Industrial machinery is most often very high maintenance equipment. Today, increased machine performance and industrial efficiency are essential for better outcomes and better production. If you’re a manufacturer wanting to make strides in increasing machine performance, industrial productivity and factory turnover, it’s advised to find a way to make production efficient. One key factor affecting the above, is the optimal usage of industrial lubricants.
Lubrication of machinery and factory equipment is frequently overlooked. Most of the time this is unintentional. However, it can lead to regular problems with machine health, reducing efficiency and slowing down outcomes. Unit managers and employees are sometimes unaware of the parameters that require monitoring. On occasion, this may lead to delayed maintenance schedules resulting in poor performance or not knowing which lubricant is ideal for a certain machine. Here are a few things you should know while selecting your industrial lubricant.
Types of Industrial Lubricants:
While industrial lubricants and machine oils can have many chemical formulations and multiple uses, their basic composition involves one of the three following oils:
Mineral or Conventional Oils – These most often use naphthalene and paraffin oil as bases.
- Synthetic Oils – Chemically efficient and state-of-the-art oils meant for specific machinery.
- Semi-synthetic Oils – Combinations of synthetic and conventional machine oils to give you the best of both worlds, such as better temperature control and improved viscosity.
Every industrial oil is also accompanied by several additives that assist in reduced wear, friction, sludge, provide temperature control and removal of gunk and impurities. These can fall into the categories of detergents, defoamants and thickeners.
While having the technical know-how of the types of oil is essential, it is always wise to have a conversation with your supplier about the specifications of the equipment you purchase. There could be some contraptions in your unit that require lubrication every quarter or month, and some that may require lubrication every one to two years.
Choosing an Industrial Lubricant:
There are many factors that influence the selection of machine oils. These are the technical requirements of various machines that need proper identification prior to the purchase of a particular lubricant.
These include:
- Machine compatibility.
- Susceptibility to friction and wear
- Chemical stability of oil when in use
- Longevity of machine oil
- Kinematic viscosity at varying temperatures
- Flashpoint and ignition temperature
- Evaporative loss rate and degradation of oil
Considering the diverse options you have, you’d be spoilt for choice when you purchase an industrial lubricant for your machinery. Lubricants may have general names such as industrial grease, paste and wax.
These can be further broken down into their specific uses:
- Bearing lubricants – For load bearing parts in machinery.
- Vacuum greases/oils – Hydraulic and diffusion applications.
- Release greases – To avoid adhesion between moving parts causing friction.
- Compressor oils – To avoid seamless lubrication in areas with temperature variations.
- Gear oils – To support gear efficiency, speed, load and minimize friction and wear on gears.
- Metalworking fluids – To increase longevity of the equipment and control temperature to keep it from overheating.
- Machine maintenance fluid.
Remember, incompatible oils can cause more problems than solve. Using different oils interchangeably is unwise, as their chemical compositions may vary drastically.
Dos and Don’ts to consider:
- Do not let the nomenclature deter you from making an informed decision. Always keep the machine manufacturer in the loop and contact their customer care executives when in doubt.
- Do not overlook a lubricant’s performance details and applications.
- Do take into consideration operational costs and overall expenditure on a piece of equipment or machine.
- Take into consideration the labor and train them to operate machinery correctly.
- Keep an eye out for energy usage and consumption. This can be a fair indicator of machine efficiency.
- Make sure the lubricants and machinery you purchase are adaptable under multiple environmental conditions. Viscosity and functionality of oils can vary between weather changes or long periods of inactivity.
- Do not make the mistake of purchasing the same lubricant for multiple machines because the price point is appealing or affordable. In many cases, management may cut corners by using one type of industrial oil across various machinery, this may do more harm than good.
At Divyol, we ensure our industrial lubricants and oils undergo strenuous quality checks and achieve perfection. We maintain a certain standard to ensure that all your machinery is in best shape and running at peak efficiency. We at Gandhar Oil Refinery, formulate and quality assurance tested for their usage to give you the best outcomes. Visit our website for more.