Rexnord® Omega™ Couplings Reduce Maintenance Problems at
American Phoenix Rubber Plant
CASE STUDY
At American Phoenix, Inc., a producer of rubber compounds for the tire industry, Rexnord Omega couplings have simplified maintenance, eliminated lubrication, and minimized misalignment problems on oil and water pump drives, as well as some mills. The company was started in 1992 when it took over a plant that had been closed by Uniroyal. Today, it produces tread rubber compounds for several major tire manufacturers, to provide them with both overflow capacity and specialized compounds for shorter runs. The plant has produced as much as 150 million pounds of rubber per year and has one of the largest custom rubber mixing capacities in North America. John Radle, Engineering Manager, says most of the production is tread rubber, provided to tire manufacturers in sheet form.
In the company’s process, several large mixers blend various rubber compounds to customer specification. The material then goes through an extrusion process and subsequently to a mill that converts it to sheets.
The finished sheet passes through a dip tank of anti-tack solution, then through a cooler to remove heat generated during the mixing process. Finally, it is stacked in a serpentine configuration and banded together for shipment.
Throughout the plant, pumps meter process oil, provide hydraulic pressure, or deliver cooling water to the equipment. On these pumps, as well as on several mills with motors up to 300 hp, Radle has replaced existing gear-type couplings with Rexnord® Omega™ split-in-half, bonded urethane couplings. He explains, “They don’t need lubrication or adjustment, so there’s no maintenance. If you have to change one, it takes less than 15 minutes. With a gear coupling, you’d have to move the motor back, heat the coupling to loosen it, then re-install and re-align it.” Because the Omega couplings have a split-in-half flex element, they are easy to remove without disturbing the hubs or changing the alignment.
Alignment itself is easier, since the urethane couplings will accommodate more misalignment than the previous gear-type couplings. In other applications, the flexible couplings provide further advantages, according to Radle. “I think they are excellent on water pumps because of the shock loading,” he points out.
“You don’t have to worry about lubrication,” he adds. “With gear couplings, if they opened the port on one side and pumped grease through it, the grease sometimes took the easy path and went out the other side. Then, after it failed, we’d take it apart and see that some grease had hardened inside the coupling, so the new grease never got to where it should be.”
Centrifugal cooling water pump drive
includes
Rexnord Omega E40 coupling to 100 hp motor
On one 300 hp mill, Radle says a Rexnord Omega coupling has been in service for more than four years without a problem. “We run two shifts now, and we have run 24/7 in the past.”
The Rexnord Omega couplings incorporate torsionally soft flex elements that protect connected equipment by cushioning shock loads, reducing torsional vibration, and absorbing unavoidable misalignment. The coupling design combines flexibility with strength and durability.
A Rexnord Omega E80 coupling is installed on this 84”rolling
mill between a 300 hp motor and large
parallel-shaft
gearbox
4-154-155CS/11-20-03
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