Lubricating of pumps is considered to be a time consuming and labour-intensive process that can be difficult to control and to conduct with precision.  Pump failure owing to lack of regular lubrication can halt production in a process plant and traditional manual greasing procedures may be unreliable and ineffective.

Weir Minerals Africa product manager Marnus Koorts says that the company’s Accumin range of lubrication systems helps to facilitate the correct level of lubrication.

“Many minerals processing plants around Africa may not have duty schedules that closely monitor and enforce regular lubrication of pumps with the exact volumes of lubricant,” says Koorts. “In our experience, pumps are frequently under-greased or over-greased, and this can severely undermine the lifespan and reliability of pumps.”

The range of lubrication systems is designed for use with Warman pumps and the Accumin 250 lubricator includes a 250 ml replaceable lubricant cartridge fitted to a reusable drive unit.

“The lubricator is driven electro-mechanically, dispensing a consistent dosage of lubricant at precise intervals, regardless of ambient temperature and back pressure,” he says. “It can even be installed up to 5 m away from the lubrication point, allowing operators to gain access to the mounting point more easily than to the pump itself.”

He notes that the lubricators are also simple to maintain and that the status of some units can be determined by an LCD display, flashing LED alert system and an on-cartridge recording system, with the clear cartridge showing the remaining amount of lubricant.

“The accurate lubrication of pumps pays itself back in improved uptime by avoiding the disruption and consequences of unexpected pump failure, as well as in reduced maintenance costs and even energy consumption,” he adds.