Umudike Journal of Engineering and Technology

Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike


AN EFFECTIVE UNIVERSAL MAINTENANCE PROGRAM FOR PALM KERNEL OIL MILLS

Obasi, R. U.
Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State, Nigeria

Okeke, C.
Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State, Nigeria

Igwe, J. E.
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State, Nigeria



ABSTRACT

Maintenance refers to all activities which assist in keeping plant and equipment in refurbished, serviced or rebuilt condition to enable extended equipment life. In a case study of a screw press in a palm kernel oil mill, breakage of the shaft occurred between 1000mm to 1280mm lengths of an overall length of 2657mm. localized loading and corrosion around the region of breakage due to water and fatty acid of raw materials and longest keyway of 547mm had weakening effect on the shaft, hence causing shaft breakage. Dividing the long keyway into two shorter keyways of about 273.5mm is a better solution. The diameter of the shaft which had non-uniform dimensions, must be kept uniform within 113.9mm over the entire length of the shaft. And the fatty acid content of all raw material (palm kernels) must be within 6%. With this findings and adjustments put in place, it was noticed that the palm kernel oil mill operated continuously without power down due shaft breakage.


Keywords: Refurbishing, Recondition, Rebuilding, Critical parts and maintenance


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Published
Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Issue
Vol. 3 No. 1, JUNE 2017

Article Section
GENERAL

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