South Africa

Hennie Matthee
ITC Certification Thermographer Lev III
Planning and Developing
Diagnostic Engineering, Thermography
The Anglo American Conference on Condition Monitoring and Non-destructive Testing
18 & 19 November 2008

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 DISCUSSION
• Location of Sishen Mine
• Case studies
– Quaternary crushers oil tanks
– Conveyor idlers

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 Location of Sishen in South Africa

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 VIEW OF PIT (SOUTH)

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 SISHEN PLANT

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 INPIT STACKER, PRIMARY- AND TERTIARY
CRUSHING PLANT

Diagnostic Engineering section

Tribology
Oil Lab
Vibration
Thermography
Welding technology
Laser Alignment

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 CASE STUDY
QUATERNARY CRUSHERS OIL TANKS
Routine inspection. LCD Display of crusher
Objective – to (Identification Nr.F752 G3200)
determine the
accuracy of the PT100 PT 100 not in position.
by comparing counter Trip Temperature (60°C)
shaft and oil
Temperatures with
LCD display.
52.3°C 46.6°C

45
50
AR01
40
AR01 45

35

40
30

35
25
33.6°C 24.8°C

Thermogram of PT 100 at Oil Tank return line. Thermagram of Crusher Counter shaft
AR 01 : Max Temperature 51.9 °C AR 01: Max Temperature 46.4 °C

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Oil reservoirs indicate Temperature differences at
the bottom of some oil reservoirs.
42.8°C
LI01
40

35
Oil level SP01 SP02

30

25

20

16.1°C

44.4°C LI01 48.5°C

LI02

40 45

35 40

30
LI01 35

25
30

21.2°C 28.7°C

Thermogram indicate residue at bottom on oil reservoir Thermogram indicates no residue

F756-G3200. F752-G3200

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 Clarify the abnormalities
• Oil samples where taken from the bottom of
the reservoirs on all the reservoirs which
indicated Temperature differences in the
Infra Red images.
• The pipe was immerse into the oil. When
the PVC pipe is at the base of the reservoir
the plunger of the valve opens the valve
and the oil flows to the inside of the pipe
due to the oil level gravity. The pipe is
removed from the reservoir and the oil is
drained in to the sampling bottle. One way valve 20mm PVC Pipe
• The oil analysis reports indicated that the Plunge
oil is very contaminated and that the Lab
instruments filters blocked in the analyzing
process.
• What the IR image actually revealed is the
residue and build up at the bottom of the
tank.
• These findings were discussed with
maintenance personnel to resolve the
problem at hand and to establish the best
solution for this problem.
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 Oil samples and results
Identification F755 G3200

Unit Fe Cr H2O Si Pb PQ

755-3200 13321.0 3328. 969.0 2103.0 16050. 6784.0

0 0 0 Oil level
756-3100 Residue and
5882.0 1602. 713.2 190.0 6150.0 4288.0 build up
0 0
Water
752-3200 258.0 442.0 1.0 6.0 268.0 120.00

756-3200 10459.0 1635. 798.5 2095.0 5424.0 5749.0 Identification F756 G3200
0 0

Oil level

New filter system installed Residue and

build up

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 Recommended solutions

• A. Redesign the oil reservoir

Redesign the oil reservoir so that the sludge can be drained at any
time. This design will also drain water from the tank. The design will
still protect the pump and filters. No need to drain all the oil,
reducing costs.

• B. Install new filter system on all oil reservoirs.

Install the same filter system that is on 752-3200 on all the other
reservoirs. The oil reports indicate that this new filter system is
working. The IR images indicate that there are fewer residues at the
bottom of the tank.

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 New Oil Reservoir Design.

• Maintenance personnel
decided to redesign the oil
reservoir and to install the
new oil filter system on all
the reservoirs.

New filter system

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 Results eight months after modification.
• The IR image revealed no build up at
the bottom of the tank.
• Oil reports indicated that the oil is very Identification F755 G3200 39.9°C

clean.
35

Oil Sample results on 2007/08/23 30

Unit Fe Cr H2O Si Pb PQ 25

755- 3.0 0.0 1.0 1.0 50.0 30.0 20

3200 19.4°C

34. 4°C
756- 13.0 132.0 2.0 190.0 188.0 25.0
3100
30
752- 5.0 0.0 1.0 0.0 35.0 24.0
3200
25

756- 60.0 0.0 1.0 2.0 149.0 52.0

3200 20

19. 0°C

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Identification F756 G3200
 Summary

• With regular IR inspections on the Oil

Reservoirs the IR image will indicate the
residue at the bottom of the tank and
Maintenance personnel can be tasked to
drain the sludge.

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 CASE STUDY
CONVEYER IDLERS
Sishen Mine (Kumba Iron Ore) was asked to do an Infrared
inspection at SAPO (South African Port Operations)
Saldanha since the problems experienced there have a
direct impact on the mine.

These conditions are unique in Saldanha. The temperature

variations, regular rainfall, wind and seawater spray are the
main factors contributing to high rate of corrosion on
equipment.

Objective - to determine the reason for the deterioration of

the current rollers, recommendations on how to solve the
problem and help with necessary modifications.

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 Infrared images of the some of the problems.

33.9°C 45.2°C

30 40

AR02
AR01 30
AR01

20

20

SP01
10 10

5.8°C 5.0°C

Thermogram of idler 49.4°C. Thermagram of idlers SP01 15.2°C

AR01: max 50.9°C
AR02:max108.3°C.

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 Idler Premature Failures

• New installed idlers was

inspected.
• Some of the new idlers failed
between 2 - 13 days in operation.

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 Infrared images of different suppliers.
SP06 SP02
133.9°C 48.1°C
AR02

120
SP03
40
100 SP01
AR01
80 SP04
30
SP05
60

40
20

20

5.5°C 11.6°C

Supplier A. Supplier A
AR01 : max 166.3°C SP01: 63.0°C, SP02: 48.1°C
AR02 : max 67.2°C2. Supplier B
SP05: 19.8°C, SP06: 24.1°C .

Supplier C
SP03: 16.8°C, SP04: 18.5°C

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 Idler Failure

• Idlers was inspected to determine the cause of failure.

• Probable causes of failure:
– excessive belt tension
– Overloading.
– Improper lubrication
– Under designed idlers
– Misalignment of idler or structure
– Eccentric or out of balance idler
– Quality of the idler.

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 Inside view of idlers

Supplier A Supplier B
30 mm Shaft 30mm Shaft
No inner seal Good inner seal
Bearing end cap < 2mm Bearing end cap 4mm
6203 “No name” bearing brand 6203 SKF bearing

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 Inside view of idlers

Supplier C
25 mm Shaft
4 contact inner seal
Bearing end cap 19mm
11 ball bearing specially
manufacture for supplier

Install date: 04 March 2003

Replace date: 03 November 2005
No Failure. Opened for inspection

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 Reason for failure

• The bearing end caps of supplier A gives no support to the

bearing under load conditions.
• This caused the end cap to deform under load and misalign the
bearings.
• The result of misalignment is overheating and failure of the
bearings.
• Due to the variations in temperature, the air inside the idler
heats up and cools down forming water inside the idler. This
water enters the bearing causing the bearing to fail because
there is no inner seal.

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 SUMMARY

• Thermography can be used to help choose the

best idler and to detect design shortcomings.
• IR inspections on conveyor equipment help
SAPO Saldanha to determine the best idler
supplier under their specific conditions and
redesign conveyor equipment to increase
production and reduce maintenance costs.

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 Thank You.

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