Ultrasound Assisted Lubrication:
From Time Based to Condition Based
Lubrication related bearing failures account for 60% to 80% of premature bearing failures. These are due to either a lack of lubrication, under lubrication, or using the wrong lubricant for the wrong application.
Using an ultrasound instrument to listen to the bearing while applying lubricant and watching the decibel level, one can determine when enough grease has been applied and when the threshold where over-lubrication has begun.
If most bearing failures are lubrication related, implementing an ultrasound instrument has the potential to greatly decrease the amount of bearing and equipment failures that can be traced back to improper lubrication procedures.
What is Ultrasound? Airborne and structure-borne ultrasound is high frequency sound that is above the range of normal human hearing. These high frequency sounds travel through the air, or via a solid. The ultrasound instrument senses and listens for the high frequency sound, and then translates the
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high frequency sound into an audible sound that is heard via the headset worn by the inspector. The unit of measurement for sound is a decibel (dB) level, which is indicated on the display of the ultrasonic instrument.
Typical applications for ultrasound include compressed air and gas leak detection, electrical inspection of energised electrical equipment to detect corona, tracking, arcing, steam traps and mechanical inspection of rotating equipment including condition based lubrication with ultrasound.
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