Engineering & Mining Journal

AUG 2013

Engineering and Mining Journal - Whether the market is copper, gold, nickel, iron ore, lead/zinc, PGM, diamonds or other commodities, E&MJ takes the lead in projecting trends, following development and reporting on the most efficient operating pr

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MAINTENANCE filtering the oil with the CJC Mobile Flushing Unit, the company was able to complete the fill process within a week rather than a month as expected. The CJC unit has high contaminant handling capacity. 88 E&MJ; • AUGUST 2013 One maintenance group implemented "mini-PM" sessions on Cat 793 haul trucks every 500 hours. Using the CJC Mobile Flushing Unit, they reduced the oil contamination level from an average ISO 22/20/17 (2 million-4 million particles at 4µm) to ISO 17/15/12 (<130,000 particles at 4µm) within the allotted 8 hour PM time frame. Flushing the oil allowed the company to extend oil change intervals from 18,000 hours to 25,000 hours. Using historic operating rates and wheel rebuild intervals, this group predicted that they will save approximately $380,000 on wheel rebuild costs and another $100,000 on reduced oil consumption, labor and downtime annually. The CJC Mobile Flushing Unit removed 98% of the particulate contaminants from the SAE 60 Final Drive Axle Oil in the planetary/differential gear system on a Cat 797B haul truck within 5 hours. This business unit traditionally changed the oil <2,000 hours at a cost of approximately $15,000 per vehicle. By reducing the particulate contamination from ISO 22/20/15 (2 million-4 million particles at 4µm) to ISO 16/15/12 (<64,000 particles at 4µm), they expect to achieve a life extension on the oil and equipment by 2.5 times. Based on the fleet size, eliminating one or two oil changes per year on each vehicle will generate savings of aproximately $1.5-$3 million, respectively. These case studies illustrate the value obtained from reducing oil contaminant levels in heavy machinery with the CJC Mobile Flushing Unit. In addition to having a larger dirt holding capacity than most filter elements, the proprietary cellulose inserts are made from a renewable, sustainable resource that can be disposed of in a green manner. Declining oil consumption and the elimination of metal filter canisters from landfills will ultimately reduce the organization's environmental footprint. Caffrey is an account manager–mining with C.C.Jensen Inc. This article was adapted from a paper she presented at the Haulage & Loading 2013 conference, which took place during May in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. www.e-mj.com

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