How to Confirm the Existence of Greases and Oil Seal Inside Motor w/o Dismantles

How can you expect any help when you give no useable information.

Please, oh please, contact the manufacturer of the motors, give them the part numbers and S/Ns and they will tell you.

We cannot help you! We cannot see the motors from here.

CALL THE MOTOR MANUFACTURER.

Or go to their web site and look for a drawing of the motor.

Or go to their web site and e-mail them.

I know almost nothing about oil mist lubrication. But the original open systems needed openings so the mist could pass through the bearing and not be dead-ended. Your mention of grease coming out may indicate that the bearings were not properly prepared (bad specification?) for an oil mist system. You need someone who is expert on oil mist lubrication to get involved immediately.

these have a long track record of constant delivery

It might be possible with x-ray:

http://www.ntbxray.com/application/material_testing/application_material_testing_e.html

What about a stethoscope to listen for circulation....


http://www.machinerylubrication.com/Read/799/oil-mist-lubrication

Right... I use a UE Systems 15000 ultrasonic gun with a stethoscope probe at 30KHz.

I will ask the obvious:

What motors are we talking about? How is the setup and where are the seals related to these motors?

The better the information the better the answer!

Assuming it is better to over- lubricate than to run dry, I would inject some grease into the fittings (Zerk?). I would also use a grease gun equipped with a pressure gauge. If grease seals are in place, it will require additional pressure to lubricate the motors. With no seals, the grease will enter with lower restriction (pressure). You may be able to remove the grease fittings and determine whether they were used by an optical inspection.

Insulation Resistance Tests (IRT) of the Windings may give you an indication of damage..... Polarization Index Tests are a half-decent indicator of contamination in the windings.... Other than that, dismantle.

Without reading allot into this post, it seems that you have a manufacturing issue here. You say the plant has not been commissioned as of yet. I take this to mean it has been built and testing of operations has begun, but not released for production. Here during this testing phase you are seeing motor issues. I am guessing that you saw the grease coming out of the oil drains for motors and this prompted the inquiry into bearings. If this is true, then you need to look at the specifications that were put out with the request for bids on motors and other equipment. If there was nothing spelled out as to the nature of operations required, you may or may not have a case against suppliers. But, like I said, some where the suppliers/manufactures did not give you what you needed for an oil mist lubricated system.

By opening terminal box cover of the motor, if you carry out insulation diagonistic test(non destructive test ) by insulation diagonistic tester,i.e., Insulation Resistance(IR),Polarisation Index(PI),Dielectric Absorption Ratio(DAR),Dielectric Discharge(DD) etc., you may have a fair idea about contmination of motor insulation with foreign materials. However, expert knowledge is required to analyse the results and make conclusion.

Regards,

Manindra.