WO2007104102A1

WO2007104102A1 - Method and apparatus for cleaning

Info

Publication number: WO2007104102A1
Application number: PCT/AU2007/000313
Authority: WO
Inventors: Gerald Joseph Ward Cairns; Marco Den Ouden
Original assignee: Cairns Corporation Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2006-03-14
Filing date: 2007-03-14
Publication date: 2007-09-20

Abstract

A method and apparatus are disclosed for the removal of grease, oil and similar products from gears, bearings and other lubricant-containing environments found in railway rolling stock. The apparatus includes a tank sufficient to retain and submerge the device to be cleaned in a cleaning formulation which is, preferably, sunflower oil, and a turbine circulates the cleaning formulation under pressure through the device as it is being rotated in the tank. The mixture of dislodged grease and sunflower oil can then be further processed to manufacture a corrosion inhibitor or to be used as compost material.

Description

TITLE: METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CLEANING

TECHNICAL FIELD

THIS INVENTION relates to a method and apparatus for the cleaning of mechanical devices. In particular, but not limited to, the invention is directed to the removal of grease, oil and similar products from gears, bearings and other lubricant-containing environments, especially those found in railway rolling stock.

The invention generally relates to the mechanical means of applying particular compositions by means that provide a high degree of work place safety, cleaning efficiency, economy and a minimum of environmental impact to disperse the contaminated used lubricants such as greases. The invention further relates especially to the product of processes for the dispersion of such lubricants using alkaline compositions of an environmentally friendly, workplace safe method of removing grease and other applications of such principles.

BACKGROUND ART

The cleaning of grease or oil from coated components for inspection and maintenance is a large industrial problem beset by cleaning methods dependent on a multitude of dangerous caustic and often volatile solvent based or environmentally challenging surfactant agents. The use of these agents, some much more effective than others, for cleaning or degreasing components has resulted in a range of dangerous workplace practices that are highly unsatisfactory in terms of efficiency, environment and health. This state of affairs appears to be a result of insufficient attention being given to the nature and properties of the greases and oils that are required to be removed and the physical conditions required to do so. Workshops are offered various systems that have been developed elsewhere and have more in common with the manufacturers need to sell a particular physical system, caustic, solvent or detergent. In a large number of situations this has resulted in workplace conditions that are inefficient, extremely costly, highly hazardous both physically, atmospherically and generally environmentally.

A railway system is an example of an industrial environment where degreasing of a wide range of articles are necessary to be cleaned periodically for maintenance and quality assurance purposes. This degreasing produces large volumes of grease- containing waste. For example, one State Rail Operator administers a state-wide railway system of about 9,500 kilometres of track and some 12,300 items of rolling stock. The wheel bearings of rolling stock are inspected biennially with bearing parameters being tracked throughout their lives which averages about 9 years. Many bearings, however, can be used for a longer period. The operator quality assurance requirements stipulate that the bearings must be spotlessly clean before inspection, repacking and return to service. Bearings are of two types, spherical in which the outer race may be rotated to right angles with the inner race and cage but must be cleaned whole, and package bearings which consist of a cylindrical outer race-shell, two inner conical cages and roller bearing and a central ring shaped spacer, package bearings are disassembled before cleaning. Each end of the package bearings is fitted with a seal. A single package bearing is equivalent to two spherical bearings mounted within a bearing box.

This condition of spotlessness is questionable as the cages of the cleaned bearings are not permitted to be opened for inspection. If a cage is opened (rollers removed) the Rules state that the bearing must be condemned. In such a schedule therefore it is not possible to be certain that each bearing is achieving cleanliness that may be described as "spotless ". Cleanliness may be determined by comparing extremely accurately the weights of a new unpacked bearing of the same specification. Unfortunately this too has difficulties as it may not be possible to achieve such accuracy or desirable to remove all traces of the cleaning solution that acts as a protective corrosion inhibitor. A finishing rinse in a volatile solvent may increase the accuracy slightly, however, this leaves the metal particularly susceptible to atmospheric moisture and corrosion such as flash rusting The cost of condemning bearings by opening a selection of them for regular inspection is prohibitive and precludes statistical analysis of the cleaning process. As a consequence of these conditions, of the order of 1 ,000,000 litres of grease-containing waste is produced each year. Removal of this waste can be as costly as $1-3/litre depending on the nature of the waste and the location.

A prior art cleaning system is a conventional industrial approach and depends upon demounting the spherical bearings, opening the outer race to 90 degrees to the inner race (spherical bearings only), or disassembling if package bearings and placing them in wire baskets. The cleaning is effected in surge tanks by raising and lowering the baskets into the hot strongly caustic solutions (60-80 deg.C.) cyclically. This allows hot solvent to percolate over and through the bearings slowly dissolving the grease. This process typically takes about 8 hours and each basket holds about 30 bearings. These tanks (500 -1 ,000 litres in capacity) emit offensive vapours that may be dangerous in both the short and long term and are also dangerous to the skin. This system also uses large amounts of energy in heating the cleaning solutions. These processes alone result in expanded volumes of toxic waste that have to moved to disposal location by a licensed operator. Despite the controls over the processing of waste grease through licensed operators, some processes remain environmentally unsatisfactory. For example, some operators simply mix the waste with kerosene and incinerate it or sell it on for use as fuel oil which amounts to moving the problem from one location to another solving nothing of the environmental impacts.

Other prior art cleaning systems rely on spraying the bearings with solvents solution within sealed cabinets but these are very costly and require sophisticated and expensive ancillary solution recovery and treatment equipment.

It is thus a general object of the present invention to overcome, or at least ameliorate, one or more of the above-mentioned disadvantages and to have available compositions and processes for dispersing greases and oils in solutions that are less dangerous to use, can be contained and recycled within the same system and are capable of being applied in an efficient and workplace safe manner. The waste products of the process can be rendered useful by correct choice of the chemicals and formulation rather than the toxic chemicals currently used and which are a significant burden on the environment.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Thus according to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for the removal of grease, oil and similar products from gears, bearings and other lubricant-containing environments, said apparatus including:

containment means sufficient to hold and submerge a device to be cleaned in a cleaning formulation in said containment means;

rotating means to rotate said device within said containment means; and

pressure means to pass said cleaning formulation under pressure through said device as it is being rotated.

As a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for the removal of grease, oil and similar products from gears, bearings and other lubricant-containing environments, by using an apparatus as hereinbefore described.

A third aspect of the present invention is the manufacture of a product suitable for use as a corrosion inhibitor or as compost material, wherein said inhibitor or said compost material includes grease, oil and similar products from gears, bearings and other lubricant-containing environments that have been removed from an apparatus by a method as hereinbefore described.

The present invention can provide, inter alia, an improved integrated mechanical/chemical environmentally friendly system for the removal of contaminated, aged or oxidised grease by using a safe cleaning solution generated from renewable resources, within a closed circuit incorporating a rotating fluid or mechanically driven flushing tube. For example: Bearings, gearboxes and such like equipment but not limited thereto, by circulating an alkaline dispersant formulation such as those known to persons skilled in the art or other suitable cleaning solution. A system that permits bearings and housings to be cleaned entire or as components separately in a submerged rotational system incorporating a powerful turbulent cross flow of solution at the optimum temperature in such as may be achieved by the use of a turbine directed flow or other such mechanisms. Refer to FIGS. 1 (a-d).

By using the present invention, it creates:

a) safe working conditions for plant operators handling solvents and dispersants of all Kinds through the formulations based on non toxic vegetable oils;

b) reducing the evolution of toxic volatile vapours to an extremely low level by containment within a closed housing unlike existing open systems;

c) reduces overall energy consumption by reducing the cleaning time and integrating several cleaning procedures into a single process, typically basket surge systems may only clean as little as 30 bearings per 8 hour shift while this System has the capacity to clean bearings in as little as 5- 10 minutes or about 400 bearings per shift in one configuration;

d) reduces or eliminates the need of operators to manually handle the wastes produced by the process. The cleaning solution is recirculated internally through centrifugal filters discharging and replenishing only sufficient solution to maintain steady state conditions and results. Refer FIG. 1.

e) in one example of mounted bearings within enclosed housings the process has the potential to eliminate the need to demount, disassemble and reassemble the bearings for open cleaning in hot vats of dangerous volatile solvents as is currently necessary to meet quality assurance standards of cleanliness. f) for large institutions such as railways which have adequate space the process enables the waste oils/grease solution to be effectively composted on-site large savings in disposal can be made over the so called toxic waste removal and the associated energy wasted and risks of spillage inherent in transporting such material by road to other disposal sites. Callide Rhodes Grass has been successfully grown on such composted grease. Composted waste grease has been successfully incorporated into Iron Bark and Acacia wood chips. The potential nutritive effects of composted grease can be seen from the elemental analysis of the waste grease as illustrated in FIG. 2.

g) integrated with a composting system these toxic wastes can be disposed of safely on site thus reducing the costs of third party removal. Such composted waste grease has been used to enhance the growth behaviour of an Avocado tree.

h) enables the bearings to be repacked with grease in situ removing the necessity to manually apply grease and fill the cavities within the housings.

i) The System enables the recharging of the bearing housings and bearings as a unit cleanly and with no waste.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described - (a) In-Situ Closed Circuit & (b) Self Contained Closed Circuit Mobile System.

(a) In-Situ Closed Circuit.

A mechanical system is provided to enable grease to be dispersed by submerged rotation combined with turbulent cross flow by means of a turbine directed turbulent flow from bearings, gearbox housings and other mechanical systems where grease, pollutants or toxic lubricant material resides, in a workplace safe and an environmentally friendly manner by containment of the wastes so that the cleaned mechanical systems are suitable for revision, repair or re-use while the risks of chemical exposure to operators are eliminated or minimised to a very low level, much lower than is the case with current practice.

The current methodologies involve the dismantling of equipment to release componentry such as bearings from housings then cleaning these in separate systems surge basket type or spray type systems. Such procedures involve operators using protective clothing, often in hot environments permeated with potentially toxic vapours. These systems create unsafe workplace conditions and enforce the use of uncomfortable protective apparel which in hot environments of open baths of hot solvents is in itself a health hazard. There are two types of rail bearings namely spherical bearings that must be cleaned whole without any dismantling and the package bearings that require the components to be cleaned separately. Typically with the standard methods the bearings must be cleaned separately from their housings which involves building separate mounting apparatus to hold the bearings while they are cleaned in the unsatisfactory passive surging open cleaning solvent baths. This also exposes the operators to handling sticky waste greases and toxic hot solvents with all the attendant atmospheric vapour problems of volatile organic compounds (VOQ some of which require protective clothing and breathing apparatus. Those skilled in the art know that this process to be highly labour intensive an energy inefficient, a significant health hazard and contributes to staff dissatisfaction with workplace conditions, exposes the employers to potential future claims for health injury and that the cleaning results are simply unsatisfactory.

The self contained mechanical system, refer FIG. 1 , enables items such as bearings of various types to be cleaned in two methods e.g. rotated and cleaned within their housings thus cleaning both the bearings and the housing simultaneously under computer control. By this means there is no need for staff to come into contact with the greases nor is there any need for special mounting systems to hold the rotating bearings whilst they are cleaned. A rotating flushing tube, inserted into the housing, refer FIG. 3, makes use of the fact that the bearings or components are already fixed in a secure mounting, refer FIG. 3, which creates voids on either side of the component and this in turn offers the opportunity to pass dispersant solution centrally to the rear of the housing after which the solution then passes back along the periphery and through the rotating bearings or components under pressure. By this means the dispersant or cleaning solution reaches partially enclosed spaces such as bearing cages where solutions do not penetrate easily under static conditions and tend to leave varying quantities of dirty grease in place. Because of this difficulty it is not uncommon by the standard approach for items such as bearings and locomotive gear cases to be necessarily completely dismantled simply to remove these grease residues.

The embodiment takes the form of a hollow flushing tube, refer FIG. 3, which in the case of the bearings passes centrally through and engages them by means of friction mechanism or simply a tight tolerance between the inner race of the bearing and the rotating flushing tube sufficient to enable the inner race of the bearings, as in the manner of an axle, to be rotated within the housings as they would do in normal work. This allows dispersant solution to be passed down the centre driving the rotation by displacement of the fixed internal helical auger screw, refer FIG. 3, and delivering a turbulent flow to the rear chamber. The tube is constructed with either a hydraulic drive mechanism at the solution entry end and or with a fixed internal helical auger screw which forces the tube to rotate when pressurised solution flows rapidly through and in turn rotates the inner race of the bearing. The tube divides the chamber into a central and peripheral solution pathway so that the fluid must return by passing under pressure through the bearings between the races whilst the bearings are rotating. The tangential fluid exits from the end of the tube may be so geometrically positioned and dimensioned to provide additional rotational moment and scrubbing action to the surfaces of the far side of the rear bearing. This mechanism enables the alkaline dispersant solutions which are also lubricants, to be swept around inside the cavities and within the bearing cages by the rollers or balls creating a strong turbulent scouring action within those restricted spaces under high pressure. This action results in highly accelerated cleaning such that isolated bearings which take up to 2 hours or more to clean by conventional methods may be cleaned virtually spotless within 2-10 minutes and simultaneously the interior of the housings are also cleaned.

An additional advantage of this approach is that by using various alkaline dispersant systems, it is also a corrosion inhibitor that leaves an inhibitor film on the components such that they won't rust even when flushed with tap water and allowed to dry. This is a major advantage if the components are to be stored in atmospheric conditions for extended period where humidity can cause parts failure due to rust formation. This residual film is optional and is can be removed by flushing with water or another fast drying cleaner.

A major advantage of this closed System is that the sealed fluid circuit keeps the dispersed greases and oxidation products contained within the delivery system and storage tanks eliminating exposure of operators to potentially toxic aerosol wastes that are generated by spraying systems. In spray systems the wash solution must be delivered at very high pressures if it is to penetrate past the fine clearances between the rollers to within the cages. The major problem with this approach is that the wash solution generally needs to be a dangerous volatile solvent and the vast majority of the surfaces are impacted by the sprays at right angles thus vaporising the bulk of the solution into enormous quantities of aerosols greatly reducing the effectiveness of the system. Various prototypes were tested during development. Spray methods require very expensive containment and recovery equipment and is simply too slow to be an effective or economic system. Calculations of lateral surface areas presented by a spherical bearing establish that there is as little as 4% free space available to sprayed solution. This emphasises the need to rotate the bearing to create scouring action within the cages. However, if the bearing is rotated too fast, say 150 rpm there will be too much resistance to the cross flow and efficiency will drop. There is no design limitation to rotating the bearings at up to 900 rpm but as noted above this would inhibit the cross flow severely. It has been noted in some experiments that the optimum rotational speed between the turbine and the bearings for most lubricious cleaning solutions is of the order of 50 rpm for the bearing and approximately 1400 rpm for the turbine but this may vary with the conditions and turbine design. Great turbulence is created in a cross flow pattern within a closed chamber filled with circulating solution that continuously passes through centrifugal filters and returns again to the chamber. By this means aerosol creation is avoided, maximum cleaning efficiency is achieved and the cleaning solution is maintained in a clean steady state condition by a constant bleed off of solution and replenishment with fresh solution. The bleed off solution may contain up to 50% grease and is in a highly emulsified form easily filtered free of contaminants and manufactured into a corrosion inhibitor thereby eliminating waste and creating a value added by product. The bleed off rate is determined by the rate of ingress of grease and contaminants and remains variable under the control of the operator through the computer interface.

A further advantage of this approach is that the demounting of the bearings for inspection can be done with a degree of cleanliness not hitherto possible. In addition to this advantage the approach allows the grease containing dispersant to be circulated within piping and circulated by pumps and storage tanks so that the staff do not have to handle potentially dangerous hot solutions or be exposed to potentially harmful vapours as is currently the case by standard techniques. A further advantage of this system is that the grease containing dispersant remains liquid and can be pumped to the disposal area cleanly reducing the risk of spillage and need to handle/decant etc. heavy drums of waste. The System lends itself to a production line system of high workplace comfort, efficiency, excellent cleanliness and productivity.

The nature of the flow of the solutions through the bearings was studied to obtain an understanding of the physical and chemical requirements of a commercially effective machine. All of the cleaning formulations need also to be lubricious demonstrated characteristic laminar flow patterns to be expected of lubricants. The laminar flow patterns mitigate against the effective removal of the grease because the solution layers slide over one another with little mixing which is the nature of a lubricant. A simplistic arrangement of providing a turbine assisted turbulent cross flow is shown in FIGS. 4a & 4b. With modest temperatures i.e. between 50 and 90 deg.C, all contaminated or dirty grease and oils will be removed in stages to be applied to other lower grade workshop cleaning functions to use the dispersant to its maximum capacity before being completely biodegraded through composting, suitable for return to the environment as a potentially saleable product or for conversion to a value added corrosion inhibitor coating material. Typically the current system of disposal of such wastes, which generally are treated as toxic wastes, is to mix them with kerosene and sell them off as fuel oil or to simply incinerate them somewhere else. This method of disposal simply moves the problem from one place to another at a significant cost and in many cases the wastes from widely separated rural locations are concentrated in metropolitan areas where the incineration adds significantly to the pollution. It has been noted that some greases tend to break down at very low temperatures such as 50-60 degrees Celsius creating resinous deposits that are notoriously difficult to dissolve or disperse and cause a serious shortening of the life of the bearing. The matter is also one of serious concern forthe rail industry because of the question of safety. Over heating bearings have been reported to cause about 54% of derailments according to a study by the Canadian Transportation safety Board in 2003. These red resin precipitates require temperatures of between 60 and 90 degrees to release them from the surfaces and disperse them into the solution.

The present invention may be further extended through modifying the design of the flushing tube by removing the rotating functions to create a simple static delivery probe which can be used to deliver fresh grease under pressure to the housings with the grease following the same path as the cleaning dispersants/solvents. By this means the housings and bearings can be simply and cleanly recharged quickly with a minimum of waste which is far superior to the current manual application of grease to individual bearings.

Another manifestation of the System designed to meet the needs of both spherical and package bearings where these must be demounted and dismantled before cleaning is illustrated by FIG. 1 that incorporates the same turbulent cross flow and waste management principles described above including the control of aerosols. A summary of the advantages offered by this embodiment include:

1. A mechanical system which enables the safe handling, containment and environmentally sound disposal of degraded greases or oils by the elimination of wastes through injecting dispersant solutions into the in situ components under pressure and submerged turbulence within a self contained system.

2. The system enables multiple cleaning operations to be carried out simultaneously thereby increasing productivity. For example the bearing and the boxes in which they are housed and locomotive gear cases could be cleaned internally simultaneously and since this procedure is enclosed in a sealed environment, if desired the exterior of the boxes may also be cleaned by a separate but also simultaneous process.

3. The System if integrated with an almost odourless non volatile dispersant solution eliminates the need to use toxic waste disposal services by enabling on site composting of the wastes. Additionally it is possible to modify the waste solutions into a value added corrosion inhibitor for industry. The method reduces atmospheric pollution from these sources in the workplace and generally to a very low and almost non existent level by comparison with existing methods.

4. The System enables the possibility of also recharging of the bearing housings and bearings as a unit cleanly and with no waste.

(b) Self Contained Mobile System.

This mode of operation consist of a frame containing two cleaning tubs with sealable lids and two internal bearing (unit spherical bearing and separate package bearing components) rotating mounting mechanisms that rotate the components or complete bearings submerged in a cleaning solution above a turbine or other turbulent pressure delivery mechanism that creates a controlled turbulent cross flow over and through the bearings and components as they rotate. The tubs are fitted with high pressure spray jets to penetrate component cavities as the tub fills with solution. The cleaning solution is continuously circulated from the tubs back through a purpose designed centrifugal filter thence to the solution holding tank. The holding tanks of which there are two of each, one for the wash cleaning solution and one for the rinse solution. This arrangement keeps the solution entering the tank clean thus preventing particles if any reaching the pumps or being returned to the cleaning tubs. Each solution holding tank is fitted with electric or gas heaters to keep the solution at the correct temperature of between 60 deg.C. And 90 deg.C.

Beneath the rotating mounts or incorporated into them is fitted a turbine designed to thrust a turbulent high pressure, high volume cross flow upwards towards the mounted rotating bearing or components. The rotation of the bearing or components to be cleaned is variable as is the speed of the turbine so that the rotation of the relevant parts can be adjusted to the optimum conditions. Thus turbulence is achieved both by the interaction of the turbine delivery and bearing or components rotational speeds enabling the rapid dislodging of hardened grease that takes hours to dissolve in the standard surge tanks. The cleaning solution and the rinse solution are carefully formulated to provide a high degree of lubricity thus protecting the parts during rotation.

A second cleaning tub is dedicated to simultaneously cleaning the outer races of package bearings which consist of a simple cylinder with two shallow conical internal race surfaces at either end. This tub has a special mount and pneumatically operated clamp to hold the outer race against a rotating drive wheel to rotate the race against an inner and outer rotating brush. The two vertical brushes that counter rotate to polish the interior and exterior surfaces of the race. Both tubs are fitted with pneumatically controlled lids that prevent the escape of any splashes or aerosols. In fact there is little vapour escape from the system because the lids open only after the solution has returned to the holding tanks.

The movement of fluid through the machine is controlled by electrically operated valves under the control of a variable PLC or programmable logic controller. The speeds of the various rotation motors can also be varied separately manually by controller subordinate to the PLC thus providing a wide range of settings for optimisation of operations.

The centrifugal filters are designed to receive solution under pressure at the periphery at the top of the wall, creating rotation of the returning contaminated fluid such that by centrifugal force the particulates migrate rapidly to and follow the outer wall to the bottom. A valve is situated at the bottom of the filter wall through which a bleed off of solution can be adjusted to maintain the condition of the wash and rinse solutions in a steady state clean condition. Replenishment of both solutions with fresh liquid equal to that bled off from the filters is maintained by two pumps connected to bulk fresh solution thus maintaining steady state conditions. All controls are both manually and programinably adjustable.

The bleed off solution exits in a highly emulsified state with a colour very like milk cream and this solution is ideal for conversion to value added corrosion inhibitors suitable for a wide range of applications or it may simply be composted. A further use for the bleed off solution is for the cleaning of separated bearing boxes that tend to be heavily contaminated with grit and other soil or for cleaning of bituminous locomotive gear case grease before it is discarded. In this way the economic use of the solutions is maximised and the environmental impacts minimised.

The system works rapidly such that a single bearing machine is capable of outstripping the performance of the standard surge systems, typically 500 to 1 ,000 litres in capacity requiring huge energy input for heating and often up to 4 of these are required even in a modest establishment, by an order of magnitude or more. The allows a small mobile machine to have the productivity of several standard surge systems and costs a great deal less. Such a single bearing machine (two tubs) has the potential to keep three men fully occupied, one man preparing and loading bearings, one unloading and testing cleaned bearings and one reassembling and recharging the bearings for return to service. The system is modular and can be multiplied to meet the needs of individual premises, refer FIG. 1, or the machines may be kept in a mobile configuration suitable for franchising services or made fixtures.

Examples of Roller Bearing Cleaning

Example 1

DESCRIPTION OF BEARING

Used and condemned QR SI Roller Bearing.

INITIAL WEIGHING

Inner surface of inner race, and outer surface of outer race wiped. Weight of dirty bearing 5.526kg.

CLEANING PROCESS

Bearing mounted on a shaft to enable it to be spun, attached to a Sunflower oil Solution heated to approx. 88°C, before the bearing was inserted. The bearing is mounted horizontally on a cradle in the cleaning chamber of the machine. The bearing was allowed to stand for 10 minutes, or until the temperature was stabilised. During the heat stabilisation phase there was no rotation but the filter was run continuously. The rotational drive motor was switched on and run at 800 rpm for ten minutes. Power disconnected. The mounted bearing was then removed from the system and allowed to drain for 2 minutes. The bearing was then demounted from the shaft and the centre rotated at 90° for inspection. A random roller was removed and bearing was photographed from various angles. The roller was replaced. SECOND WEIGHING

The outside of the outer race and the inside of the inner race was wiped clean of solution as was done at the beginning.

The bearing was then weighed. Weight = 5.480kg.

Almost all of the grease had been removed, estimated to be well above 99% clean.

Example 2

DESCRIPTION OF BEARING

Used and condemned QR Roller Bearing.

INITIAL WEIGHING

Inner surface of inner race, and outer surface of outer race wiped. Weight of dirty bearing 11.435kg.

CLEANING PROCESS

Bearing mounted on a shaft to enable it to be spun, attached to a Sunflower oil Solution heated to approx. 8O⁰C, before the bearing was inserted. The bearing is mounted horizontally on a cradle in the cleaning chamber of the machine. The bearing was allowed to stand for 10 minutes, or until the temperature was stabilised. During the heat stabilisation phase there was no rotation but the filter was run continuously. The rotational drive motor was switched on and run at 800 rpm for ten minutes. Power disconnected. The mounted bearing was then removed from the system and allowed to drain for 2 minutes. The bearing was then demounted from the shaft and the centre rotated at 90° for inspection. A random roller was removed and bearing was photographed from various angles. The roller was replaced. SECOND WEIGHING

The bearing was then weighed. Weight = 11.380kg.

RINSING PROCESS

Bearing mounted on a shaft to enable it to be spun. Temperature of rinsing solution heated to approx. 33°C, before the bearing was inserted. The bearing is mounted horizontally on a cradle in the rinsing chamber of the machine. The rotational drive motorwas switched on and run at 800 rpm forten minutes. Power disconnected. The mounted bearing was then removed from the system and allowed to drain for 2 minutes. The bearing was then demounted from the shaft and the centre rotated at 90° for inspection. A random roller was removed and bearing was photographed from various angles. The bearing and roller were weighed and then the bearing was disassembled for inspection.

THIRD WEIGHING

The outside of the outer race and the inside of the inner race were wiped clean of solution as was done at the beginning.

The bearing was then weighed. Weight = 11.380kg.

Almost all of the grease had been removed. LEGEND FIG. 1a SCHEMATIC LAYOUT FOR A MULTIPLE BEARING SYSTEM

1 tangential input

2 bleed off 3 bearings & turbines in cylinders connected to bottom return channel

4 standard spray tunnel for rinsing

5 hot air drying tunnel

6 rinse/replenishment solution No. 2

7 top view 8 lid containing turbine drive mechanism and bearing lifting mechanism

9 end view

10 bearing

11 conveyer

12 turbine 13 bearing

14

15 turbine tube

16

17 dirty solution channel

LEGEND Ib SCHEMATIC CLEANING SYSTEM AND WASTE DISPOSAL

18 bulk storage cleaning solutions

19 cleaning solutions topped up automatically from bulk tanks 20 hydraulic drive integrated with rotating dispersant delivery shaft

21 bearing box with bearings in situ and rotating dispersant shaft inserted showing the flow path

22 bearing box drained

23 remove bearings 24 rinse bearings

25 cleaning solutions overflow to crater grease

26 fresh sawdust or recycled compost

27 waste storage & additive

28 compost additive 29 composter with twin screw feeder and single screw discharge 30 maturing covered compost heaps

LEGEND RG. 1c

1 bearings

32 outer races

33 grease-free cleaning stock solution; non hazardous, biodegradable, convertible, waterless

34 preconditioner; function: pre heat parts, remove excess external grease, receive overflow from wash tanks, maintain max amount of grease in solution

35 preconditioner; function: pre heat parts, remove excess external grease, receive overflow from wash tanks, maintain max amount of grease in solution

36 wash stage 1 ; overflows to preconditioner

37 wash stage 1 ; overflows to preconditioner

38 overflow 39 wash stage 2; overflows to preconditioner

40 wash stage 2; overflows to preconditioner

41 overflow

42 drying stage; overflows to wash stage 2

43 drying stage; overflows to wash stage 2 44 overflow

45 fresh solution replenishment

46 waste

47 waste solution for removal & further processing

48 processing into corrosion inhibitors, composting LEGEND FIG. 1 d

PACKAGE BEARING TANKS outer race or shell

49 from wheel sets

50 scrubbing system; preheating tanks: heat to 75-80 deg. C 51 bearing tanks - wash 1 (maintain at 85-90 deg. C)

52 wash 2

53 either one package bearing or two sphericals (package bearings must be kept together as sets)

54 drying 55 to testing and repacking

LEGEND F(G. 2

FLUSHING TOOL INSERTED INTO A TYPICAL RAILWAY BEARING BOX

56 bearing box case

57 bearing box cap with rotating fluid seal

58 hydraulic drive

59 rotating flushing tube

60 inlet orifice with rotating fluid seal

61 outlet orifice

62 bearings

63 peripheral flow

64 rear chamber

LEGEND FIG.3a

drive shaft steel turbine top mounting plug cleaned bearing bottom plug sϋp clutch

LEGEND FIG. 3b

71 spherical bearing outer race pinch roller

72 turbine rotation 1400 rpm

73 bearing rotation 50-150 rpm 74 outer race 5-10 rpm

75 lower bearing mount (inverted for upper mount)

TABLE (FIGURE 2)

Claims

1. An apparatus for the removal of grease, oil and similar products from gears, bearings and other lubricant-containing environments, said apparatus including:

containment means sufficient to retain and submerge a device to be cleaned in a cleaning formulation in said containment means;

rotating means to rotate said device within said containment means; and

pressure means to circulate said cleaning formulation under pressure through said device as it is being rotated.

2. An apparatus as defined in Claim 1 wherein, said pressure means is a turbine.

3. An apparatus which further includes means to repack said device with lubricant after cleaning.

4. An apparatus as defined in any one of Claims 1 to 3 wherein, said formulation is sunflower oil.

5, An apparatus as defined in any one of Claims 1 to 4 which is adapted to be mobile.

6. A method for the removal of grease, oil and similar product from gears, bearings and other lubricant-containing environments, said method including:

submerging a device to be cleaned in a cleaning formulation; rotating said device;

circulating said cleaning formulation under pressure through said device for a period sufficient to dislodge said grease, oil or similar product from said device; and

removing said cleaning formulation and said grease, oil or similar product thus dislodged from said device.

7. A method as defined in Claim 6 wherein, said cleaning formulation is circulated through said device at ambient temperature.

S. A method as defined in Claim 6 wherein, said cleaning formulation is circulated through said device at a temperature above ambient.

9. A method as defined in Claim 8 wherein, said temperature is in the range of about 50-90⁰C.

10. A method as defined in Claim 6 wherein, said formulation is sunflower oil.

11. A method as defined in Claim 6 wherein, said cleaning formulation containing said dislodged product is removed and used forthe cleaning of other articles.

12. A method as defined in Claim 6 wherein, said cleaning formulation containing said dislodged product is removed and further processed for use as a compost material.

13. A method as defined in Claim 6 wherein, said cleaning formulation containing said dislodged product is removed and further processed for use as a corrosion inhibitor.