Hydraulic lubricant information and industrial gear oil field trial request – member opportunity to take part

21 May 2021

BFPA member company Lubrizol Limited, is undertaking a research trial related to industrial gear oil for gearboxes and would like to invite hydraulic companies to take part in this project.

Clearly there is a rigorous programme of testing that takes place during lubricant formulation and development for many end use applications such as engine oils, hydraulic oils or industrial gear oils. This often starts in the chemical synthesis laboratory at the molecular level and then progresses through chemical and physical testing to bench testing and finally to approval testing in a number of defined test rigs. The whole process is rigorously defined and can take years to complete.

Lubrizol are at a stage with a new synthetic industrial gear oil where they would like to get field data in end use applications i.e. in gearboxes being operated on a regular basis.

The full detail of this will depend on the gearbox location and duty cycle but could involve fitment of extra instrumentation and will certainly involve talking oil samples for continuous monitoring of the oils’ performance. They would also like to use the data for marketing purposes and would also include operator details if requested. Their marketing data would be seen on a global basis so there is great opportunity to also showcase operator expertise. They would have to enter into a non-disclosure agreement to protect both parties’ rights, but essentially they would work around operator needs.

Lubrizol would provide the lubricant free of charge and of course provide a warranty should something go wrong although they very much doubt that. They would aim to keep down time to a minimum or even zero, filling with fresh lubricant at a standard oil drain interval. In fact, they would provide compensation should down time required to set up the trial be deemed excessive. They are particularly interested in a site that utilises multiple SEW gearboxes in their operation but will also consider other gearbox types.

As this is a worthy piece of research that would / could benefit all BFPA member companies in the longer term, BFPA are happy to communicate this opportunity to the wider membership community.

Any member interested in taking part in this trial or would appreciate further details should contact Adrian Fitzpatrick at Lubrizol (Global Industrial OEM Manager), on either Office: +44(0)1332 845559 /   Mobile: +44 (0)7733 002355 or by e-mail on Adrian.Fitzpatrick@Lubrizol.com