Lubrication issues

Rolling Element skidding

 Pulverized Fuel Mill

Laurence-Scott
985 RPM 522KW

Driving a bowl
mill

Continuous
operation

12 Across the site

 Details

Drive End Bearing - NU322

Greased weekly with 8 ‘shots’

Audible screech from bearing

on various motors

Cavity shows grease exiting

grease relief, some more than
others
 VBLR - Mill 5C
MILL5C -M2X Motor DE Vertical (ACC)

Max Amp
.27 Hay stacks around 4000 Hz
Plot
Scale
0.14
RMS Acceleration in G-s

25-Aug-10
15:51:31

25-May-10
10:55:11

22-Apr-10
14:18:47
0 2000 4000 6000 8000
Frequency in Hz
 Autocorrelation
VBLR - Mill 5C
MILL5C -M2X Motor DE Vertical (ACC)
1.0
Route ACorr(Wf)
25-May-10 10: 55: 11

RMS = .0352
LOAD = 100.0
RPM = 975. (16.24 Hz)
0.5
PK(+) = .7861
PK(-) = .9181
CRESTF= 26.11
Correlation Factor

-0.5

-1.0
3.0 3.3 3.6 3.9 4.2
Rev olution Number

Autocorrelation indicates random noise

 VBLR - Mill 5C
MILL5C -M2X Motor DE Vertical (ACC)
2.4
Trend Display
of
2.1 Ov erall Value

-- Baseline --
1.8 Value: .460
Date: 09-Feb-10
RMS Acceleration in G-s

1.5

1.2

0.9

0.6

0.3

FAULT
ALERT
0
Date: 25-May-10
0 50 100 150 200 Time: 10: 55:10
Days: 09-Feb-10 To 25-Aug-10 Ampl: 2.025

Overall acceleration trend is erratic

 VBLR - Mill 5C
MILL5C -M2P Motor DE Horiz Peakv ue

Max Amp
.20

Plot
Scale
0.10
RMS Acceleration in G-s

25-Aug-10
15:51:06

25-May-10
10:54:38

22-Apr-10
14:18:17
0 200 400 600 800 1000
Frequency in Hz

PeakVue spectrum shows no significant changes

60 Orders (990 Hz)
1600 LOR
1kHz HP
 VBLR - Mill 5C
MILL5C -M2P Motor DE Horiz Peakv ue

3.53
25-Aug-10 15:51
.0
Acceleration in G-s

7.55
25-May-10 10:54
.0

6.40
22-Apr-10 14:18
.0

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Rev olution Number

PeakVue waveforms show no significant impacting events, but a slight increase in

amplitudes.
 VBLR - Mill 5C
MILL5C -M2P Motor DE Horiz Peakv ue
2.7
Trend Display
of
2.4 WARNING Ov erall Value

2.1 -- Baseline --
FAULT Value: 1.714
Date: 09-Feb-10
1.8
RMS Acceleration in G-s

1.5

1.2

ALERT
0.9

0.6

0.3

0
Date: 22-Apr-10
0 50 100 150 200 Time: 14:18:16
Days: 09-Feb-10 To 25-Aug-10 Ampl: .910

Overall PeakVue trend shows no increase in stress wave activity.

Downward trend could indicate that the reduction in grease quantity
could be heading in the right direction.
Primary Air Fans

Laurence-Scott
2130kW
1485 RPM

Four in continuous operation

Similar noise from Drive End bearing

NU330

Greased weekly on a ‘shot’ basis

Temperature spike coincides with the weekly lubrication program. In
some cases up to 90 Degrees C.
 VBLR - Primary Air Fan 5A
PAF5A -M2X Motor DE Vertical (ACC)
2.8
Max Amp
2.72

0
25-Aug-10
16:04:59
20-Jul-10
14:33:22

23-Jun-10
RMS AccelerationinG-s

09:21:13

25-May-10
12:09:05

01-Apr-10
14:10:59

09-Mar-10
10:48:38

09-Feb-10
13:12:25
0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000
Frequency in Hz

Broadband non synchronous energy

 VBLR - Primary Air Fan 5A
PAF5A -M2P Motor DE Horiz Peakv ue
5
Max Amp 4
4.25 3
2
1
0
25-Aug-10
16:04:08
RMS Acceleration in G-s

20-Jul-10
14:21:59

23-Jun-10
09:15:02

01-Apr-10
15:41:44
0 400 800 1200 1600
Frequency in Hz

PeakVue shows fault frequency’s

 Autocorrelation shows a BPFO

VBLR - Primary Air Fan 5A

PAF5A -M2P Motor DE Horiz Peakv ue
1.0
Route ACorr(Wf)
F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F 20-Jul-10 14:21: 59
(PkVue-HP 2000 Hz)

RMS = .1208
LOAD = 80.0
0.5 RPM = 1480. (24.67 Hz)

PK(+) = .9579
PK(-) = .2318
Correlation Factor

CRESTF= 7.93

0 >SKF NU330
F=BPFO

-0.5

-1.0
Rev : 2.439
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Ampl: .539
Rev olution Number
 PA Fan 6A
VBLR - Primary Air Fan 6A
PAF6A -M2X Motor DE Vertical (ACC)
1.8
Route Spectrum
24-Sep-10 09: 37:12

OVERALL= 5.14 A-DG

1.5
RMS = 5.15
LOAD = 100.0
RPM = 1493. (24.89 Hz)

1.2
RMS Acceleration in G-s

0.9

0.6

0.3

0
0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000
Frequency in Hz
 VBLR - Primary Air Fan 6A
PAF6A -M2X Motor DE Vertical (ACC)
1.0
Route ACorr(Wf)
D D D D 24-Sep-10 09: 37:12

RMS = .0901
LOAD = 100.0
RPM = 1480. (24.67 Hz)
0.5
PK(+) = .7620
PK(-) = .6932

Autocorrelation shows FTF CRESTF= 8.46

Correlation Factor
>SKF NU330

and BPFO 0 D=FTF

-0.5

-1.0
Rev : 2.440
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Ampl: -.460
Rev olution Number

VBLR - Primary Air Fan 6A

PAF6A -M2P Motor DE Horiz Peakv ue
1.5
Route Spectrum
DDDDDDDDDD 24-Sep-10 09: 36:49
(PkVue-HP 2000 Hz)

1.2 OVERALL= 3.13 A-DG

RMS = 2.46
LOAD = 100.0
RPM = 1493. (24.88 Hz)
RMS Acceleration in G-s

>SKF NU330
0.9 D=FTF

0.6

0.3

0
Freq: 10.00
0 80 160 240 320 400 480 Ordr: .402
Frequency in Hz Spec: 1.102
 Other Symptoms
•During lubrication, little or no grease will exit
the grease relief

Why? As grease is worked by the rolling

elements oil is squeezed out of the matrix,
causing the grease to harden in service. This
can block the grease relief and grease can no
longer be flushed through the bearing. When
lubricated the fresh grease will take the path
of least resistance, on older motors this is
usually the inboard motor bearing seal. This
results in the grease entering the windings or
armature.

•Using a strobe can detect irregular

movement of the rolling element

•However the noise is an obvious method to

detect skidding. Skidding sounds like a high
pitched screech that goes away with a pump
of grease but usually comes back shortly
after.
Adding grease can increase the overall trend

VBLR - Mill 5D
MILL5D -M2P Motor DE Horiz Peakv
8
Strip Chart
of
Ov erall
7

6
RMS Acceleration in G-s

1
Time: .00000
0 30 60 90 120 150 180 Ampl: 2.439
Time in Seconds
 VBLR - Mill 5D
VBLR-Mill 6A MILL6A
VBLR-Mill 6F MILL6F (09-Feb-10) MILL5D -M2P Motor DE Horiz Peakvue
0.6
0.14 Route Spectrum
Max Amp 0.12
F F F F F F F F F F 22-Jun-10 16:53:26
.14 (PkVue-HP 1000 Hz)
0.10 0.5
OVERALL= 1.04 A-DG
0.08 RMS = 1.04
LOAD = 100.0
0.06 RPM = 990. (16.50 Hz)
0.4
0.04 >SKF NU330E
F=BPFO
0.02
ninG-s

0.3

ninG-s
0
celeratio

MILL6F

tio
celera
MSAc

c
R

MSA
0.2

R
0.1

MILL6A
0 2000 4000 6000 8000
0
Frequency in Hz
Freq: 93.75
0 200 400 600 800 1000 Ordr: 5.682
Frequency in Hz Spec: .408

Spectrum will show haystacks PeakVue can show BPFO (not always)
 Bearing skidding
Causes

• Over lubrication

If a grease cavity is full, the rollers can

pull in (churn) extra grease causing
over lubrication

• Blocked grease relief (causes over

lubrication)
• Grease too thick for the application
• Light radial loading i.e. Minimum load
requirements have not been met;
gearbox is taking all of the load;
magnetic centering of the motor has
unloaded the bearing.
 Minimum load requirement
NU 322 ECJ
Dynamic load rating 468 kN (47 tonne)

Minimum load rating 3.36 kN (340

kg’s)

Rotor weight 17% – 33% of total

weight

Total weight=5080 kg

Rotor weight = 864 kg’s – 1524 kg’s

At the most each bearing is supporting

762 kg’s without taking into
consideration magnetic centering, and
weight supported by the gearbox.
Action by the Client
The charge of grease has been
reduced significantly. This has resulted
in less over temperature alarms

However vibration data does not

suggest a significant reduction in
skidding.

Why no more action?Lack of

conclusive evidence. Lack of
understanding of vibration analysis, no
acoustic data, no grease analysis
performed.

No recommendation for specific action

and fear of inducing further damage
by changing current practice i.e.
overheating a bearing by flushing out
the cavity with fresh grease.
 Solutions
Most desirable Least desirable
• Convert to oil lubricated • Utilise an out of round
bearings raceway
• Purge old hard grease from • Use two preloaded hollow
the cavity rollers
• Reduce the amount of
grease Not recommended
• Machine down the shaft and • Misaligning the driver to
install the appropriate driven component
bearing
• Replace the cylindrical roller
with a deep groove roller
Other possibilities:

The noise and non synchronous broadband energy could be from a rub e.g. A
bearing seal. This would also cause a temperature increase.

There could be metal to metal contact occurring. Why? If the grease has thickened
in service metal to metal contact could be occurring due to the increased base oil
separation and lack of fluid film thickness.

What effect does skidding have on longevity of the bearing?

Actions:
Utilise Acoustic monitoring
Inspect the bearing
Take a grease sample
Clear the grease path/grease relief
Alter the lubrication interval – Reduce the lubrication frequency, increase the
charge
Change the lubrication method – Use the appropriate technology
Change grease
What is missing?

More data:

•Acoustic
•Temperature
•A structured approach to problem solving
•Evidence:- Strobe the rolling elements,
inner and outer race inspection
Useful Web Resources

Emerson CSi Technical Notes

http://www2.emersonprocess.com/en-US/brands/csitechnologies/productsupport/Pages/TechnicalNotes.aspx

Svenska Kullagerfabriken (SKF) calculators

http://www.skf.com/skf/productcatalogue/jsp/calculation/calculationIndex.jsp?&maincatalogue=1&lang=en
References:

Drayton M, case studies viewed 28th September 2010 at

http://www.lubrication.com.au/cs_bearing_skidding.htm

Goodman M, 2006, Using PdM technologies to determine, optimize lube condition, viewed 1 October 2010
at http://www.reliableplant.com/Read/23990/pdm-technologies-optimize-lube

Granger M, 2006, Using Sound Analysis to Monitor Lubrication Condition in Greased Roller Element
Bearings, Doctor Know application paper, Computational Systems incorporated

Hall J, 2006, Acoustic/Ultrasonic Lubrication, viewed 16th April 2010 at

www.reliabilityweb.com/art07/hall_lube_doc.pdf

Honeycutt J, et al, How To Design An Electric Motor Re-greasing Program, Tennessee Valley Authority, cited
Johnson W, Electrical Power Research Institute

Jacobyansky B, et al, 2009, Changing Greasing Habits with Predictive Maintenance, Guardian Industries

Bearings Reference Centre, viewed 1 October 2010 at

http://www.bearings.machinedesign.com/guiEdits/Content/BDE_6_4/bdemech6_30.aspx