UNDERSTANDING OIL MIST

DON EHLERT
TOTAL LUBRICATION MANAGEMENT CO.

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 Presenters
DON EHLERT 40 years of working with and promoting oil mist
lubrication. Prior to oil mist Don was on flight decks of
air craft carriers in the worlds largest Navy.
Mariana Flores Mariana Flores is the EPC/OEM Project Manager at Total
Lubrication Management, with 5 year experience in Oil
Mist / Purification Projects . Mariana graduated with a
B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineer in 2009 and recently
accomplished the PMP Certification. Mrs. Flores worked
for our subsidiary in Mexico serving Latin America
projects, and moved to the United States on 2012 to
develop Oil Mist Projects for EPCs. Always focus on
results, Mariana is constantly seeking process
improvements.

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 WHAT IS OIL MIST?

Is a centralized system that provides an efficient lubrication

technology to different classes of rotating equipment widely
dispersed at a physical location.
Instrument air is used to produce and convey Oil Mist through a
piping distribution system and then injects the oil mist into bearing
cavities for lubrication.
This equipment may be operating, on standby or in storage
conditions.
Some conditions that affect the system design are: Ambient
Temperature, Area Classification , Project Specifications, and/or
location and arrangement of equipment.

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 WHERE CAN OIL MIST BE APPLIED?

Common applications are pumps, motors, gearboxes, turbines.

Industries such as HPI, CPI, Power, Steel, Pulp & Paper.
Most anti friction bearings can be pure mist applications.
Sleeve type bearings and gear boxes are purge mist applications.

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 SUMP LUBRICATION
Trico Oiler

Slinger
Rings &
Dirty Oil

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 WHY PUMPS FAIL
Static Joints
2% Coupling
2%
Hydraulic Other
12% 1%

Bearings
40%
Seals
43%

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 WHY BEARINGS FAIL
Overloading Other
4% Disassembly
5%
Corrosion 15%
4%

Misalignment
13%

Particle
Contaminatio
n Insufficient
48% Lubrication
11%

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 WHY MECHANICAL SEALS FAIL

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 WHY OIL MIST WORKS

Oil Mist Is The Ultimate Oil Filter

Typical Filtration 10

Oil Mist Filtration is 1 to 3

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 HOW OIL MIST WORKS
Clean oil delivered in particle
sizes of 1 to 3 microns
Fresh clean oil is
Bearings operate in applied; outside
clean oil and run contamination is
cooler excluded

Wear particles
migrate with mist flow

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 HOW OIL MIST WORKS

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 SUPERIOR OIL CLEANLINESS

Temperature Benefits;
Bearing temperatures decline
typically 10-20 degrees
Fahrenheit with pure oil mist
versus oil sump lubrication.
For every 10 degree drop the
bearing temperature L10 life
increases 11%

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 GENERATION OF OIL MIST
How Oil Mist is Generated
Oil is lifted by vacuum, generated
by high velocity air flowing through
the vortex chamber. Oil is drawn up
the suction tube and through
internal passages around the vortex
chamber to a point just below the
orifice where it mixes with the air
to form oil mist.

1 Part Oil
-------------------
200,000 Parts Air

Vortex
Oil Mist Pressure
Is 20 H2O or
Approximately 3/4 PSI

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 TYPES OF OIL MIST

Dry Mist Wet Mist

Size: Below 3 Microns Size: Above 15 Microns
Used for Conveying Used for Lubrication

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 CONVERTING DRY MIST TO WET MIST
Oil Mist Generation Reclassification

Wet Mist Out

Orifice (30 Micron Lubricating)

Dry Mist In
(1 to 3 Micron Conveying)

Increase Velocity and Turbulence causes the Oil Mist

particles to impinge on each other causing them to
grow in size and become wet mist.

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 LUBRICATION WITH OIL MIST
Standard reclassifier for single
or double row bearings.

5 5
0 0
2 1

Double Row Thrust Bearing on Single Row Radial Bearing on

3 Diameter Shaft = 6 BI or 3 Diameter Shaft = 3 BI or
.18 SCFM .09 SCFM

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 LUBRICATION WITH OIL MIST

Vent/Drain of bearing housing is

very important
Oil mist flow is required to apply
oil to bearings
Restricted flow reduces the
amount of oil applied to bearings
Bearing housing vent/drain
must be adequate to vent SCFM
flow entering from reclassifiers

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 SINGLE ROW BEARINGS
Mist Flow for Bearing Lubrication
Motor Brgs. & Vertical
Radial Brgs. A pplications

A lways

Flow through is always preferred.

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 DOUBLE ROW BEARINGS
Mist Flow for Bearing Lubrication

Vertical
A pplications
Recommended:
Brg. Isolators
150 KW & Up
3000 RPM &
A lways
Up
Flow through is always preferred.

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 BEARING CAGES

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 INSTALLATION & APPLICATION
The piping distribution system
is the most critical part of any
Oil Mist System.
Proper arrangement and slope
is the key to proper operation.
Each piece of equipment i.e.
pump/motor must have a drop
line.
The drop originates from the
top of the header and
terminating at the mist
manifold.

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 OPEN LOOP SYSTEM
The Open Loop Systems, are the most
commonly used. The coalesced oil and
stray mist is routed through the vent
drain port to the collection device.

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 CLOSED LOOP SYSTEM
A closed loop system collects and
reuses approximately 95% of all Oil
Mist sent into the distribution
system.
All coalesced oil and stray mist is
recirculated back to the OMG for
reuse.
These systems were designed for
environmental sustainability, and
for a cleaner work environment.

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 OIL MIST APPLICATIONS

Pure Mist Purge Mist

Also called dry sump Also called wet sump
Oil mist provides lubrication Used to purge the bearing housing
No oil sump for lubrication Not primary means of lubrication

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 PUMP EXPERIENCE
Pure mist lubricates operating
equipment and protects and
preserves standby equipment

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 MOTOR EXPERIENCE

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 SYSTEM COST
SYSTEM COST
OMG $75K
Bulk Oil Tank $10K
Oil Mist Components $15K
Distribution Piping $15K
Installation $200K

Total Installed Cost $300K

SYSTEM INCLUDES
10 OH2 PUMPS PURE MIST
6 BB2 PUMPS PURE MIST
4 OH3 PUMPS PURE MIST
20 MOTORS PURE MIST
800 HEADER PIPE

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 SYSTEM BENEFITS
BENEFITS
Pump MTBR is 2x to 4x over oil sump lubricated pumps; average pump repair is $15K
Motor MTBR is 4x to 6x over grease lubricated motors; average motor repair is $6K
Mechanical Seal MTBR is 2x over sump lubricated pumps; average seal/brg. Repair $10K

Reduced Repair Cost Results

20 pump process unit with 2 yr MTBR; oil mist has 4 yr MTBR
Value of repair cost over 25 yrs discounted 7% per yr is $1.7 M

Reduced Maintenance Cost

Checking, replenishing oil/grease on individual equipment is reduced/eliminated 47%
Assume cost of $2,500 per pump/year on 20 pumps w/o oil mist reduced to $1,000 with oil mist
Reduced maintenance cost over 25 yrs, discounted 7%/yr is $0.6M

Cost vs Benefits
Typical system installation of $300K and present value of benefits is $2.3M

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 PILLOW BLOCK BEARINGS

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 EQUIPMENT TRAINS

Pure & Purge Mist

Combination

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 PURGE OIL MIST
Mist inlet

Required on sleeve type bearings.

Not as effective as pure mist on
rolling element bearings.
Oil sumps benefit from purge mist
due to the slight positive pressure and Oil Level
flow reduces/eliminates intrusion Controller
from air borne contaminates.

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 AIR COOLER SOLUTIONS

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 AIR COOLER SOLUTIONS
Bearings & Motors Designed for Oil Mist

Oil Mist Inlet

Oil Mist
Vent / Drain

Case Drain

Oil Mist In

Oil Mist
Vent / Drain

MistLockTM Bearings MistLock Motors

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 MAGNETIC ISOLATORS
Positive Seal
Self Aligning
Eliminates emissions during operations and
standby conditions.
Eliminates leakage in all bearing housing
configurations and lubrication methods.
More effectively excludes external
contamination.
Enhances performance for Oil Mist Systems.
Easy installation and independent of machinery
conditions for proper face alignment.
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Magnetic Isolators
Technology: Latest technology positive seal
vs. non contacting device. It utilizes magnetic
force to maintain faces in contact.
Advantages: Positive seal not just a
restriction device. It seals the bearing housing
preventing leakage to atmosphere and
contamination into the bearing lubrication.
Enhances Oil Mist Systems and overcomes the
potential objection of stray oil mist to the
atmosphere.
Disadvantages: Contacting device can be
perceived to have possible wear and heat
generation. Higher cost vs single labyrinth.
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 LUBRICANTS FOR OIL MIST

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 TYPICAL EQUIPMENT STORAGE

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 OIL MIST STORAGE

Crated Equipment Uncrated Equipment

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 STANDARD LUBRICATION

Continuous
Maintenance

Large
Inventories

Many
Containers

Human
Intervention

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 ANOTHER METHOD OF LUBRICATION

One OMG Per Unit

Reduced Inventory
Low Maintenance
Continuous 24/7

Limited Human Involvement

Lubricates Operating Equipment
Protects/Preserves Idle/Standby Equipment

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 Thank You

don.ehlert@colfaxfluidhandling.com
mariana.flores@colfaxfluidhandling.com

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