| dc.description.abstract | Increasingly, turbomachinery users are setting upper limits on coupling enclosure temperatures. This is done either to protect personnel, to ensure the proper operating temperature for bearing oil that leaks past seals (or is intentionally drained through the coupling guard), and/or to ensure coupling instrumentation (e.g., torquemeter) temperature limits are not exceeded. Computer programs and formulas that have previously been developed to predict the temperature rise are not necessarily accurate in some cases. This is because much of the work is based on limited configurations in laboratory experiments. There has also been a lack of direct correlation with "real" situations, as guards are not normally instrumented for temperature measurement. Work is presented that has been done on actual applications at the Marathon Oil Refinery, and at Elliott Company's facilities, and in other field installations to correlate test data with predicted temperatures using the existing programs. Moreover, proper guard and coupling designs will be discussed, especially those that prevent the vacuum effect that sucks oil past machinery seals. Finally, actual field problems and solutions are covered. | en |
