Multi-point lubrication for large structures

The harbour cranes are largestructures used in ports for the unloading and loading of goods and very heavyspecial equipment which are intended for industrial applications.

Various types of cranes are used in the ports.The simplest type is an arm-controlled pulley, fastened at the top to a beam,with a hook on the other end of the rope at the bottom. Generally they are usedto load/unload material onto the ships such as containers, minerals and grains.

The high intensity of work to which they aresubject for the displacements makes it necessary to install a system that isable to lubricate the components which are stressed during the handling.

Other environmental conditions such as the exposure to sea salt, humidityand other contaminating substances, are added the increase in the demand for harbour capacity, withresulting increase in the number of movements and stresses on the equipment.Driven by the need to reduce costs, the operators concentrate on the optimisation of the life cycle of theequipment to limit investments of capital. 

All these conditions can lead to breakdowns withresulting increase in costs and unscheduled down time (e.g. they can occur incrawler wheels, rope pulleys, hoists, trolleys), and very often the maintenancetime and the resources necessary to prevent them are in short supply.

A good centralised lubrication system equipped with monitoring systems can help rotatingcomponents and systems to withstand these conditions and increase thereliability of the resources.

The lubrication systems equipped with monitoringsystems allow the operators to optimise the performance of the equipment beingused and more. Following are the advantages resulting from the use ofstate-of-the-art centralised lubrication installations:

- Reductionin downtime that is notscheduled
- Increasein productivity 
- Decreasein maintenance costs 
- Increasein the life cycle of theequipment
- Improvementin the di safety conditionsof the workers
- Drop inoperating costs of the lifecycle
- Reductionof the environmental impact

After careful analysis and assessment of theproblems, DropsA has developed a progressivelubrication system with the SUMOII pump and AISI 316 stainless steel SMX progressive dosing devices, whichmakes it possible to supply a measured quantity of grease and automate thelubrication process of several points, taking advantage at the same time of thebenefit of the flexibility in being able to add or remove the lubricationpoints right in the middle of the installation. For the occasion, componentswere used that had been tested for application in an environment with difficultconditions such as the marine environment.

This type of lubrication system makes itpossible to maximise the efficiency of the entire structure thanks to a systemthat is capable of supplying the correctquantity of grease for thelubrication of the bearingsat the base of the platform and in the arms of the crane, which are far apart and located in positions thatare hard to reach, furthermore making is possible to use the electroniccontrols thanks to our stainless steel (AISI 316) Ultrasensor 2, to check thecorrect performance of the lubrication system.