Creating a concept for the development of a "lubrication service" to maximize plant life on the basis of ionic liquids as special lubricants.

Status

completed

Summary

From preliminary talks with potential users of the lubrication service, the mechanical engineers, both the need for such a service and the economical and ecological saving potential were recognized. The lubrication service consists of the steps definition of the lubrication problem, development of the approach, supply of lubricant, actual lubrication, replacement and disposal of the lubricants.

The goals of the project are the collection and structuring of the requirements of the machine and plant makers for the "lubrication service" as well as in the second step, the definition, investigation of feasibility, and the creation of a concept for this service - in close cooperation with the customer.

In the project we examined how co-operation in the area of the lubrication service is to be defined for industrial partners. The first step were telephone interviews with manufacturers of machines. In the second step based on the results from the first step, a questionnaire was created and sent to further potential customers. The results of both were examined in the third step.

Advantages over the present situation result from the replacement of classical lubricants, which are based on mineral oil, by new ionic lubricants based on natural substances, and resulting from this, a substantial extension of the life of machines and plants. These advantages lead to a substantial reduction of resources consumption and thus an increase of the sustainability of the operation/plant.

In many applications classical lubricants have now reached the limits of the technically possible. Often the unavailability of alternative lubrication concepts and services puts limits on the life of technical systems and results in lower resources efficiency.

Customers would like application-orientated solutions for their specific requirements. Common lubricant products and the services offered, which consist of just lubricant analysis, are only one part of the solution demanded by the customer. The "lubrication service" is the suitable instrument for the fulfilment of holistic customer requirements. With the help of this service, it is possible to achieve he customer goal: maximizing the life and efficiency of the manufactured plants and machines and thus their resources efficiency, and at the same time the negative environmental influences are minimized.

The advantages of the project result from a completely new objective: to develop an application-orientated service for lubricants, using a substance class which has not yet been investigated in this context, the so-called ionic liquids. A basic concept of this application-orientated service is the concentration on solving the technical/economical task of lubrication and not, as has been the case until now, the concentration on standard lubricants, to which the technical plant has to adapt.

Project management

DI Dr. Michael Kotschan MBA
pro ionic Production of Ionic Substances

Project or cooperation partner

• Mag. Dr. Wolfgang Staber MBA, Ing. Christian Lackner
  Montanuniversität Leoben

Peter Tunner Str. 19
8700 Leoben
Tel.: +43 (3842) 47044-20
Fax: +43 (3842) 47044/78
E-Mail: michael.kotschan@proionic.at