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How does oil recirculation lubrication work?

Oil recirculation lubrication technologies also for cooling bearings and gears

26 NOVEMBER 2019

The machinery that operates at high speeds, the bearings are subjected to severe mechanical stress that produces heat and causes a strong increase in temperature that can compromise correct system operation.

The awareness of this problem led to designing a specific technology for oil recirculation lubrication that allows you to lubricate and at the same time cool the bearings or gears.

The recirculation provides a flow of oil to the lubrication points, with control of the quantity and temperature of the fluid. By means of an electric pump the lubricant is taken into the main line, where the flow of oil is measured and regulated. When the oil goes through the point being lubricated, it acts not only as a lubricant, but it also eliminates the heat created by the bearing or the area being lubricated. Unlike the total-loss lubrication systems, through a return tube, the lubricant circulates from the bearing to the pumping station where it is filtered and cooled by means of heat exchangers, before being sent back to the lubrication points in order to be reused.

Specifically, the flow is controlled thanks to the use of a meter and volumetric flow regulator which constantly monitors the successful lubrication. The volumetric nature of the rotating satellite of the meter allows the exact volume to be known in the dispensing phase and, combined with a servo motor system, at the same time allows the exact flow parameters to be maintained, even if there are variations in pressure or viscosity (due to temperature variations).

 


All of this guarantees complete remote control of the system (settings and monitoring) and the consequent reduction of manual operations. Another innovation of this device is the ability of the flow to bypass the meter module, allowing the removal of the unit without the need to shut down the system.
This type of system is completed with the installation of a custom-designed monitoring device to monitor and provide remote diagnostics and to guarantee that the oil recirculation system always works at top efficiency.

Application sectors: from utensil machines to energy production

Oil recirculation is used on machines with many points to be lubricated, such as paper mills, utensil machines and printing machines, and it favours a general increase in work speed and performance, as well as making it possible to adjust and monitor the distribution of each point. In addition to these sectors, recirculation lubrication systems lend themselves well to installation on systems that transform heat into electricity and thermal energy from renewable sources (e.g. biomass, geothermal and solar energy) or from waste heat created by industrial processes, engines and gas turbines. Installation on this type of system allows the high-speed bearings to be lubricated, as well as the shaft of pumps and turbines used to convert the heat into electricity.

 
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