Perma and Emons Cargo 2WIN: An Automatic Lubrication Solution

Emons Cargo 2WIN has reached yet another technological goal. An automatic lubricant solution for our 2WIN trailers in collaboration with Perma.

One of our Emons Cargo 2WIN’s main goals is undoubtedly sustainability. On some occasions, however, we cannot avoid making use of materials that may harm the environment. This is the case with the oil and grease used to lubricate machines’ components.

Let’s take vehicles, for example. Be it a small city car or a huge truck, they all need bearings. Bearings, in turn, need lubricants like oil or grease to function properly. Using lubricant substances, therefore, seems to be unavoidable. Nevertheless, we can still try to use them efficiently to safeguard the environment as much as possible.

That is why Emons Cargo 2WIN has equipped all its trailers with automatic lubricant systems.

The “bread and butter of the machine industry”, bearings are probably the most important components of machines. If you are wondering what exactly bearings are, here is a picture:

There are different kinds of bearing, but their presence is quite ubiquitous. They are the parts that help objects’ rotation by reducing friction and allowing for smoother movement. By doing so, they cut down energy consumption. Bearings have also the crucial role of protecting the part supporting rotation. Moreover, they maintain the correct position for the rotating shaft.

Proper lubrication of the bearings serves different purposes. It protects the surfaces from corrosion and seals them against contaminants like humidity, dust, or dirt. It also creates a barrier between the rolling contact and the sliding surfaces. Also, it provides cooling by dissipating the heat from the surfaces. A study conducted by components manufacturers points out that more than 50% of bearing failures are caused by improper lubrication.

It seems logical, therefore, that our main focus should concentrate on improving the lubrication aspect of machines’ maintenance.

Lubrication of machine components is, in most cases, a manual operation. An employee using the right tools has to reach and grease the parts of a machine that need lubrication.

As specialized and accurate as a man can be, manual work always has a margin of error. One might use too much or too little grease. Both cases can cause failures and consequent costs in terms of machines’ downtime, extra maintenance, or less efficiency. Moreover, with a manual application of lubricant, the risk of contaminants is higher.

Another pitfall of manual lubrication is the time intervening between maintenance operations. The greasing of the machine’s components usually is done not nearly often enough to ensure the optimal functioning of some parts.

Manual lubrication can also imply risks for the safety of the mechanics. It can also cause a high rate of oil or grease waste through leakage and consequent pollution. Not to mention the costs due to downtime, and disruption of planned activities. Greasing requires to schedule extra maintenance and workforce.

At Emons, for example, a mechanic needs to lubricate with a grease gun the brakes of our trailers at least every 3 months. This, in many cases, disrupts the regular planning of the mechanics at the Technical Service Center. Moreover, it causes waste of time and additional costs because the vehicle cannot move.

As of this year, Emons Cargo 2WIN trailers will be equipped with a new system that will keep their brakes at their optimal status: an automatic single-point lubrication system.

The testing went on for 2 years on 10 vehicles. The development was done in collaboration with the German company Perma, which specialized in lubrication technology. Now, all our trailers are equipped with an automatic lubricant system to lubricate the S-axle of their brakes.

Making lubrication operations automatic means increasing the efficiency and the service life of machines. In addition, it reduces failures, downtime, workforce, and waste of polluting substances.

An automatic lubrication system can apply the right amount of oil or grease at the right intervals of time. Oil and grease will go precisely on the component that needs it. This ensures that components are always properly lubricated reducing failures, bearing replacement, and maintenance costs.

Moreover, there are no risks of under or overdosage, leakage, or contamination. The system is isolated, and this prevents dust, dirt, or humidity from coming into contact with the lubricants, keeping their efficiency at its highest.

Despite the kind of substance used in these systems is not a sustainable one – it is an oil-based lubricant – the precision of the automatic systems helps the environment by significantly reducing leakages and waste. In addition, proper lubrication contributes to minimising friction in contacting surfaces. Minimizing friction means reducing power loss and, consequently, fuel consumption.

Overall, this technological advancement, like many others that make our 2WIN trailers so special, is one more statement of Emons Cargo 2WIN‘s commitment to efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and sustainability.