Case Studies

BP – Cherry Point WA Refinery

 

 

Customer: BP – Cherry Point WA Refinery

Situation

BP was experiencing Coke Cooler drive failures with their 150HP – 1800 RPM Coke Cooler Drive. The #1 cooler drive Voith coupling had considerable metal in the hydraulic oil. The gearbox input shaft ( installed in November 2016) also exhibited fretting damage under the Voith coupling mounting sleeve. The gearbox shaft was hand dressed and a replacement (in-kind) Voith coupling was installed (with a tighter shaft sleeve fit).

The #2 coke cooler Voith coupling was also found to have wear metal in the oil along with significant fretting damage to the gearbox input shaft. The gearbox was replaced and the MagnaDrive coupling installed.

The Solution

Magnadrive Installed 16/200 MGTL and replaced Fluid Coupling to address Constant Vibration issues and drive train failures from fluid coupling operation issues.

The Results

One significant performance advantage of the MagnaDrive Coupling (over the Voith Coupling) is the ability to visually observe (with a Strobe light) if the gearbox position shifts during a high torque startup of the coke cooler rotor. A gearbox shift was visible (with the MagnaDrive coupling) when the #2 coke cooler was first started (this occurred because the gearbox had not been adequately locked in position with welded chock blocks). This shift most likely has occurred (unnoticed) with Voith couplings in the past…resulting in misalignment and increased vibration. The MagnaDrive coupling can run with severe misalignment without having impact on motor/gearbox vibration.

 

Adjustable Speed Drive and magnetic coupling solutions from MagnaDrive are ideal for a wide range of applications. 

Case Study details