APPLICATIONS OF LUBRICANT DEVICES

Application of Lubricants
Efficient operation of machinery largely depends not only on the lubricant selected but also on its method
of application. Lubricants formerly were applied by hand, but modern machinery requires exact methods
that can be precisely controlled. For most machinery, different methods of lubrication and types of
lubricants must be employed for different parts. In an automobile, for example, the chassis is lubricated
with grease, the manual transmission and rear-axle housings are filled with heavy oil, the automatic
transmission is lubricated with a special-grade light oil, wheel bearings are packed with a grease that has
a thickener composed of long fibers, and the crankcase oil that lubricates engine parts is a lightweight,
free-flowing oil.
Application of Liquid Lubricants
Mechanical devices to supply lubricants are called lubricators. A simple form of lubricator is a container
mounted over a bearing or other part and provided with a hole or an adjustable valve through which the
lubricant is gravity-fed at the desired rate of flow. Wick-feed oilers are placed under moving parts, and by
pressing against them they feed oil by capillary action. Horizontal bearings are frequently oiled by a
rotating ring or chain that carries oil from a reservoir in the bearing housing and distributes it along the
bearing through grooves or channels. Bath oiling is useful where an oil-tight reservoir can be provided in
which the bearing journal may be submerged; the pool of oil helps to carry away heat from contact
surfaces. Splash-oiling devices are used where gears, bearings, or other parts contained in housings
have moving parts that dip into the lubricant and splash it on the bearings or into distribution channels.
Centralized oiling systems usually consist of a reservoir, pump, and tubes through which oil is circulated,
while heaters or coolers may be introduced to change the viscosity of the lubricant for various parts of the
system. Many oiling operations are automatically synchronized to start and stop with the machinery.
Application of Semisolid and Solid Lubricants
Grease lubricants are semisolid and have several important advantages: They resist being squeezed out,
they are useful under heavy load conditions and in inaccessible parts where the supply of lubricant
cannot easily be renewed, and they tend to form a crust that prevents the entry of dirt or grit between
contact surfaces. Grease is a mixture of a lubricant and a thickener; often it is made from a mineral oil
and a soap. It may be applied in various ways: by packing enclosed parts with it, by pressing it onto
moving parts from an adjacent well, by forcing it through grease cups by a spring device, and by pumping
it through pressure guns. Solid lubricants are especially useful at high and low temperatures, in high
vacuums, and in other applications where oil is not suitable; common solid lubricants are graphite and
molybdenum disulfide.

1. Manual Lubrications










2. Chain Oilers


















3. Wick and Felt Type Lubricators


APPLICATIONS:

Bearings





Bearing with a wick type lubricator

4. Air-Oil Lubricator / Oil Mist Lubricator

History Of Oil Mist Lubrication

The Oil Mist principle was developed by a bearing manufacturer in Europe during the 1930s. The problem
that nurtured this development was the inability to satisfactorily lubricate high-speed spindle bearings on
grinders and similar equipment. The speed of these bearing was too high for grease lubrication, and liquid
oil generated too much heat through fluid friction, necessitating an expensive recirculating system.
Continuous thin-film lubrication with Oil Mist provided a solution. The purging and slight cooling effects of the
carrier air gave additional benefits. The Oil Mist generator resulted later from this development and used a
small amount of air to produce a dense concentration of small oil particles. About 97% of these particles
could be transmitted to the bearings without condensing in the piping, regardless of the distance of the
bearings from the Oil Mist generator itself.

In 1958, air heaters were developed because it was discovered that, by heating the air used to generate Oil
Mist, oils of just about any viscosity could be atomized. Many applications, subject to extremes in ambient
temperature, use air heaters to ensure a constant oil/air ratio regardless of the oil viscosity.


APPLICATIONS

Today Oil Mist is still used to lubricate high speed spindles in grinders. Included in the increasing range of
Oil Mist applications are systems applied to all types of other machine tools, web and sheet processing
equipment, belt and chain conveyors rolling mills, vibrators, crushers, centrifuges, kilns, pulverizers, ball
mills, dryers and liquid processing pumps. Mist Generator Systems Oil Mist is a centralized system in which
the energy of compressed gas, usually air taken from the plant supply, is used to atomize oil. Oil is then
conveyed by the air in a low pressure distribution system to multiple points of lubricant application. - See
more at: http://www.usmotors.com/TechDocs/ProFacts/Oil-Mist-Lubrication.aspx#sthash.BqYUSamW.dpuf







Figure 2. Components of a Typical Oil Mist System


Mist Delivery
Orifice fittings to meter mist supply to individual machine elements involve one of the three
types of classifiers in Figure 3.

Figure 3. Classifier Fittings to Agglomerate Fine
Oil Particles in Dry Mist to Larger Droplets in
Wet Mist at Lubrication Points
A mist fitting consists of a simple metering orifice for delivering a fine wet spray with
minimum condensation. As this fine spray then encounters rolling-motion elements such
as in ball or roller bearings, gears, chain or cams the fine oil particles are agglomerated by
the turbulence action and the larger wet droplets deposit as lubricating films. The mist is
commonly fed into the bearing housing on one side of the row of balls or rollers and is
discharged from the opposite side (Figure 4).

Figure 4. Representative Mist Flow Pattern for
Ball and Roller Bearings
Spray and condensing fittings are used for sliding-motion elements. The major difference
between the two types is how long mist particles are maintained at high velocity under
turbulent flow conditions to promote agglomeration of the fine oil particles in the dry mist
feed. To lubricate sliding surfaces, journal bearings and the like, the resulting wet spray
then runs down adjacent surfaces in arrangements such as those shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5. Mist Lubrication of Plain Bearings






















































Machine
Element
(fitting type)
Oil Mist
cubic feet/minute

Ball and roller
bearings
(spray and
mist)
DR/40
D=shaft diameter,
inches;
R=number of rows of
balls or rollers
Plain bearings
(condensing
and
spray)
LD/100
L=axial length, inches;
D=shaft diameter, inches
Gears (spray)
Spur
Worm
F(D1+D2+Dn)/160
F(D1+0.5D2)/80
F=face width, inches;
D1=pitch
diameter of small gear or
worm gear,
inches; D2=pitch
diameter of large gear,
inches; Dn=pitch
diameter of additional
gears, inches
Cams (spray) FD/400
F=face width, inches;
D=max. diameter of
cam, inches
Chain (spray)
Power
Silent
Conveyor
PDRS
0.5
/31,000
WDS
0.5
/600,000
W(D+0.033L)/170
P=pitch of chain or
sprocket, inches;
D=pitch diameter of
small sprocket or
drive sprocket, inches;
R=number of rows
of chain rollers; W=chain
width, inches;
S=rpm of small sprocket;
L=chain length,
inches
Slides and gibs
(condensing)
A/800
A=max. contact area,
square inches
Ways
(condensing)
A/400

A=max. contact area,
square inches
For mist feed with a standard density of about 0.4 in
3
of oil per
hour/cubic feet of air per minute.
Table 1. Oil Mist Requirements for
Moderate Operating Conditions
5. Built in Lubricant Devices


























REFERENCE

http://machinedesign.com/motion-control/central-lubrication-protects-large-mill-equipment-and-
transfer-lines
http://www.dropco.com/air-oil-mist-lubrication-system.html
http://www.machinerylubrication.com/Read/799/oil-mist-lubrication
http://www.usmotors.com/TechDocs/ProFacts/Oil-Mist-Lubrication.aspx
http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/science/lubrication-application-lubricants.html
http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/science/lubrication-application-lubricants.html#ixzz398jcOYoA