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May 2017 www.coalage.com 41 operating ideas continued and absorption fills each cellulose filter fi- ber with oil degradation products until the insert is completely saturated. The filters operate at low pressures and flow rates — conditions conducive to efficient filtration. In comparison, conventional in- line pressure filters — typically glass fi- ber-based — operate under high pressure and high flow conditions to create as lit- tle restriction as possible to oil passage. The filter element is pleated in order to increase the surface area and reduce the pressure drop. Because they are installed after the main system pump, inline filters are subjected to cyclic flows and frequent stops and starts, which degrades filtering efficiency. Glass fiber-based pressure fil- ters are capable of removing solid parti- cles only — and due to the relatively small filter depth and volume, have a restricted dirt-holding capacity. Two recent examples illustrate the po- tential improvements that can be gained by offline oil filtration. In one application involving a large fleet of Volvo FMX440 haul trucks at a Kinross gold mine in Ghana, a dusty environment and rough operating conditions required engine lube oil chang- es every 500 hours (hr) — yet the mine still experienced high wear rates on the trucks' engines. To address the problem, the mine tested CJC Heavy Duty HD HDU 15/12 oil filters with CJC BG 15/12 filter inserts. The test showed that with offline fil- tration, oil change intervals could be ex- tended from 500 hr to beyond 1,500 hr, and that engine wear could be significantly reduced by keeping oil clean during opera- tion with kidney loop filtration. Extending the service intervals enabled the mine to reduce annual service intervals from 480 to 160 intervals per year (y), given an aver- age 6,000 hr/y of operation per truck. On average, the trucks required a major en- gine overhaul every 10,000 hr. For a fleet of 40 trucks, this represents 24 overhauls per year, each at a cost of $66,000 per en- gine and $3,000 in labor. Keeping the oil clean during operation allowed Kinross to extend the engine overhaul interval to 18,000 hr, or just 13 overhauls per year. Total savings from reduced oil consump- tion, extended change intervals and longer service and overhaul intervals amounts to $681,800 annually. In another example, the oil in a large Fuller-Traylor gyratory crush- er at Minera Escondida in Chile was sub- ject to severe contamination from its dusty environment, leading to breakdown of oil-lubricated components. The 6,000-ton- per-year crusher, with oil capacity of 4,000 liters (1,000 gallons), experienced frequent unplanned maintenance attention due to component failures, and required a full oil change every 60 days. Each oil change in- volved an 8-hr shutdown. A CJC Fine Filter HDU 427/108 was installed with 16 B 27/27 filter inserts with dirt-retention capacity of 64 kg (4 kg per insert). With the CJC offline filter remov- ing up to 150 kg of dirt every two months, contamination of the oil system was mini- mized, leading to increased oil service life and reduced cost for component change- out. After the CJC filter was installed, the unit's inline filter consumption was al- most eliminated and three out of four oil changes were avoided. Productivity was increased significantly, downtime was re- duced by 87%, and the mine benefitted from savings of up to $479,600 annually. ■ 6X more CM systems operating in U.S. coal mines than any other manufacturer ■ Precise location of workers maximizes safety and productivity ■ Dynamic SharpZone TM technology - maximizes mine productivity - minimizes nuisance / false alarms sales@matrixteam.com MineOwl Mobile Machinery Low-Light Camera System LED lights housed in rugged XP housing Hi-res LCD monitor in rugged XP housing Mining Technology