19 October 2009

Remote monitoring saves catastrophic failure at Corus

A preventive maintenance project at Corus' Lackenby, Teeside, plant has helped the steel giant save hefty six figure sums in downtime and capital investment. Two years of applying an intelligent gearbox monitoring system have allowed engineers to make key design modifications and improve their plant preventative maintenance regime.

In 2006, an online remote monitoring device known as DTECT X1 was installed on hot saws (pictured) – which cut through 'H' section beams of hot steel as they exit the plant's beam mill – to determine their condition. The monitoring device highlighted problems with imbalances to the saw blades and gearbox lubrication. It became apparent that inherent design faults within the gearbox itself were causing regular bearing failures.

"We have been experiencing failures on our gearboxes for a number of years now," says Steve Bowman, the beam mill's manufacturing engineer in charge of the hot saws and finishing equipment. "By using the DTECT X1 system from Schaeffler, we've been able to pinpoint the exact source of these failures."

Readings from the monitor showed up an issue with a bearing running hot from the start, so experiments were carried out with bearing clearances the lubrication system was examined. "We noticed that bearing 'C' was suffering from oil starvation, so oil was diverted from bearing 'D'. By doing this, the running temperature of the bearing improved substantially," explains Bowman.

However, even though the bearings had been replaced and the lubrication system had been improved, the gearbox was still failing because the affected bearing was at the edge of its design capabilities. Now, using the DTECT X1 data, the existing gearbox has been modified to include a new bearing arrangement and lubrication system. By keeping the same gearbox casing, Corus can easily interchange the existing two gearboxes and avoid the cost of a new one, at around £110,000.

Bowman says he now has the confidence to run the gearbox until the next planned outtage, knowing that there won't be a catastrophic gearbox failure. "With lost production costs due to unplanned downtime breaking into four figures per hour, this means I can now get a good nights' sleep."

Author
Ken Hurst

Supporting Information

Companies
Corus
Schaeffler (UK) Ltd
Schaeffler (UK) Ltd

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