Reduce Friction to Save Energy

摘要

There's the energy required to drive a gearbox but there's also the energy expended in overcoming the friction between the surfaces of gears as they mesh with each other in a working gearbox. It's therefore logical to argue that if this friction is reduced to the absolute minimum through optimum lubrication, there should be an energy saving. To investigate this theory, a recent study by Eskom called for lubricant manufacturers to submit their high performance gear oils to determine the effect of lubricant on reducing energy consumption. "SA Mechanical Engineer" speaks to Charles du Bois, business development manager of Status Industrial Solutions, a business unit of Chemserve, the distributors of high performance Castrol oils in South Africa, and one of the companies whose gear oil was selected for the final tests of this project.