Strategy for the control of fluid contamination in the power train of mining equipment

• Main Authors: Edwin Edgardo Espinel Blanco, Eder Norberto Flórez Solano, Gustavo Guerrero Gómez
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidad Francisco de Paula Santander Ocaña 2017-01-01
• Series: Revista Ingenio
• Subjects: pollution; oils; maintenance and failures
• Online Access: https://revistas.ufps.edu.co/index.php/ingenio/article/view/2123/2063

Contaminants in the Fluids of a power transmission system are the main cause of the malfunction and wear of the machinery, the effective control of contamination is the main strategy when it comes to implementing the Proactive Maintenance philosophy (Control and eliminate the cause of failure). In the Carbones de la Jagua Company (CDJ) dedicated to the extraction of coal in the open pit, there were continuous failures in the mining equipment during the warranty period caused by the degradation of the lubricants and the contamination of the fuel, which forced the supplier GECOLSA to respond for the damage to the machines, which consumed large amounts of resources (labor, spare parts, supplies), this forced GECOLSA to design strategies that allowed them to control the levels of contamination in the fluids (in this microscopic particles present in oils, fats and fuel) to reduce failures during the warranty period of the components. The contaminant control plan was established, which consists of the application of proactive cleaning and inspection tasks and a standardization of the procedures to carry out said activities and the scheduled maintenance work, in addition, the principles of productive maintenance were applied to organize the workshop and the spare parts warehouse.