STRÄNGNÄS, Sweden,
Nov. 15, 2010
(Press Release) -
Since the summer of 2010, Ortviken paper mill outside Sundsvall, Sweden, uses the SPM HD measuring technique from SPM Instrument to measure bearing condition on four twin wire presses.
Ortviken paper mill, owned by SCA and located on the Gulf of Bothnia coast in Sweden, produ-ces coated publication papers, LWC and newsprint on four paper machines. The raw material is fresh spruce pulpwood, mainly from SCA's own forests in northern Sweden. The production ca-pacity is 850.000 tons of paper.
For Ortviken, SPM HD is the solution to years of problems with bearing related breakdowns on low RPM machinery like the twin wire presses, which are used for dewatering of the pulp. None of the monitoring systems installed in the mill provided a dependable method for detection of bearing wear and damage, and bearing replacements therefore were carried out in conjunction with timebased maintenance. The lack of reliable bearing condition information often lead to the dismounting of the wrong bearings, in turn causing breakdowns on other bearings in worse con-dition. The relatively expansive bearing damages made dismounting difficult and in some cases the shaft would also be damaged. Lengthy and unplanned production stops and consequential damages requiring repair all induced significant additional costs.
Then in the summer of 2010, the Intellinova online system with SPM HD was installed on Ortvi-ken's four Andritz twin wire presses. Following a short period of system calibration, six bearing damages have been successfully identified to date. Four bearings have been replaced during planned stops and two more will be replaced in the near future. Examination of the replaced bearings have verified that SPM HD does indicate the correct type of bearing damage, and bea-ring replacement costs are now significantly reduced.
Urban Lander, maintenance manager at SCA Ortviken, comments: "After a few months of bea-ring condition measurement with SPM HD, we conclude that it works completely and to our full satisfaction. We are now planning for the application of SPM HD on more low RPM machinery, and we can recommend SPM HD to other users with bearing problems on such machinery."
