The lubrication in the maintenance operations

Do you know how to best manage lubrication to your advantage? Lubrication is both a critical and important process which must be carried out with maximum precision to ensure the reliability of machinery and reduce maintenance costs.

Generally, machine failure is self-induced, which means that a lack of maintenance practices and processes are largely responsible for failures.

Inadequate lubrication represents about 40% of self-induced maintenance failures. In addition, more than 80% of machinery users consider lubrication to be a significant factor in the machine’s operation.

Lubrication systems play an important role in the operation of most equipment components such as gears and reducers, electric motors, chain drives, air compressors, bearings and more.

The importance of maintenance activities has increased in the recent years, due to increased speed and complexity of production processes and technological potential.

Maintenance is therefore a key factor to avoid unwanted machine failures and production downtime, which therefor will result in overall productivity improvement.

Predictive maintenance is the evolution of traditional maintenance, where lubrication is not a fixed point but is determined over time by sensors installed inside the equipment.

During machinery operation, the software acquires data and processes it to verify any differences with respect to historical data and to report any anomalies. With this process, it is possible to predict the probabilities and the timeframe in which a failure will occur, therefore, allowing the advance planning aimed to replace the worn, and no longer efficient, components.

Additionally, this process allows industrial lubrication solutions to play a leading maintenance role, with pumps and components capable to communicate and process data.

IoT LUBRICATION PUMP
IoT lubrication pumps provide a versatile solution within small to medium sized centralized lubrication systems, often implementing dividers or multi-point pumps.

These pumps incorporate the new DropsA touch screen controller enabled for IoT and are designed for Internet through a dedicated platform.

The use of these lubrication solutions allows for higher monitoring capabilities with the ability to remotely verify the parameters and status of the lubrication system, without forcing operators to intervene on the spot, which is often difficult.

An example is the Automatic Omega pump, a multi-outlet electric grease pump equipped with advanced touch screen display designed for the DropsA DRUCS platform, which can manage and monitor the functions of the pump through Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connectivity.

In addition, the communication between different devices allows for the collection and processing of data estimating the performance of the machinery on which the lubrication solution is installed.

Maintenance of machinery is important for many factors, first of all it increases the useful lifecycle of machines.

The installation of an automatic lubrication system allows for the proper amount of lubricant, at the correct point, at the optimal time, all while the machine is operating. This solution decreases downtown and increases productivity.

If a single point of the machine is not properly lubricated, it can cause unexpected downtime which negatively affects maintenance cost and performance.