An interrupted power supply is all that needed to meet our lifestyle in the growing competitive world and the same is the goal of any power plant that is to maximize uptime by reducing the failure of the critical equipment involved in power generation like turbines, generators, boiler feed pumps, mills and many more.
In a typical thermal power plant, the most challenging areas of lubrication maintenance are the Coal handling plant, Boiler, Turbine, and the Governing system where maintaining the cleanliness level of Lubricating fluid is of utmost priority. Here, the lubricated components like the reservoirs, gearboxes or hydraulic units, servo valves work in a harsh dusty environment and continuously ingresses with contamination like water, dust or dirt, chemical, etc.
Reliability of this equipment can be achieved by proper implementation of contamination exclusion practices, oil reconditioning programs, and following standard procedures which prevent the entry of contaminants into the oil & thus to the system.
With this technical paper, we attempt to present the challenges associated with lubrication maintenance in a power plant and some important measures to achieve equipment reliability. Our focus is to minimize downtime and maximize uninterrupted power generation.