation of the application.
We have introduced our specialty lubricant Klüberfluid C-F 3 ULTRA BH for ball mill open gear lubrication in the company’s pellet plant division.
Business objective - Maximizing overall productivity with reduced production cost
The ultimate objective of the customer is to increase their production without any sudden breakdown of application due to lubricant failure. Additionally, they are looking for a grease that will provide cost-effectiveness along with increased safety, productivity & enhanced equipment life with prolonged relubrication intervals.
Business issues - Equipment downtime and cost of lubrication
- High lubricant consumption @ 13 Kgs / 24 hrs with the competitor product
- High vibrations at pinion support roller bearings
- Active pitting marks on tooth flank surfaces
- High-temperature gradient across the tooth flank surfaces
Vision match -
- Cost-effective solution with increased safety and productivity
- Increased equipment life with reduced vibrations
- Increase of relubrication intervals coupled with cost optimization
Equipment -
- Ball mill
- Drive: Single pinion open gear drive
- Pinion flank width: 650 mm
- Gear type: Spur
- Spray system: Lincoln
- Nozzles: 5
Competitor products used -
- Refined paraffinic base oil with graphite-based black open-gear grease
- Base oil viscosity 1250 cSt at 40°C
Reasonings for proposing Klüberfluid C-F 3 ULTRA BH for this project -
- 17500 cSt base oil viscosity at 40°C
- Transparent fluid helps to conduct adequate inspections during active operational hours of the machine
- It provides good adhesion, excellent resistance to high pressure, and protection against wear
Klüber recommendations -
- Usage of high-performance transparent operational lubricant: Klüberfluid C-F 3 ULTRA BH with a consumption rate of 6 kgs / 24 hrs
- Klüber service personnel aided the customer in conducting alignments of the application and reducing the vibrations of the pinion bearings
- Successful replacement of one-pinion bearing since the condition was not optimum and clearance was too high for the suitable limit
Benefits of Klüberfluid C-F 3 ULTRA BH: Value addition to the end customer -
- Maintenance cost reduction and reduced grease consumption
- Equipment uptime with reduced vibration of pinion bearings after realignment done by customer and Klüber service personnel. No unexpected pinion-bearing failure observed
- Effective after-sales service support has created a great impact on the customer's management team including the Plant COO and purchase head to successfully replace the competitor lubricant with Klüberfluid C-F 3 ULTRA BH
Sales history update -
- Post successful establishment of our Klüberfluid C-F 3 ULTRA BH in the secondary ball mill, we have established it in primary ball mill open gear lubrication as well
- Due to effective technical support, we have generated 1.8 Mio INR of business from the customer and secondary ball mill open gear lubrication up to May 2023
- The customer is satisfied with the product and is looking forward to continuing with the same. The total potential for the application: 1.1 Mio INR
