“A lubricant is a substance, usually organic, introduced to reduce friction between surfaces in mutual contact, which ultimately reduces the heat generated when the surfaces move. It may also have the function of transmitting forces, transporting foreign particles, or heating or cooling the surfaces. The property of reducing friction is known as lubricity.” Source: Lubricant - https://en.wikipedia.org
Gearboxes, which often come from the OEM without dedicated or an adequate filtration system, can pose a great danger for pre-mature failure within a short segment of time and can be very costly from a repair standpoint. It is critically important to keep these systems performing at an optimal level, especially in the most severe and important applications of Power Generation, which can affect consumer costs in relation to energy and the cost per KW calculations. Specifically, in reference to Wind Tower Energy Generation Gearboxes and Coal Pulverizing Gearboxes, which supply the means to generate this energy in Coal fired plants.

The realized maintenance and operations costs of these systems generated throughout the proposed life cycle becomes clear that the challenge is not about the power generation output itself, but about the life cycle of the system in order to achieve the predicted or assumed cost of operation based off the estimated years in service. The main components supplied of the Gearboxes that help generate that power are often the costliest and most concerning points of failure in these types of systems. The life of the system in general has an ever-increasing demand for more power and longer service life; previously, 10-12 years then increased to 15-25 years, now we are looking at the extension of life beyond 25 years of service for the Renewable Energy markets.

The conclusion has come to that the only way to accomplish this goal is to extend the life of the Gearbox and all the components that are fed with that lubricating system. With rising costs associated with the handling and rebuilding of these gearboxes, it becomes extremely critical that these Gearboxes are kept and maintained at a tight level of cleanliness (typically an ISO 16/14/11) which can be tied to a direct multiplier of the service life and reduction in the overall maintenance costs to keep these systems maintained.

We often see that the systems are ran hard while under warranty, since parts and components are covered to an extent; however, in the long run end up failing well before the determined life cycle and often after the warranty has expired. It is important to start the filtration process at the commissioning of these systems rather than after an issue has been identified to ensure maximum life at the lowest possible cost.