Oil mist represents available skills

As mentioned earlier, heavy oils can be difficult to use with the oil rings normally provided by API process pumps. These oils are easy and reliable to use as oil mist. Neither the pumps nor the drives connected to the plant-wide oil mist system use oil rings or constant-level process lubricators.

Oil mist is the atomized amount of oil carried or suspended in pressurized dry air. Oil mist-which is actually the proportion of one or more oils suspended in 200,000 volumes of clean, dry air-moves in a piping system.

The starting point is usually a simple mixing valve (oil mist generator) connected to the manifold. Branch lines usually feed rolling elements in pumps and drives connected to the header.

In the stationary or standby state, the pump and drive bearings are kept by the surrounding oil mist, which exists in the bearing box space at a pressure slightly higher than the ambient pressure.

These pump and drive bearings begin process lubrication from the combination of atomized oil balls into large oil droplets. This combination begins whenever the equipment shaft rotates, that is, when the balls contact each other and begin to cover the bearing elements.

There are also plant-wide oil distribution systems by which liquid oil (not oil / air mixture) is pressurized and injected into the pump bearings through nozzles.

Do not confuse these fuel injection systems with economical oil mist systems. However, both oil mist and fuel injection can reduce friction losses, so they should be considered when conducting cost rationality analysis.