MechChem Africa May-June 2020

The Accumin™ automatic lubrication system recently launched by Weir Minerals helps customers to get the most out of their critical assets by preventing bearing failures and reducing Total Ownership Costs. Accumin™ lubricators optimise Warman ® pump performance

W eir Minerals announced the global launch of its Accumin lubricators, following interna- tional demand for the grease lubrication, which has been ensuring optimal performance for equipment suchasWarman ® slurry pumps since 2014. Across more than 100 sites, the Accumin lubrication system has proven itself as an ef- ficient method of preventing expensive bear - ing assembly failures. It reducesmaintenance downtime andpromotes safetybydecreasing the amount of manual interface required for optimal equipment performance. “At Weir Minerals, we make the market- leading slurry pump for mining applications, but we can’t always control what happens when it gets to site. Between dust, overflow and gland seal leaks, lubrication is a vital tool in the constant battle to keep machinery go- ing,” saysMichael Roinich, Accumin specialist at Weir Minerals. According to Roinich, fitting an Accumin lubrication system prevents over and under greasing, protects equipment from bearing failures and frees up man hours for more critical tasks. “Whenwe offerWeirMinerals equipment with anAccumin lubrication system installed, what we’re really doing is giving that equip- ment its best shot at a long and productive working life,” he says. Made in Germany, Accumin canisters are

Leybold has developed a new protection concept – a series of hygienic enclosures. Encased by these stainless-steel enclo- sures, the vacuum pumps can be positioned near machines and systems without any problems. “With the protected Leybold vacuum pumps, we can create better and more robust solutions for demanding food ap- plications,” explains product manager, Niels Gorrebeeck. “This also applies to applications such as stuffers, tumblers and packaging machines, where the machines and systems are cleaned and disinfected frequently and intensively.” Gorrebeeck explains that the stainless- Accumin success on iron ore mine A combination of increasing production and a change in maintenance procedures led to a pump bearing assembly fault at SIMEC Mining’s Iron Duke concentrator in South Australia. When SIMEC’s routine in-house analysis failed to detect this, Weir Minerals offered vibration analysis as part of their condition monitoring service, which operates in conjunction with the existing produced in 125 cm 3 gas driven and 120 cm 3 , 250 cm 3 and 500 cm 3 electro-mechanically driven configurations, and can be deployed up to 5 m away from the lubrication point, al - lowing easy and efficient access to themount. The electro-mechanical driven lubricator dispenses a consistent dosage of lubricant, regardless of ambient temperature. The sys- tem delivers 6 bar of operating pressure and can easily be monitored via an LCD display, flashing LED alert system and a transparent grease cartridge. “Designed to meet the arduous demands of the mining industry, Accumin single-point lubricators set the global standard for lu- bricating Warman pumps and other grease- lubricated, mission-critical mining equipment supplied by Weir Minerals. We’re excited to share our market-leading, best-practice systemwithmines around the worldwho are embracing new technologies to simplify their operations,” Roinich says.

steel enclosures are tailor made for each vacuum pump. As a result, each enclosed pump can run constantly on every working pressure. The only limitation is the highest ambient temperature for the enclosure. The normal working temperature in F&P environments is around 10°C, where the company has qualified most enclosures up to25 °C. Thesepropertiesmake thehygienic enclosures acost-effective,sustainablesolu- tion. “In the end, hygienic enclosures make investments in expensive piping obsolete, and offer a better pumping speed perfor- mance,” argues Gorrebeeck. With Leybold’s holistic solution ap- proaches, food applications canbe operated more hygienically, ergonomically and flex - ibly, he concludes. q Accumin lubricators are available world- wide on new pumps, through Weir Minerals’ aftermarket spare parts supply channels and via its service centre network. q The Accumin canisters can be deployed up to 5 m from the lubrication point for ease of access. pump maintenance programme. WeirMinerals identified the root cause as improper lubricationandexternal contamina- tion ingress andwere able to prevent amajor failure of theWarmanMCR250 cyclone feed pump. Accumin 250 Lubricator units were installed to improve seal purging and prevent contamination, and a failed bearing assembly was rebuilt. “Making the move to Accumin lubrica- tors helped the iron ore mine save almost AU$120 000 each year in downtime reduc - tion, pump rebuilds and bearing assembly replacements,” concludes Roinich.

Hygienic enclosures for vacuum pumps In the food industry, vacuum pumps are of- ten placed next to the processing and pack- aging lines and therefore not implemented in the equipment. On one hand this leads to a higher vacuum performance because losses in pumping speed over long pipelines are avoided. A direct positive consequence of this is shorter process cycles and a bet- ter product quality. On the other hand, unprotected pumps are directly exposed to aggressive cleaningmediaduring the rinsing processes. Over time, this leads to corroded vacuum pumps, shorter life cycles, higher costs and food contamination.

To ensure that vacuum pumps are effec- tively protected during regularwashdowns,

20 ¦ MechChem Africa • May-June 2020