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Solving Hydraulic Coupling Challenges

When a fertilizer company located in Minas Gerais, Brazil needed an equipment upgrade they turned to MagnaDrive for a potential solution. This plant contained large mixer reactors to produce phosphate-based fertilizers. Unfortunately, the maintenance team was experiencing repeated drive failures related to the hydraulic couplings.

These couplings would frequently fail due to thermal fuse breakage/heating. Two to three of these couplings needed to be replaced in a one-year period. When replacements were necessary, the downtime was 6-8 hours for installation and alignment. Oil supply and regulation was another time-consuming process.

TOP Componentes, a distributor in Brazil for MagnaDrive couplings, proposed the installation of an MGD coupling to replace the hydraulic coupling.  This resulted in zero equipment failures, unscheduled stops and lowered the risk of accidents in the manufacturing facility.

TOP selected the best product to work with a 550 hp motor running at 1,200 rpm. Reducer inlet speed was 1,180 rpm, total reduction, 1/24.7, material density, 1.91g/cm3 with a torque at reducer outlet of 8,000 kgf.m. Removal of the original coupling and the installation of the new MagnaDrive coupling without moving either the reactor or the motor only took about three hours to complete.  

The maintenance, labor and replacement costs for the hydraulic coupling solution was +$50,000 while the cost to install and maintain the MGD coupling was +$30,000.  After a year in use, there was additional data on the benefits of the upgrade including decreased maintenance, reduced vibration, increased equipment availability and greater tolerance to misalignments.

The customer has also decided to replace hydraulic couplings in other equipment in the manufacturing facility with MagnaDrive magnetic couplings.

This is yet another example of a quick component upgrade that took very little time, but offered numerous benefits to the manufacturer moving forward. Here are a few quick data points about the MGD couplings available at MagnaDrive:

MagnaGuard Delay Start Coupling Family (MGD) offers numerous benefits to customers. Some applications, such as bulk handling conveyors, require a delayed-start capability in order to extend system equipment life. MagnaDrive’s advanced cushioned start and stop coupling family has all of the benefits of the standard couplings, plus:

  • Ability to delay full torque transfer
  • Cushioned start and stop
  • Design is Specific for a Cushioned & Delay Start
  • For applications with Pulsating and/or Shock Loading
  • Partially disengagement to protect equipment
  • Vertical and horizontal Installation
  • 10 – 1,000 hp up to 3,600 rpm

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