Grain bucket elevator failure
Grain bucket motor failure causes disruption
Food & beverageProducts used
Machine Sentry Fixed MSF2 Machine Sentry Gateway Machine Sentry Next Generation Software
The Challenge
A Canadian grain bucket elevator experienced a catastrophic motor failure in January 2023 on a main bucket elevator head drive. The equipment was a 500HP motor with a fluid coupling driving a gearbox. The root cause of the failure was traced back to poor lubrication practices.
Our Approach
The motors and gearboxes were outfitted with Machine Sentry® Fixed 2 (MSF2) probes and a Machine Sentry® Gateway in April 2023 to monitor vibration and temperature every 12 hours.
Our Findings
Monthly monitoring of the MSF probes caught a small increase in bearing noise in September 2024.
The recommendation was made to the site to have all the motor bearings greased. The following month’s analysis showed a decrease in vibration energy and confirmation with site personnel indicated that greasing made an immediate improvement in audible noise and machine operation.
Using the Grease Wizard tool on Machine Sentry® we were able to recommend an optimal greasing strategy to continue maintaining equipment reliability.
