Saving Energy with Bearing Isolators

David C. Orlowski, Inpro/Seal Company

Non-contacting labyrinth seal bearing isolators for industrial rotating equipment can be a key to energy conservation — and saving money. By changing from contact lip seals to non-contact seals in industrial rotating equipment, the U.S. could save billions of dollars in electrical power costs and conserve over 5,500-MW of energy each year.

38 million contacting lip seals are used in U.S. industrial applications, including pumps, gearboxes, fans, paper machine rolls, and other types of rotating equipment. Each lip seal consumes an average of 147-watts of power and has a 100 percent failure rate.

After approximately 2,000 hours of operation (or 2.7 months), a lip seal will fail, lose contact with the rotating shaft, and stop consuming power. When a lip seal fails, it must be replaced or the rotating equipment will operate until the bearings become contaminated or run out of oil. This is akin to running your car on a flat tire until it self-destructs.

Contacting seals, including magnetic face seals, account for 6000-MW of power consumption — assuming they are functioning and effectively sealing. To add to the problem, industrial electric motors were, for a long time, manufactured and placed into severe duty services without adequate bearing protection. Only a close clearance between the shaft and end-bell served to limit contamination ingress into the bearing environment. Reliability suffered as life cycle costs for energy and maintenance had significant negative impact on the process industries’ production members.

However, some relief has come in the way of industrial electric motors. In 1994, the Institute of Electrical Engineers introduced their IEEE-841 Motor, a unit designed to improve reliability, efficiency, performance, and energy consumption. One year later, a process plant that switched to 2,000 of these new motors discovered $5 million in savings through efficiency and enhanced reliability.

A good deal of the savings in the IEEE-841 comes from its use of non-contact seals, or seal bearing isolators, as part of its specification.

Invented in the 1970s, the seal bearing isolator is a non-contacting labyrinth seal, which provides permanent bearing protection and eliminates the need for continual maintenance.(1) The non-contact situation between the unitized rotor and stator result in no consumption of energy. In addition, bearing isolators never wear out, so they can be used over and over for many years.

The IEEE-841 and the NEMA Premium motor both are available with bearing isolators to enhance reliability and reduce MTBF (mean time between failures). Documentation calculates an internal rate of return of more than 100 percent.

Approximately 40 million industrial-grade electric motors are in use in the U.S. On average, these motors will last 5.7 years before they need to be repaired or replaced. The vast majority of the time, the root cause of electric motor failures is mechanical rather than electrical. Pure and simple, bearing-protected motors have proven to last at least twice as long as the motors that they replaced, because the major documented cause of motor failure remains bearing deterioration.

The insulation on the windings could be good for 130 years because it is designed for severe resistive heating that does not present itself in the modern day super efficient motor.

If the 38 million contacting lip seals in the U.S. were replaced with non-contacting, non-energy consuming bearing isolators, the net energy savings in the U.S. would be about 5,586-MW, or the equivalent of 10 fossil fueled power plants.

Tons of carbon dioxide, said to be a major contributor to global warming, would no longer be produced. The economic savings would also be substantial — the process industries would save over $3.7 billion per year in electrical power costs. Bearing isolators have been known to stay in service for at least 20 years, eliminating the duty cycle and replacement expense and stabilizing operating costs. The benefits would be innumerable.

An Integrated Process for System Maintenance, Fault Diagnosis and Support

This paper presents an overview of an integrated process for system maintenance, fault diagnosis and support. The solution is based on Qualtech System, Inc.’s (QSI’s) TEAMS toolset for integrated diagnostics and involves several key innovations. As a showcase of the integrated solution, QSI, along with Antech Systems and Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), have recently completed a research project for the Information Technology Branch at the Naval Air Warfare Center–Aircraft Division (NAWC-AD) in St. Inigoes, MD. The entire system, termed ADAPTS (Adaptive Diagnostic And Personalized Technical Support), provides a comprehensive solution to integrated maintenance and training.

Lubrication Audit, Develop and Implement

In 2009, Trico Services was contracted to complete an equipment lubrication audit of a large mill in the southeast that produces liner and corrugated material for containers. This audit was for roughly 2500 pieces of rotating equipment. Upon completion of the audit, Trico was to take the lubrication recommendations and input this data into the MAINTelligence software platform that the facility uses using to manage their plant lubrication programs.

Hydraulic Pump Life Cut Short by Particle Contamination

Contaminants of hydraulic fluid include solid particles, air, water or any other matter that impairs the function of the fluid. Particle contamination accelerates the wear of hydraulic components. The rate at which damage occurs is dependent on the internal clearance of the components within the system, the size, the quantity of particles present in the fluid, and the system pressure.

The True Cost of Bearing Lubrication

Improper bearing lubrication or re-lubrication accounts for up to 40 to 50 percent of machine failures. By eliminating lubrication from machinery, OEMs can minimize the costs and risks associated with maintenance for the end user. At the same time, costs related to the proper disposal of oil can be eliminated and the initial expenditure for ancillary components and processes (grease lines, zerks, manifolds, etc.) can be decreased.

Energy Savings Through Pump Refurbishment and Coatings

Paul Maier, project manager of the NYSERDA study, states that "Pump sandblasting and coating should be a required step of any pump. refurbishment program." MCWA has also included interior pump coatings as a requirement in its new pump specifications. The goal is that. requiring coatings on the inside of. new pumps will eliminate, or significantly delay, the seemingly inevitable decline in pump performance and efficiency from internal corrosion and tuberculation buildup inside unlined pumps.

Asset and Maintenance Managers: Key Decision Makers

Asset and maintenance managers are key decision makers in companies, yet the previously used tools for deciding on the right asset and maintenance strategy are inadequate. Rather than changing the way decisions are made, it is advisable to upgrade the tools that are used to make those decisions. Developments in asset management and maintenance show that the data necessary for such prognoses already exists in most companies.

Keeping Things Moving… Capture Problems Faster With High-Speed Video Technology

Industrial Video Solutions (IVS) supplies high-speed digital video technologies to packaging, manufacturing and paper industries around the world. These systems combine the latest in GigE technology, digital video developments, efficient lighting and an intuitive, feature-rich user interface. The goal: keep that product moving!

Saving Energy with Bearing Isolators