Martin Sprocket and Gears: Maintenance and Troubleshooting Guide

What is electrical corona? Corona is the ionization of the nitrogen in the air, caused by an intense electrical field. Electrical corona can be distinguished from arcing in that corona starts and stops at essentially the same voltage and is invisible during the day and requires darkness to see at night. Arcing starts at a voltage and stops at a voltage about 50% lower and is visible to the naked eye day or night if the gap is large enough (about 5/8" at 3500 volts).

Root Cause Analysis represents one of the greatest challenges in reliability program development, requiring a broad understanding of management processes, structured problem solving and behavior. Developing a Root Cause Analysis work process will require effort and persistence as well as new thinking about organizational structure and resource priorities. The potential improvements from developing an effective Root Cause Analysis work process are significant. Most manufacturing processes have opportunities for improvement and cost reduction that have not been obtainable with current efforts. In some cases, these opportunities could represent competitive advantages in manufacturing strategies and processes.

Non-leak pumps have been the dream of pump designers ever since the first pump was invented back in the dark ages. We all want a non leaking pump for the obvious reasons. Because of this desire there are a number of companies willing to supply just about any kind of "Voodoo" you are looking for. Let's take a look at the non seal pump subject and see if this type of pump make sense in your application.

Rotary dryers, kilns, mills and reactors turn on tires and trunnions. Each tire is mounted to the rotating shell and revolves on two roller trunnions. If the alignment between the tire and trunnions is lost due to wear, poor repair, installation error or impact, the equipment will need to be tracked. 

Bearing isolators significantly reduce the life-cycle cost of rotating equipment by minimizing maintenance, downtime, and energy expenses while extending equipment life.

ANSI is an acronym used to describe the American National Institute Pump Standard. The standard evolved from the American Voluntary Standard (AVS) that was first proposed by the Manufacturing Chemists Association in the nineteen fifties. It is a set of inch dimensional standards that describe the envelope dimensions of a back pull out, centrifugal pump.

What we need to do today is make management aware through education and awareness that our cultures live with these chronic events that typically end up costing 100 times more than the occasional sporadic event. Unfortunately, the sporadic events get all the attention. When our cultures are enlightened, we will begin to enjoy the fruits of our efforts in the form of return on investment (ROI) figures as high as 7000-8000 percent. Then the believers will come.