An air products company in Thailand was having reliability issues on their hydrogen process Burkhardt reciprocating compressor due to bearing failures after 2000 hours. The compressor used a splash lubrication system for their main crankshaft bearings. This old Burkhardt unit also did not have any monitoring and protection system for their lubrication system. The maintenance team did a study and determined that the problems were due to insufficient lubrication and inadequate control systems.
To tackle all these issues, the maintenance team decided to proceed with an external forced feed lubrication system feeding about 30 LPM to the compressor bearings. PSS was awarded the contract to supply this skid, including upgrades in the control system. The lubrication skid included the lube oil pump, filtration, heat exchanger, Foxboro pressure and temperature transmitters, and a motor control system. PSS also supplied all cabling and modules on the Siemens S700 PLC.
PSS fabricated and assembled the skid in their workshop in Rayong. The motor control panel was outsourced. PSS also performed all installation, cabling, PLC ladder programming, and commissioning of the skid at the site. PSS also fully overhauled the compressor. The lube oil skid is now operating successfully and has crossed the 2000 hour mark and will hopefully achieve the 6000 hour target that customer has set.