EXCAVATOR BOOM FOOT & HOIST CYLINDER MONITORING -LIEBHERR 9600

The GreaseBoss monitoring system led to the detection of a bypassing injector on the swing box and an incorrect pump timer setting, resulting in estimated cost savings of $70,000 per year and prevented a potential swing box failure.

$70,000/yr

In grease savings

12

Endpoint LF units installed

successful alert

detected a bypassing injector that was not being directly monitored (on the swing box)

repeated failures, no clear root cause

The customer, a tier 1 Australian mining company had experienced repeated failures in the boom foot and hoist cylinder areas of their Liebherr fleet.

GreaseBoss implemented the Critical Point Monitoring solution by installing 12 Endpoint LF units, which provided near real-time lubrication volume data and allowed for visibiilty of the planned vs actual greasing volumes.

The GreaseBoss monitoring led to the detection of a bypassing injector on the swing box (not directly monitored by endpoints) and the identification of an incorrect pump timer setting, resulting in significant grease consumption cost savings and prevented a potential swing box failure.

critical point monitoring

the greaseboss system found faults at unmonitored points

An unexpected, and unprecedented discovery, from this pilot was that the GreaseBoss system successfully alerted the maintenance team of lubrication issues on a bypassing injector that was not being directly monitored (on the swing box).

Figure 01 / 03

Healthy lube system

Grease volume per cycle, 12 monitored endpoints
All points trending together
Healthy lube system: all monitored grease points trending together

Above is the “healthy” lube system showing all monitored grease points trending together.

Figure 02 / 03

Faulty lube system

Grease volume per cycle, 12 monitored endpoints
Injector bypass detected
Faulty lube system: injector bypass detected

The data above shows the exact moment that an injector on the swing box (not directly monitored by Endpoints) started bypassing, the system showed chaotic data trends among the monitored endpoints, enabling the identification of the issue and subsequent maintenance actions to restore the system’s consistency and health.

Figure 03 / 03

Incorrect pump timer setting

Pump timer interval, planned vs actual
Planned pump timer every 360s vs actual pump timer every 240s
1.5xovergreased compared to a comparable excavator

Our customer experienced significant overgreasing issues on their excavator due to an incorrect pump timer setting. By analysing the data, we discovered that the pump timer was set to run every 240 seconds instead of the intended 360 seconds. This discrepancy resulted in the system being overgreased by 1.5 times compared to a comparable excavator.

measurable outcomes

Identifying and rectifying the incorrect pump timer setting allowed the customer to grease exactly as per the OEM specifications and avoid approximately $70,000 in wasted grease per year.

The GreaseBoss system has provided visibility and certainty to the site maintenance team over the grease volume application to the critical boom foot and hoist cylinder points over the past 7 months. During this time, there has been no failures of these components.

The installation demonstrates the ability for the GreaseBoss system to provide a cost effective solution that provides detailed monitoring for critical grease points, whilst also providing a full lube system “health” monitoring benefit to detect issues across the whole lube system.