Progressive automatic lubrication systems from Lincoln Lubrication South Africa, part of the SKF Group, are specially designed for the continual lubrication of stationary and mobile machines and systems to ensure sustainable operation even in harsh and unforgiving environments.
“The continuous delivery of the correct amount of lubricant to the correct points at the right time offers monumental savings for end customers,” says Lincoln Lubrication SA’s sales consultant, Joe Barnard. “Alongside extended machine and equipment availability and life span, customers will also reap the benefits of increased uptime and productivity and reduced operational costs.”
By delivering the correct amount of lubricant, the progressive automatic lubrication system eliminates the common and costly problem of under- and over-lubrication that is normally associated with inaccurate and irregular manual lubrication. Barnard explains that under-lubrication can lead to component wear and tear and equipment failure while over-lubrication is wasteful and pollutes the environment. “Furthermore, the utilisation of our lubrication systems will prevent unnecessary stoppages to perform lubrication tasks and manpower is no longer required to lubricate the points.”
A progressive automatic lubrication system consists of a pump connected to at least one primary metering device. A second level metering devices can be connected to the outlets of the primary metering device if required, to increase the number of lubricated points, depending on the pump’s operating pressure. The outlets of the primary and second level metering devices are connected via branch lines to the lubrication points of the machine. The pump supplies lubricant to the metering devices with pressure of up to 550 bar (8 000 psi), depending on the pump model. The metering devices split the lubricant into even or predefined amounts of lubricant (depending on the metering device), that are positively displaced to the lubrication points or to the inlet of a connected secondary metering device.
According to Barnard, these progressive systems can dispense a precise, metered amount of lubricant to up to 150 lubrication points over distances of approximately 15 m, depending on case values. For oil applications, even in connection with flow limiters, distances of over 100m can be covered. Barnard goes on to explain that the progressive systems will provide continuous lubrication as long as the pump is in operation. “Once the pump stops, the pistons of the progressive metering device will stop in its current position and will carry on from there as soon as the pump starts supplying lubricant again. The progressive circuit of one outlet of the pump will stop when only one lubrication point is blocked, alerting personnel to service the system.”
In order to recommend the optimum lubrication solution including the best lubricant for each individual application, trained Lincoln Lubrication SA application engineers will first determine a number of variables such as the number of lube points, back pressures at the lube points, operating temperature range, the feed pump’s drive energy, and control and monitoring. “We prescribe different lubricants i.e. oil, fluid grease or grease which have different viscosities to suit each application,” says Barnard. The different types of oils include mineral, organic and synthetic which are classified in ISO VG viscosity classes from 2 to 3200. NLGI grade 000, 00 and 0 greases are known as fluid greases. Greases classified as NLGI grade 1–6 are consistent lubricants which are soft to hard, triple-component mixtures of a base oil as the lubricating fluid, a thickening agent and additives. “In most instances, greases of NLGI grade 1 up to 3 are suitable for use in a lubrication system but we do recommend a compatibility check prior to using any oil or grease with our lubrication systems,” advises Barnard.
