Courtsey Kop-Flex Emerson Power Transmission Corp PRA1.

PDF Improving the Reliability and Performance of Bar Mill Rolling Stand Spindles - A
Cooperative Partnership by Parthiv R. Amin - Kop-Flex, Inc., Mill Products Manager Richard J. Maguire - Laclede Steel Co., Production Manager Michael T. DAngelo - Kop-Flex, Inc., Product Engineer

Introduction of Laclede Steel & Kop-Flex Laclede Steel 14 Bar Mill Laclede Steel is located in Alton, Illinois, and has been in operation for 88 years producing steel bar, pipe and strip. The 14 bar mill is comprised of 19 horizontal and vertical stands; split into 9 roughing, 4 intermediate, and 6 finishing stands. The products made at this facility range from 27/32 to 3 1/2 rounds and up to 4 squares. Laclede incorporates stand changes in their production, as contrasted to roll changes. This means rather than changing the rolls and mounting new ones, the entire stand is unfastened from the base and replaced with another. For a horizontal stand change, assembly and disassembly is not much different from a standard roll change, but the vertical stands require a blind assembly, since the motor, gearbox and spindle are located under the floor as shown in the figure 2. This blind assembly is a complicated procedure since the clutch faces of the drive spindles must be lined up properly at installation to permit engagement when the stand is brought in at an angle to clear the housing. These drive spindles are designed to telescope to accommodate stand changes for various roll configurations, depending on the product being rolled. This roll shifting takes place by grabbing the spindle center shaft and sliding it relative to the stand to accommodate the shift. The roll end of the spindle is held to the roll end pod through a fixed connection - see figure 3 (Carrier Bearing) and Item 6 in figure 1.

Figure 1: Horizontal Stand Configuration

Figure 2: Vertical Stand Configuration

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Kop-Flex Kop-Flex, formerly the power transmission division of Koppers Company, was started in 1920 with the invention of the first gear coupling - known as the Fasts coupling. Kop-Flex is presently a division of Emerson Power Transmission Corporation, a division of Emerson Electric Company. Kop-Flex headquarters is located in Baltimore, Maryland with a second plant in Rexdale, Ontario, Canada. Kop-Flex designs and manufactures all types of couplings, ranging from gear type, grid, elastomer (resilient), and disc type - to gear spindles and, since 1991, universal joints known as Maxxus. Primary consumers are steel mills, aluminum mills, the paper industry, and the petrochemical and refinery industries.

Spindle Problem at Laclede Over the years, Laclede has used the original OEM designed Moeller Neumann gear spindle with the replacement parts supplied by local vendors. The mill has had continued problems with these spindles which caused frequent unscheduled downtime. The spindles were only lasting from two shifts to six weeks, with spindle clutch face disengagement resulted in cobbles. The most problematic stands in the mill were the intermediate stands 5, 7 & 8. Local suppliers providing parts for the original equipment did not have proper quality controls, material, heat treatment and correct dimensions, all of which resulted in mismatched parts, leading to quick failures and low reliability. The maintenance parts cost due to cobbles and unscheduled downtime was $195,000 in 1994, plus the cost of maintenance man-hours and the loss of production. In addition to the cobbles, the vertical stand also had water and scale entering the gearbox through the spindle resulting in significant damage to the gearbox. In 1994, Laclede asked vendors for their input on how to improve the performance of the mill. Changing all the gear spindles out at one time was unfeasible due to monetary constraints, plus Laclede Steel wanted to phase out the gear spindles over few years for a smooth transition, therefore two different avenues were to be examined: the first was to improve the existing gear spindles to allow for greater reliability; and the second to replace the existing gear spindles with more reliable and maintenance friendly universal joints. Both options were offered by Kop-Flex, and Laclede Steel was left with the decision of which avenue to take, and how to implement it. Cost Benefit Analysis by Laclede Steel In order to justify the change, Laclede Steel calculated a Return on Investment (R.O.I.) for the universal driveshafts on this project from the contribution of additional tons based upon an average production of 35 tons per hour and the maintenance cost savings from purchased parts. The requirement used was an improvement of 50% reduction in delay and maintenance costs over the existing spindles. The R.O.I. calculated was 120% with a nine month payback. As a result, Laclede steel chose to incorporate universal joints for their most problematic stand (stand H7) and to improve the current gear spindle design for the other stands to curtail initial cost until the driveshaft could be proven in operation.

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Design Challenges Kop-Flex faced quite a few challenges, among them, Laclede steel is an old mill with many complex gear spindle parts. Existing drawings were not up-to-date and did not reflect recent changes to the mill.

Figure 3: Original Design Gear Spindle The problems at Laclede steel offered many other design challenges to the Kop-Flex Engineering staff when it came to the universal joint. One of the most challenging was fitting a Universal joint into the allowable space while maintaining the required axial travel (telescope). This space was very limited due to the necessary length for the bearing joints at each end of the universal joint. To complicate matters further, the universal joint had to be retrofitted to incorporate the existing roll shifting housing (split bearing) and allow for quick assembly / disassembly at the roll stand for minimal downtime, see figure 3 (carrier bearing) and Item 6 on figure 1, above. Laclede Steel was also looking for a common universal joint that could be used on both the horizontal and vertical stands, and also cover both the intermediate and finishing stands. The vertical stands added the problem of water and scale invasion at the gearbox end, not to mention the water problem in the telescoping section of the spline.

1999, AISE, Pittsburgh, Pa. All rights reserved.

Universal Joint Design To better understand the mills requirements, Laclede Steel and Kop-Flex had several meetings between Engineering and Maintenance staff to study the existing technology and see what could be done. This allowed for the drawings to be brought up to date, as well as to see how the spindles operated under normal conditions. The conditions were studied jointly with the mill staff, to optimize the design that fit the mills operation and performance requirements. The universal joints were designed with the overall requirements of: 1 . Reduce the unscheduled downtime - need reliable solution; 2 . Fit into existing space with all the constraints of the split bearing collar for roll shifting and diameter limitations, see figure 3 above; 3 . Easy roll end assembly with the least amount of man-hours for roll/stand change; 4 . Easy to maintain and operate.

Figure 4: Universal Driveshaft Design

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The driveshaft (universal joint) design for Laclede Steel was completed in 1995, and the universals were installed in the beginning of 1996 on stand 7. The proposed universal joint met all the requirements set forth by Laclede steel:

A modified split collar location was agreed upon to facilitate the additional space requirements of the Universal joint bearing - see figure 3. The roll end assembly was designed with a special spline Figure 5: Universal Driveshaft without bolts to facilitate blind assembly on the vertical stands, and incorporated set screws to allow for easy assembly / disassembly on the horizontal stands.

All parts were common between the horizontal and vertical stands, with a special seal configuration and plate to prevent water damage at the gearbox end. See figure 6. To minimize spare requirements and reduce inventory costs, all parts were common between intermediate and finishing stands except the center shaft and pinion end pod. A block style universal joint (Maxxus) was chosen which can handle more torque than conventional flanged universals (shown in Figure 7). Special double seals were used on the universal cross and bearing kit to keep contamination / rolling solution out and keep grease in. These seals also lengthened the required lubrication cycles. Figure 6

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To maintain interchangeability between stands and reduce inventory requirements, the universal joints were designed to be interchangeable between Intermediate and Finishing stands and for both horizontal and vertical configuration. Gear Spindle Design Improvements Due to minimal funds for the project and the mills need to use up existing gear spindle components, a complete universal joint changeout was not feasible, so the spindle improvement was an intermediate phase in the changeout. After reviewing the existing gear spindles, the problems were not just in the design, but in material characteristics lending themselves to low life and unscheduled downtime. The goal of the gear spindle Figure 7 improvements was to minimize the parts cost while improving the reliability through design and material changes, with the final goal being reducing the unscheduled downtime. Four main improvements were done to the existing spindle design; 1 . The gearing was wearing out at an alarming rate, so the material was changed to higher hardness alloy steel with nitrided surface hardening. In this case nitriding offered better features due to relatively high sliding velocity (Pressure-Velocity or PV) and high wear characteristics. The high surface hardness of nitriding process (58-62 Rc) plus a higher pressure velocity rating compared to other alloy steel surface heat treatment processes improved the wear rate of the spindle components.

2 .

Tighter tolerances and finishes were incorporated to ensure 100% compatibility of parts for improved operational performance and reliability. Particularly to increase the gear tooth contact under misalignment and clutch face interface to avoid disengagement of spindle in operation. The components were serialized and marked for tracing purpose to ensure the component parts integrity and proper fit in the field. Some modifications were made to the shear pin and other components to allow for greater flexibility in the re-usability of parts, thus reducing parts cost.

3 . 4 .

Laclede Steels Experience - Cost Reduction and Reliability Improvement The universal joints were inspected for the first time in October 1997, after 18 months in operation, with the results showing excellent performance. Outside of a broken grease fitting, in the field, that allowed rolling fluid into one of the bearing caps, only normal wear was discovered on the joints. Two universal joints were replaced at this inspection, one universal joint was replaced due to water damage from the broken grease fitting and the other due to some brinelling from poor lubrication. The universals were put back into service and the next inspection was on July 12 & 13, 1999. As of July, 1999, which equates to 39 months, the mill has experienced very little unscheduled downtime. During the July, 1999 inspection three of the four cross & bearing assemblies (two universal driveshafts per stand - each driveshaft has two cross & bearings) were replaced; one primarily due to water damage from broken lube fittings and the other two due to extensive

1999, AISE, Pittsburgh, Pa. All rights reserved.

operation cycle of 39 months which produced some normal wear. Both of these can still be utilized as emergency spare if required. Laclede Steel was able to reduce their spindle mechanical delay (downtime) from 33 hours in 1994 down to four hours in 1998 (a 800% reduction) on stand 7, all due to Maxxus universal joints replacing the gear spindles. In addition, Laclede Steel received signification cost reduction as a result of reduced gear spindle parts consumption.

60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Hours

1994

1995

1996

1997 1994 1995

In terms of improvement made to the gear Year spindle parts, Laclede Steels gear spindle Chart 1: Spindle Mechanical Delay - Stand #7 replacement downtime went from about six weeks (as low as every two shifts) down to every nine months or longer. A reduction of at least 600% in downtime. The total reduction in the spindle related mechanical delay went from 190 hours in 1994 to 97 hours in 1998 (a 200% reduction), and also a savings in parts consumption and reduced inventory level. Parts consumption went from $195,000 in 1994 to as low as $84,000 in 1996. Proper fitting parts also helped reduce cobbles since the bar now engages properly in the mill stand. All resulting in yield improvement and increased productivity.
250 Hours 200 150 100 50 0

1996

1998 1997

Year

Chart 2: Spindle Related Mechanical Delay

There are other intangible benefits of the universal joint as well, such as reduction in the noise level, reduced cobble due to practically no backlash, and reduction in grease consumption thanks to the block style universal joint design with double seal which does not require frequent lubrication.

Summary This cooperative partnership, between Laclede Steel and Kop-Flex, helped address and solve the primary problems of unscheduled downtime and maintenance costs at the Alton facility. A strong focus on reliability and performance issues led to a tremendous parts and maintenance costs savings. The multi-phased approach of tackling the most problematic stands with the universal joints (on stand 7), and enhancing the existing gear spindles, on other stands, has more than just saved money for Laclede Steel today, it has also created a path for future savings at the mill. The universal joint was employed in the most problematic stand - stand 7. These universal joints have run free from unscheduled downtime for 39 months and counting, reducing cobbles, and more importantly increasing the total productivity of the mill. The gear spindle design and manufacturing improvements resulted in tremendous cost savings in terms of reduced mechanical delay and reduced parts consumption. Design and manufacturing

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1998

involved making parts compatible with the original equipment design and standardizing the parts to an ISO9001 quality standards. The success of a pro-active working partnership has resulted in: 1 . a reduction in unscheduled downtime - 800% reduction in mechanical delays due to universal joints and 200% due to improved gear spindle design; 2 . reduced costs - about $110,000 savings per year on spindle parts cost. 3 . reduced spares - instead of sparing gear spindles components that needed to be replaced every two shifts to six weeks, down to atleast nine months. 4 . increased productivity. 5 . reduced cobbles. 6 . reduced noise. 7 . reduced grease consumption and leakage in the mill - universal joint with better seal requires less lubrication at a less frequent intervals compared to gear spindles. 8 . reduced much of the maintenance associated with drive spindles Due to these successful results, both Kop-Flex and Laclede Steel plan to extend the cooperative partnership to continually improve the throughput and quality of steel at Laclede Steel. In the future, more and more universal joints will replace the existing gear spindles to improve yield, save costs, and improve the quality. Laclede Steel has ordered additional universal joints to be installed on the intermediate stands 5 and 8 for delivery in October, 1999. Plus Laclede Steel plans to replace roughing stand gear spindles with Maxxus universal joints in the year 2000.

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