A major multinational customer was looking for a more efficient solution to prevent corrosion from appearing on their steel wires during storage and transportation. The main challenge of their application lies in the necessity to coat 20+ different steel wires at varying speeds with one solution. To meet these requirements the customer had opted for a system with air atomizing nozzles. Adequate application of the lube was ensured by having the nozzles “overperform” but, unfortunately, this caused misting. This misting was then solved by air filters. But, due to the excessive amount of misting, these had to be changed every week. The whole setup presented the customer with a lot of unnecessary maintenance time and costs. To come up with a more performant and sustainable solution they looked at the AutoJet heated lubrication system.
AutoJet heated lubrication system
After discussing the conditions with our sales engineers the customer agreed on a standard heated AutoJet® system. To ensure the steel wires were coated correctly we installed an enclosed PulsaJet® header with an AutoJet® 2008+ Multichannel controller. This setup gives full control over a large set of nozzles. It also allows the customer to select which nozzles should spray at any given time. The PulsaJet® nozzles can easily handle the requested spray frequency – no matter how small – thanks to its Precision Spray Control (PSC) technology.
Together, the AutoJet® system allows for the most efficient application of the lube with minimal wastage or misting
Result
Extensive testing proved the AutoJet heated lubrication system was performing precisely as required by the customer. In fact they were so satisfied that they decided to roll out the solution in multiple plants around the world.
As with their previous solution, the steel wires are coated uniformly so they don’t develop corrosion during storage. In the past this would have meant they would have to endure misting problems, excessive cleaning, unnecessary costs and unsafe work conditions.
With Spraying Systems’ solution, the result is the same, but there are none of the disadvantages.
Misting is now limited to an absolute minimum. As a result the air filters no longer need to be replaced on a weekly basis. With the new setup the air filters only need to be replaced twice a year! These savings in time and replacement parts amount to over €50.000 a year for every system that’s replaced. On top of that the more efficient use of expensive lubricant limits cleaning time and adds to our customers’ sustainability goals.