Rolling element damage in charging crane

Aiming to improve equipment reliability, a Russian steelworks initiated a pilot project where the Intellinova online system was installed to monitor the mechanical condition of a production-critical charging crane.

The crane, operating in the steel melting shop with an electric arc furnace, has an A+ criticality rating, and continuous operation is thus deemed vital to production. Multiple complicating factors, such as short measuring windows, fluctuating rpm, and varying loads, require the measuring system to have parallel measuring and triggering capability.

This case study describes the installation and configuration of the system and the detection of rolling element damage in a synchronizer bearing with five months’ prewarning time.