Condition Monitoring, Troubleshooting and Reliability in Rotating Machinery

4Optimizing Lubrication and Lubricant Analysis

By Jim Fitch and Bennett Fitch

Introduction

Lubrication is an unmistakably integral part of machine reliability. Rotating machines are dependent on lubrication decisions made, such as which lubricant to use, how the lubricant needs to be applied to the tribological zones, and what is done during operations to monitor and control the integrity of these frictional zones.

At the same time, lubrication is too often not top of mind when considering the critical aspects of rotating machines, partly because there is a lack of general understanding of the crucial role the lubricant plays in reliability. But even for those who may understand this, it still is not intuitive to manage these factors carefully. Rather, there are incorrect assumptions that lubrication is straight forward; in other words, simply “just having oil or grease in the machine is largely all that is necessary” is a perspective of many. This, coupled with the fact that lubrication is messy and not as exciting as the many other maintenance tasks, often challenge workforce culture.

As a result, the industry suffers from stagnant practices and lethargic attitudes. Although, the dismal state of an old and generally unexciting field is a huge opportunity in disguise. For plant maintenance personnel that see this opportunity, improvements in lubrication not only help avoid unnecessary costs in repairs and downtime, but also have a huge impact in improving the maintenance culture ...