What Is An Industrial Trunnion?

Trunnions & Rotary Kilns

Published on December 13, 2012 by: Kimberlie Stewart

By general definition, a trunnion is a cylindrical protrusion used as a mounting or pivoting point. The term is also used to describe the wheel on which a a rotating cylinder is positioned. A trunnion design is used for rotary kilns used in the cement and lime, paper and pulp and similar industries.

About Trunnion Bearings

A trunnion bearing is an industry-specific bearing mechanism that allows a piece of equipment to rotate without any restrictions, yet still remain fastened to the equipment. For example, different types of machinery suited for different industries – such as cement, lime, paper, food processing or waste – all utilize different types of machinery that incorporate different types of trunnion bearings within those machines. These types of industrial machines can include kilns, coolers, dryers and calciners. Trunnion bearings can be likened to hip joints, which allow your legs to move freely while still remaining attached to your body. In heavy industry, trunnion bearings are attached to shafts. These shafts allow the devices to execute highly precise tasks without damaging the structures of the machines during the process.

Trunnion Roller vs. Trunnion Bearing

Some industries use trunnion rollers instead of trunnion bearings to attach shafts to machines. Just like their name suggests, trunnion rollers are perfectly spherical machinery parts that allow the shafts to spin to accomplish specialized tasks. Some machines can utilize both rollers and bearings to accomplish different sub-tasks within one main task, or to achieve varying tasks for completely unrelated jobs.

Importance of Keeping Your Machinery's Trunnion Bearings Working Properly

During normal, low-temperature conditions, your machinery's trunnion bearings will most likely be able to bear regular the normal wear and tear imposed on them during use. However, once the running of your machinery exceeds 125 degrees F, normal industrial petroleum lubricants can cause carbonaceous residues and low viscosities to surface. Consequently, these substances will overload your trunnion rollers and bearings, and initiate repeated mechanical problems and breakdowns. These distressing circumstances can ultimately cost thousands upon thousands of dollars in repair or replacement costs.

The only sure way to protect your machinery from trunnion bearing or roller failure is to consistently apply high-temperature industrial lubricants. These specially formulated lubricants will lower your machinery's bearing and roller temperatures, increase your production time, reduce your maintenance and repair costs and extend the life of your equipment indefinitely.

Trunnion Tires (Tyres) & Rollers

A rotary kiln or dryer that is positioned within a trunnion rests on rollers, bearings and/or tires (aka tyres). These parts allow rotation of the kiln or dryer however to minimize friction these parts must be lubricated to compensate for operating temperatures that can exceed 600 degrees Farenheit. The preferred lubrication for a rotary kiln or dryer is a solid graphite block or composite metal-graphite block lubricating bar. These lubricating bars are manually inserted into the equipment and produce a slick and relatively even graphite coating on moving parts. Lubricating graphite block products are a specialized lubricant that are available from a graphite block distributor such as Anion Corporation in Atlanta, Georgia.

Related Rortary Kiln Components

There are many other parts within a rotary kiln or dryer which need maintenance, lubrication, and infrequent replacement. These parts or services include trunnion and tire resurfacing, tire resurfacing, kiln mill bearing lubrication, kiln roller lubrication, and the periodoc cleaning and painting. Repairs to trunnions, rotary kilns and dryers should be performned by a professional industrial equipment repair company.

Eco Friendly Industrial Lubricants

Kiln Tire Lubrication

Published on December 11, 2012 by: Kimberlie Stewart

Eco Friendly Industrial Lubricants

Eco-Friendly Lubricants

In your quest to bring green products into your industrial business, you more than likely have wondered about the effectiveness of eco-friendly lubricants. Some questions that might have gone through your mind include: From what are they made? Are they more effective than synthetic lubricants? Are they more expensive? All of the answers to these questions are obvious deciding factors when selecting among synthetic and environmentally friendly industrial lubricants. Analyzing the answers to them will guide you to make the right decision for each one of your business' machines.

Eco-Friendly Industrial Lubricants Defined

Many eco-friendly lubricants are made from waste oils including vegetable oils, such as canola, olive oil, corn or soybean oil. Individually, these oils generally cannot withstand temperatures of more than 176 degrees F. However, reputable industrial lubricants companies chemically modify the oils to create eco-friendly lubricants that can function well in temperatures exceeding 600 degrees F.

Unlike their petroleum based counterparts, solid graphite bar or composite lubricating bars do not require any sort of disposal or cause risks of toxic runoff into water supplies from periodic pressure washing of equipment. A comparison of MSDS sheets will provide you with detailed information on toxicity and organic composition.

Green Industrial Lubricant Industry Claims

At least 40 percent of an industrial lubricant can be forfeited to the environment shortly after application. Therefore, the immediate benefits of using eco-friendly lubricants are obvious. However, some green industrial lubricant industry leaders can also boast that their products offer better lubricity, a higher viscosity index, higher flash points and lower volatility than synthetic lubricants. The industrial lubricant industry companies that claim these feats use statistics, and company-funded research studies, to back up their claims. They also willingly state which of their products adhere to ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) D-5864 Aerobic Aquatic Biodegradation of Lubricants standards.

Cost Effectiveness of Eco-Friendly Industrial Lubricants

No current data exists to conclusively support the cost effectiveness of all eco-friendly lubricants. That being said, when you choose a reputable green industrial lubricants company, they will be more than willing to offer you a price-to-price comparison of their products versus leading, synthetic lubricants competitors. The eco-friendly company should also give you more options to save on bulk and/or repeat orders. Finally, the company you choose should regularly give you updates about advancements they are making to improve the products based upon the ever-evolving field of environmentally-enhancing industrial lubrication.

Trunnion Kiln & Tire Lubrication 101

An Introduction To Trunnions and Kiln Lubrication

Published on December 7, 2012 by: Kimberlie Stewart

How to Choose Kiln Graphite Lubricant

When it comes to the prevention of mechanical machinery problems or breakdowns, it is inevitable that your top priority as as industrial business owner is to find just the right lubricant to protect your invaluable machines. However, you will soon find that there is an almost bottomless pit of industrial lubricants available from an almost equally large number of industrial lubricant companies. After weighing your options based on company-provided data, how can you know for sure that you are selecting the right lubricant for your individual businesses' needs? The answers to certain key questions you can answer, with the help of a reputable company, will ultimately guide you to making the right decisions for your business.

Graphite, Metal-Graphite Composite & Grease Lubricants

There are many options for lubricating mill bearings, trunnion tires, tyre shoes, bearing end caps, pads, rollers and other critical parts. For optimal lubricating you should use solid or composite graphite lubricating bars. Solid composite lubricating bars combine graphite, copper, a carrier and a thickener to produce a ready to go product. Old fashioned grease lubricants may remain acceptable for some moving parts however the high temperature areas definitely need a solid lubricating bar.

High Temperatures Require Graphite Lubrication

What are the heat ranges for your kiln trunnion, and critical internal parts? Kiln trunnions maintain operating temperatures of 600 degrees F or higher. These high temperatures require a special types of lubrication inorder to prevent heat induced damage to mechanical components, and then cause total machinery breakdown - expensive down time.

Equipment such as kilns, specifically mill bearings, require a lubricant that is designed for high temperature applications. A liquid (petroleum based) lubricant is generally unsuitable for high temperature lubrication situations. Dry graphite lubrication bars are easy to put into use, perform well under high temperatures, generally mitigate combustion problems, and come in bars that are easy to store.

The typical industrail lubricants company sells only heavy duty oils and bearing greases. Dry graphite lubricating bars are a specialty lubricant product that is available from only a supplier that specializes in high-temperature industrial lubricants for industries such as cement, lime, paper, pulp, etc.

Finding A Graphite Lubrication Supplier

A Google search can show you a few companies which you may choose to consider as a supplier for graphite lubricating bars. The better suppliers will also be able to provide expert consulting on application methods, preventative maintenance and developing an ordering process that is easy and reliable. Anion goes the extra mile in offering on-site consulting to learn more about the exact needs of your facility and equipment.

If you are a new plant manager, maintenance supervisor or technician and need more information on graphite lubrication bars, or other forms of dry, yet slick and versatile, lubrication products designed for high-temp applications please give us a call.

Trunnion Kiln Lubrication Maintenance Planning

Preventative Maintenance & Tire Lubrication

Published on December 5, 2012 by: Kimberlie Stewart

Creating and implementing a preventative maintenance plan is an ideal way to mitigate the chances of unexpected downtime from equipment failure. Fortunately the process of creating a good working plan is not overly complicated. With only a few hours of your time you can create an effective preventative maintenance plan for your plant.

How to Develop a Preventive Maintenance Plan

As a plant owner or supervisor, you are well aware that the productivity of your machinery is the lifeline of your business. Without properly functioning machinery, you lose production time, put your business relationships at risk, and ultimately spend much more on repair or replacement than you would if you spent the time formulating a preventive maintenance plan. Many factors weigh into keeping your equipment in tip-top shape. However, the productivity of your machinery most often relies upon your ability to keep satisfactorily levels of industrial lubricants in your equipment. When your machines are well-oiled, they operate at their highest output levels, which keeps your daily production goals on track and your entire operation ahead of schedule.

Step One - Check Existing Lubrication Schedules

Take inventory of all of your major equipment's preventative lubricants schedules. Gather all of your machinery's manuals together, along with a large, unused yearly calender. Find the manufacturer's industrial preventative lubricants suggestions, and go through the calender, marking the intervals at which you should administer the industrial lubricants to the equipment.

Step Two - Needs Assessments

Write down the expected time it will take to apply the industrial preventative lubricants to the machinery, and what additional materials you will need, in addition to the industrial lubricants, to execute the preventative maintenance plan.

If one or more of your machines has a repeated breakdown history, it is a good idea to more frequently apply preventive lubricants to the machine. For example, if the manufacturer recommends that you apply the lubricant every six months, you might want to apply the lubricant every four months to better ensure that the machine stays functioning without a breakdown throughout the year.

Step Three - Organize Master Calendar

Transfer the preventative lubricants calender recordings to a text or spreadsheet file. Include all of the preventative maintenance dates for each machine, along with the special instructions for problematic machinery.

Step Four - Implement New Schedule

Keep the master calender in a place that you will see everyday, such as in your office, to ensure that you remain on your yearly industrial lubricants maintenance schedule. Then, print several copies of the schedule, and give them to the people responsible for performing the maintenance tasks.

Step Five - Create An Inspection Plan

Finally, devise a semi-annual machinery inspection plan to search for clues of impending problems before they start to compromise the machinery's output. At this time, you can reevaluate each machine's specific maintenance needs, and determine if you need to add industrial preventative lubricants at a faster or slower rate to maintain the optimal output of the machine.