Mechanical crankshaft and

kiln stiffness.
What is exactly the crankshaft? As an example, let’s look at three pier kilns.

The crankshaft is one of type of crank caused by mechanical bend where middle
station (2nd pier) has some eccentricity (rotating) but 1st and 3rd pier is set correctly in
one reference line.

The main reasons of crankshaft is brick lining failure, after which kiln stoppage
procedure was not carried out. Too long operation with missing brick and too high
temperature on the shell without bricks create shell bending.

Kiln stiffness

Rotary kilns are not all the same. Due to different design and supplies one kilns can
be much more “sensitive” than others. “Sensitive” in this case means to
misalignment or crankshaft formation.

One of kilns will be more flexible the other are stiff, where the reaction on each
deviation will be severe. This stiffness can be calculated and it calls “kiln stiffness
matrix”. It allows to connect the cause and consequences together (misalignment
and crankshaft with periodical circumferential overloads on supports).

The best indicator (one of the first symptoms) is temperature difference on kiln shell
circumference. If this difference in more than 90oC should be considered as
dangerous. In this temperature difference shell can start bending process.
Temperature below will create only some local deformations. This is also not good
situation because local deformation can cause the brick problem as well and
eventually can be the reason of crank.

When we compare axial and radial hot-spots (big difference on temperature) – the
first one is much les dangerous for shell and kiln operation.

Another reason of mechanical crankshaft (occur less frequently) is erection of the

kiln unit – especially wrong alignment of the shell. This problem occurs when
executive company knowledge is not enough (lack of know-how), shell segments
(old of new) are deformed or poorly chosen shell segments that have to be replaced.

So, we already know what is crankshaft. The next question is: is it possible to detect
the crankshaft when there are not visual indicators?

The answer is yes. The crankshaft cannot be visually obvious because kilns are quite
flexible machines and the deformation is not visible. We call it “hidden crank
formation”. Sometimes there are several that work in opposite phases.
The indication of crankshaft in the shell can be:

 Periodic main motor amperage fluctuation – changes during rotation

 Periodic noise during each kiln revolution.
 Deflection of roller shaft.
 Measurement of radial run-out of kiln shell
 Indication of high value of radial run-out (eccentricity) on kiln inlet or outlet
seals, or on the shell between two piers.

To detect crankshaft existence by rollers’ shaft deflection measurement, the data

analysed should cover at least 5 or 6 complete kiln shell rotations.

Alignment – strong
maintenance tool.
The Hot kiln alignment inspection service is generally performed by specialized
company. This is recommended to carry out this kind of service every two years, in
case when kiln cannot be stopped or in case of important and dangerous failures like
cracks (on tires or rollers), brick failure, hot bearing problem, base frame cracks,
shaft crack etc.

The question is why the alignment is so important and everybody pay special
attention to it?

Firstly – rotary kiln is very heavy. It reaches hundreds of tons.

Secondly – this kind of machines and each component is very expensive. For
example, one tire 60 tons weight can cost 200.000 USD, one roller (about 45 tons
weight) cost is 120.000 USD.

And finally – all rotary kilns are designed with minimum safety factor. Almost all
suppliers design it at 95% of the limit, so the margin is very limited. The limitations
can appear everywhere: maximum stress in the tire or shell, maximum pressure of
tires and rollers (contact surface), maximum pressure between liner and shaft etc.

To illustrate the consequences let’s compare perfectly align kiln unit and one with
misalignment.

Three-pier kiln well aligned characterizes no crankshaft, no misalignment of support,

all tire working perfectly on rollers (within design limits). All values are within
tolerance and rotary kiln can work without unexpected stoppages and additional
costs.
For poorly aligned kiln situation is a lot worst. Let’s assume the same three-pier kiln
but poorly aligned. Tire at middle station is 10mm too high. Because of stiffness of
the kiln (that can be calculated from stiffness matrix) the second station is
overloaded. This overload creates many problems like tire and rollers mechanical
wear, cracks, holes and many others. The bearing liner damage will appear as well.
All this problem leads to kiln unit stoppage, renovation work, parts replacement and
most of all additional and very high costs.

Generally, most of that kind of situation can be avoided by regular kiln alignment
service.

Rotary kilns should be inspected in cold condition every twelve months during kiln
stoppage, at each support roller or other important part replacement or every time
when some problems will appear.

Kiln operation – friction,

torque, rotation.
Kiln load is rotating on roller shaft with liners. It is not possible to run the kiln without
this because the load by itself is to high ant it would be to expensive do design,
produce and operate. There is of course some relation between bearing liners (its
friction) and rotation – we cannot increase the pressure infinitely. There is always
limit of load on a liner.

Kiln geometry
The liner friction and rotation are parameters linked each other, because almost all
torque is used to move the material inside the kiln and only a small part is covered to
heat shaft and liner contact. But sometimes, especially in case of severe overheating
this torque can increase very fast. As a symptom when main motor power will
increase by 20%, all bearing inspection should be performed. This situation does not
include process reasons.

Liner temperature is also depending on the load applied to the shaft, but other
factors are possible as well. The main parameters that affect the load are: alignment
of kiln tires, shell axis deformation (both permanent ad thermal types), lubrication,
quality of geometry and precision of components production.

Bearing liner design

Generally bearing liner is has 4 functional points: outside and inside flange, outside
and inside diameter. The inside one is divided in 3 areas: oil pocket, oil film creation
surface and contact area with the shat.

Typical (new) bearing linear inside diameter area proportion:

 Oil pocket – from 5 to 15o

 Contact surface – from 10 to 15o
 Creation of oil film – the rest.

In most cases bearing liner is perpendicular to kiln axis and load distribution. There
are some exceptions. For example, KHD design – not perpendicular.

For normal operation the shaft and liner diameters should be properly fitted to each
other. There is couple of method to check this fitting. One of them is “blue mark”
method which show the real contact area. The axial contact should be quite equal
and continuous at least for 80% of all contact surface. With on the other hand cannot
exceed 15o angle.

The contact angle cannot by higher because of thermal expansion is very dangerous
for operation – this is at short term reason. When the kiln starts after stoppage
everything is getting hotter and hotter. Tire will heat the roller, then the shaft. Finally,
the shaft (approx. After 48 hours) will be bigger in diameter. At the same time, due to
water cooling the liner will stay the same. So eventually the oil film thickness will be
lower (caused by shaft expansion) and contact will increase.

At long term – mechanical wear will be faster and will create other damages. During
years of operation the 15o angle contact area will increase and expands up to 20 –
30o. In case of any problem there is still some spare limit where the liner can still
work correctly. When the contact area is too high on the beginning, each unexpected
incident can lead to severe failure.

Overheating of bearing –
emergency procedures
What should be done in case of overheating?

In case of overheating the outside shaft, diameter is getting bigger. The most it
increases, the less oil will be able to get in. Less oil – higher temperature and so on.
One of the possible steps (not suitable for all cases) to perform when a bearing is
overheated more than 65% is o run the kiln on auxiliary motor until shaft temperature
decrease below 50oC. After that the kiln operation should be restarted.

Analysing bearing liner design very important is an oil used. But even the best oil
cannot solve contact surface problems. Too low clearance between shaft and
bearing cannot be replaced by good quality of synthetic or thick oil. Oil loses its
viscosity very quickly.

Summarizing the overheating creating something like “chain of reasons and causes”:

Overheating >>> oil viscosity decreases >>> overheating,

Overheating >>> shaft diameter increases >>> less clearance >>> less oil >>> more

wear >>> overheating,

Less clearance >>> less oil >>> more wear >>> less clearance.

One of the emergency procedures is fan cooling.

Generally, this method is quite dangerous on bearing because housing is open so the
dust can get into component. Another point is that you never know what you are
cooling exactly, shaft or housing? Always have thermal expansion on each
component in mind.

Another and definitely the best method is to use oil re-circulation with cooling and
filters (cleaning). Even small units are available on the market with fast installation.

If the existing problem is rather small you can try to run kiln using auxiliary drive (as
mention above). The advantages of this method is time. Running the kiln slowly you
are getting time to decrease shaft temperature, time to skip “chain of reasons and
causes” and time to get back proper oil viscosity.

As a good auxiliary method commonly used is cooling the roller flank to limit shell
heat transition to shaft by air or by water. Using the water is dangerous and should
be used like the last possible step (very progressive application to avoid thermal
shock. Also, be aware to protect housing from water. Any heat shock can lead to
spalling (on surface).

In case of emergency sometimes changes of oil is necessary.  Oil with the highest
viscosity possible should be used, assuming the real viscosity will drop because of
temperature. Of course, the synthetic I oil can be used as well but some data mast
be checked. Before oil usage check if it can be mixed with mineral and also it does
not chemically attack any bearing components.

Under no circumstances grease or moly cot cannot be used. It can completely block
the oil pocket.
 Relations – dimensions and
tolerances.
Rotary kiln alignment All rotary kiln dimensions are significant due to size of the
machine. On one hand we have dozens of meters on the other hundreds of tones.
But even that each component and whole kiln look very big and strong it cannot
accept any defect. The truth is – the bigger it is the more attention as required. Each
component should be aligned with very high precision.

Rotary kiln alignment. How important is the tolerances and how accurate the
alignment have to be? The example is below:

 Contact side of teeth of pinion and girth gear

o Tolerance for normal operation is below 0,05mm
o The warning for operator is when this value is higher than 0,1mm
o Damage, tooth crack or other problems can appear when clearance is
higher than 0,2mm
 Skewing of support rollers (position of rollers in horizontal plane – in relation
to kiln axis)
o Normal operation tolerance – below 0,3mm
o Warning, which will show us the first signs of irregularities – skewing
value more than 1mm
o Danger o operation, and higher level of mechanical wear – above 3mm.

Thermal expansion

As an example of thermal bending of metal component imagine one beam, 10m long
and put 420oC temperature. The calculated thermal expansion will be 48mm.

And now take the same beam and put 220oC to it. The calculated thermal expansion
will be 24mm.

As we can see the temperatures difference has big influence over metal expansion.

So, will happen if we put the same temperatures to the shell – both at the same
time?

As an example, let’s take 10m shell length and 4m diameter. To illustrate the case,
we put same temperature 420oC on half of circumference and 220oC on another
half. This kind of temperature distribution we can obtain due to uneven coating.

Taking the calculation of thermal expansion as a result we get mention above 48mm
in one side of the shell and 24mm on the other. So, the differential expansion for the
shell will be 24mm. Due to kiln is resting on the piers what will happen? The result of
this condition will be shell deflection.

This is of course approximate situation but allow to illustrate the problem. As a

conclusion we can say that:

 Uneven coating distribution can lead to difference in temperatures on

circumference of kiln shell
 As a consequence, to differential expansion
 And finally, to kiln shell thermal bending.

Extreme situation if the bending will be very high (enough to lift kiln components),
the rollers and tires running surfaces can even loose the contact.

So as a conclusion it is very important to keep the shell temperature equal around

whole circumference to avoid kiln shell bending. If the problem already exists –
process parameter should be modified to get proper coating thickness.

The other reason that can create thermal bending:

 When the rotary kiln in not properly rotated (especially during start-up and
stoppage procedure)
 When the kiln is not rotated after one incident.

How important is constant operation (not full stoppage during first problems) is the
best ways to show in numbers. When the user stops the kiln very fast, thermal
bending will be bigger and bigger. After that shell will be deformed permanently. 
Situation mention below is coming from real case a one of the Cement Plant.

Due to some production problem the kiln operation was stop for only 10 minutes. At
the same time the shell was exposed to tropical rain which cools only upper part of
shell. The thermal bending become a permanent type – the real clearance between
tire and roller at middle pier was 27mm. To correct this damage and restore normal
kiln operation the correction cut and shell segments replacement were necessary. 
Cost – more than 100.000 USD. Stoppage time – more than 12 days.

Summarizing:

The temperature distribution is the most important kiln parameter. The dangerous
for operation is not only maximum value of temperature but differential expansion
(especially different temperature on kiln shell circumference). To avoid unexpected
kiln stoppage auxiliary drive should always ready to operate. Also, the mechanical
and maintenance staff should be familiar with thermal expansion importance.
 Rotary Kiln – mechanical
issues.
Rotary kilns are very big and heavy rotating machines. They are characterized by
different weights. As it looks in numbers ? For example (only mobile parts) weights:

 3-pier kiln, length 50m, weight 610 t.

 4-pier kiln, length 80m, weight 1250 t
 7-pier kiln, length 175m, weight 2600 t.

As we can see the numbers shows the immensity of this type of machines. Due to
big dimensions the users are exposed for many different consequences. Because
every think is big and solid also the supports must be very strong. The rollers, frames
and concrete foundation must withstand the load.

Also big mechanical parts cause that the maintenance is difficult. The type of work
like: tire or roller replacement, shell replacement or renovation work, girth gear
adjustment etc. require a lot of effort, time and cost.

The possibility of mechanical components damage is very high as well. Any part
getting between tires and rollers running surface can be destroyed or broken.

Except different mass, each kiln has different dimension. Everything depends on
design. Generally kilns diameter vary from 3 to 6m, and length from 40 to 200m.
From maintenance point of view very important parameter is shell thickness:

 20mm – small shell thickness

 40mm – standard shell thickness.

There is also some useful parameter of rotary kiln design – thickness / diameter
ratio. For many kiln producers is around 0,6%.

Big dimension also creates many unwanted consequences. When the machine is bis
there is always difficult to transport spare parts, move of rotate, perform adjustment
job, have an overview, to inspect (visually or using non destructive testing methods –
because of the surface).

Another and probably the most important inconvenience from maintenance point of
view is temperature. Normal kiln shell temperature during operation vary from 40 oC
to 420oC.  As we can see – very big variation. High temperature is very dangerous for
maintenance staff and can easily burn. This is very difficult to come close to running
kiln.
With increasing temperature, the mechanical characteristics changes. When the kiln
becoming hotter and hotter steel lost the strength:

 At 400, steel has lost 50% strength

 At 500, steel has lost 60% strength
 At6400, elasticity limit is exceeded ant it will never get back to its original
dimension even if temperature decrease.

What is important? – The dimensions are depended from temperature. Then

temperature is higher the diameter is bigger. The thermal expansion of kiln and kiln
component should be always included at any maintenance work or analysis.

For example: the kiln (one of the Cement Plant) with average operation temperature
on 250oC because of thermal expansion is longer by 140mm than in cold
condition. Measurements of kiln geometry, this is quite important value.
Temperature should always be considered on renovation operations (repair or
replacement) and on adjustment (especially when procedure is performed in cold
condition).

Another important issue linked to temperature parameter is application to tire/shell

installation. Let’s check numbers again:

 The inner diameter of tire is 4000mm and temperature is 150o

 Shell outer diameter (with chair-pads) is 3990mm and the temperature is 300 o

The question is: whether the kiln shell temperature can increase without any
consequences or not?

When we recalculate this parameter: the thermal expansion for tire is 7,2mm and for
shell is 14,4mm. So as a result, we obtain the hot under-tire clearance parameter on
2,8mm level. Tolerance given by most kiln producers is from 3-6mm. So, this
situation is a warning to kiln operators. Temperature parameters has a very
important impact of tire/shell operation. For initial clearance there is always a
temperature limit for expansion.

Different thermal expansion of shell and tire can lead to some shrinkage (tire on
shell). The reason can be too quick preheating or too small value of clearance in cold
condition. The consequences can be very severe. Shell can be deformed
permanently, failure of brick lining can appear, problems with component
attachment. This kind of situation can also lead to shell crack, or at least to initiate
this process in the future.

Next important point with temperature expansion background is application to girth

gear and pinion adjustment. For example measured root clearance (at 3-pier kiln,
4,6m diameter with pre-heater) in cold condition will increase by 6mm. This is
because of thermal expansion of tires and shell. When overall temperature increase,
all dimensions getting bigger and all kiln component move up. Under-tire clearance
is getting lower and root clearance of teeth is bigger.

The situation mention above is just an example. Every time analysis of this type
should be consulted with technical center because there is many other factors linked
with temperature expansion and root clearance value.  One of this factor is angular
relation (designed position) between pinion and girth gear. Generally speaking
depends on pinion position on the gear circumference.

 Pinion position closer to kiln axis (more under the kiln) – high influence
 Pinion position more on one of sides of kiln axis – less influence.