When Viva Energy’s Technical Advisor Mick Castle learned that some of our biggest mining customers were using either the wrong grease or no grease at all in their equipment, he resolved to build a solution to address those customer’s needs.
问题被密封了
在我们的客户内，采矿业务，刀架阀门用于管理植物周围管道中的浆料流动。该设备可远程操作，包括气缸，大闸阀和阀门滑入和退出的橡胶插入物，或重定向浆料流动。“这些阀门足够大，让一个人爬过，可能会像小型车一样重，”米克说。
If the valve were to fail, the impact on the plant’s operation would be devastating with risks to the environment, and high repair costs to the equipment itself.
米克发现我们的一些客户没有润滑阀门，导致滑块粘在橡胶中，最终只是佩戴阀门插件。“它慢慢地将橡胶剥离阀门，然后阀门崩解。这导致管道中的浆料或液体泄漏出阀门，或者在应该打开时的阀门未打开和伸出静置。如果操作员试图打开阀门将产品进入泵，并且泵开始，泵可以恢复干燥并遭受机械故障。“
Another problem Mick identified was that there were customers also using the wrong lubricant, which can actually be more damaging to their equipment. Most lubricants are hydrocarbon-based which are not compatible with the rubber that’s in the valve seal, and this subsequently destroys the rubber which leads to components failing.
A solution that was automatic and systematic
Mick saw an opportunity to develop a specialised lubricant to ensure our customers had access to the right grease to improve the life of the valve, avoid costly equipment breakdowns, and minimize the potential of reducing product leakage to ground.
“我们接近了若干制造商，并为他们提供了我们所希望的详细信息，但最终选择了一个涉及Viva能量红色橡胶润滑脂的新产品。雷电竞它与阀门密封件的橡胶兼容，总体而言，在市场上大约18个月开发，测试和推出它“米克说。
The grease is applied using a single-point lubricator on the knife-gate valves. This mini automatic lubrication system releases a known quantity of grease to a single area. The timing of the release can be set according to the equipment’s needs – anywhere from monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly, to annually - a great solution to safely and reliably deliver grease to the equipment whilst avoiding equipment downtime for maintenance.
However, Mick also recognised the need to offer the product in a cartridge form for a grease gun applicator. “It gives customers the flexibility to manually grease the valves prior to installing a single-point lubricator or it can be used as an alternative to the automatic system.”
Grease is the word from a mine site to a car workshop
“We sold out of the first batch pretty quickly which really highlighted the need in the market for this particular grease. It can be used on anything that requires a rubber grease whether that’s equipment on a mine site or a car workshop.”
“对于较小的应用，我们将脂肪包装成500gr桶，以供汽车力学在需要重建的部件内部的密封件，”Mick说。
However, when it comes to the original purpose this grease was developed for – to help Viva Energy’s mining customers – Mick says that, “we’ve had a few customers using it and they seem to be pretty happy with the product with some of them rolling it out across their whole plant.”
Viva Energy Red Rubber Grease being applied from a single point lubricator to a knife gate valve.
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