Keep it lubed;
keep it productive Automatic lubrication has a key role to play in improving the productivity of off-road machinery in the heavy mining industry
Fluctuating commodity prices, reduced profit margins, increasing expectations from shareholders, tighter governmental environmental regulations – it’s not easy for the heavy mining industry. No wonder that mining company executives are continually striving for ways to increase their company’s productivity levels.
A key contributor to a mine’s productivity is its heavy mining equipment. Keep it running efficiently and you’re heading in the right direction, productivity-wise. Let it become sidelined and inactive due to a maintenance or repair issue, and your productivity could swiftly decline.
Lubrication: not too little, nor too much “To keep all components of heavy mining machinery running optimally for the whole of their lifetime, lubrication is essential – but it has to be optimal lubrication,” says Charles Hartl, Global Product Marketing Manager, Lubrication Equipment Division, Graco. “Sub-optimal lubrication – which can be either under- or over-lubrication – can lead to machines breaking down, resulting in expensive production losses. And as many mines are in remote locations, getting a maintenance engineer or a spare part within hours can be difficult.”
The conventional solution is frequent manual lubrication. However, in the tough environmental conditions in which heavy mining machinery frequently operates, manual lubrication is not easy. Bad weather conditions can hinder or prevent lubrication from taking place. Off-road equipment is huge – and climbing up or over an 8-meter high dump truck to lubricate the furthermost pivots can be dangerous. Many components such as bucket and boom pins need to be lubricated in multiple positions, which is time-consuming. Finally, there’s the human element: different machine operators will lubricate their equipment in different ways, and not all of them will be the correct ways.
The solution, and a key tool to help improve equipment efficiency and productivity, is automatic lubrication.
Optimal lubrication = automatic lubrication Automatic lubrication involves providing smaller amounts of lubrication at regular intervals, without operator intervention. It ensures that components are lubricated when they need it most – while they are in use. It avoids manual lubrication downtime and reduces time spent on maintenance and repair. Automatic lubrication also cuts the cost of maintenance, repair, supplies and downtime, and increases equipment productivity, reliability and availability. It leads to safer operations by eliminating the need to climb on the machine to lubricate points that are difficult to reach.
Continued on page 12 10 LUBE MAGAZINE NO.136 DECEMBER 2016
“As heavy mining machinery increases in complexity, automatic lubrication is really the only way forward to protect your investment and increase running time,” adds Hartl. “It pushes dirt out of pivots, decreases wear and corrosion, and reduces lubricant consumption. It can even be set up with features that detect a blocked or broken line, and then alert the operator.”
How does it work?
A Graco automatic lubrication system can be installed on most heavy mining machines as a retrofit. It consists of three main components plus some accessories. The pump and reservoir store and provide a steady flow of lubricant. Divider valves or injectors deliver a predetermined amount of grease to each of the machine’s lubrication points. To operate and monitor the system, a controller is located inside the cab. It has touch-pad display and LED lighting for easy programming and real-time feedback for operators. The controller engages the lubrication cycle by activating the pump. It also monitors the level of grease in the reservoir as well as the movement of lubricants through the system.
Graco also provides all the accessories needed, such as hoses, fittings, mounting hardware and product-specific guarding.
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