Climate change has forced many governments to reconsider their public transport policy. Railways play a crucial role in decreasing overall greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which helps to alleviate and mitigate the increase in global temperatures. As a result, numerous projects worldwide aim to develop new railway infrastructure and modernize existing railway networks.
When railways and engineering/construction companies develop a new line, they identify the best path for the railway, considering all the geographic, urbanistic and societal constraints you can imagine. However, natural obstacles or dense urban areas cannot always be avoided, and it is necessary to excavate tunnels.
Tunnelling machines are sophisticated, expensive equipment, often running 24/7 in the harshest operating conditions. Some can operate as self-contained underground factories, dig tunnels, line them with concrete wall segments, and add expansion grout as they move forward. In this context, any downtime of a tunnelling machine due to a mechanical failure represents a considerable cost and potential loss of profit for the construction company.
-
Challenge
-
Solution
-
Results
A major construction company contacted the Pall service team to report concerns over rust found inside a gearbox on a large tunneling machine. The root cause of the issue was the presence of free water in the industrial gear oil. The oil appeared cloudy, indicating it was nearing its saturation point with water. This observation was confirmed on-site, where a Pall water sensor measured the relative humidity at 90%. At the time of our visit, the machine had been shut down for four days, resulting in a cost of $125,000 per day, with no progress being made in tunnelling operations.
Rust deposits on the reservoir cover (inside the reservoir)
Due to the high water ingression into the gear oil resulting from the harsh operating environment of the tunnelling machine, the Pall service team recommended the use of a heavy-duty purifier (HDP) to quickly remove both the free and dissolved water from the gear oil, and capture any rush contaminant that had entered the recirculating fluid system.
Removing free and dissolved water is essential to extend the service life of the oil and reduce the further incidence of free water forming as fluid temperature changes. The impact can mean the removal of many additional liters of water contamination from the system fluid.
The Pall team recommended deploying an HDP10 purifier from its rental fleet, which was agreed upon and delivered to the site within 48 hours. The purifier was connected to the main reservoir in a "kidney" loop configuration. In this setup, a portion of the lubricant is diverted through a filtration system, where water and particulate contaminants are removed before the oil is reintroduced into the main lubrication system.
After two days of operation, the water saturation level of the oil fell from 98 to 35% RH and a marked improvement in visual condition (clear and bright).
Purifier control panel after 2 days of treatment
| HDP Operation | Water Saturation at 41°C |
|---|---|
| Starting Point | >98% RH |
| After 48 hours | 35% RH |
Conclusion
The construction company was impressed by the performance of the HDP10 purifier such that the site Technical Director extended the rental of the HDP10 Oil Purifier, stating, “It will remain fitted until the end of the project as it is definitely my best insurance guarantee to maximize the uptime of my machine – every single day of downtime was costing me $125K!”. The Pall HDP series purifier demonstrates its capability to operate in the harshest environments and provides a range of operational cost savings:
- Increased equipment uptime and improved machine performance,
- Reduced component replacement costs
- Reduced maintenance labor costs
- Lower oil replacement and disposal costs
Pall Purifiers remove:
- 100% of free water and entrained gases
Contact us to see how Supralon can help you.