Renewell Energy - Automated Wire Rope Lubrication
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Climate change is one of the most significant problems facing society today. To combat the issue of climate change, Renewell Energy is introducing an innovative solution: repurposing abandoned oil wells into clean energy storage systems. By repurposing abandoned oil wells, Renewell Energy is cutting down on the thousands of metric tons of methane that are released from the oil wells into the atmosphere, polluting the environment and contributing to global warming. Renewell’s solution takes excess clean energy and uses it to drive a motor that hoists a mass via a wire rope, converting the excess energy into potential energy. When there is a rise in energy demand, the mass is released and drives a motor that produces electricity. The wire rope that connects the mass to the motors is an integral part of the system, and it is projected to be the driving component in the operational and maintenance costs of the entire system. Our task is to extend the lifetime of the wire rope through the lubrication of the wire rope. The focus of our project was determining the ideal pressure settings for the lubricant and air compressor to ensure effective penetration of the wire rope. Additionally, Renewell requested for the lubrication system to be automated so that our system may be operated remotely. To automate the lubrication, we have designed a system that delivers the lubricant through a nozzle with the assistance of a water pump and an air compressor. The lubrication system does not require any human input, so it can lubricate the wire rope once it is powered on. To quantify the performance of our system, we ran a series of tests that simulated the wire rope moving at its nominal speed of 60 feet per minute. From our tests, we found that the ideal pressure settings are a lubricant pressure of 25 psi and an air pressure of 50 psi. With these pressures, the spray pattern of the nozzle maximizes the percentage of lubricant that penetrates the wire rope while supplying a flow rate that ensures that the wire rope is lubricated from the outside to the inner strands. Our current power consumption of 1117 Wh leads us to conclude that there is more work to be done to optimize the power consumption of the system while performing at a comparable level. Additionally, the system will benefit from the development of a control system to run the lubrication process, delivering lubricant on demand, by integrating with Renewell’s system.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Publication date | March 22, 2024; 2024 |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Chinganga, Wayne |
|---|---|
| Author | Garcia Jr., Romeo |
| Author | Pedraza, Christopher |
| Author | Rishani, Karim |
Subjects
| Subject | Mechanical engineering |
|---|---|
| Genre | Text |
| Genre | Report |
Bibliographic information
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- User agrees that, where applicable, content will not be used to identify or to otherwise infringe the privacy or confidentiality rights of individuals. Content distributed via the Stanford Digital Repository may be subject to additional license and use restrictions applied by the depositor.
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- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC).
Preferred citation
- Preferred citation
- Chinganga, W., Garcia Jr., R., Pedraza, C., and Rishani, K. (2024). Renewell Energy - Automated Wire Rope Lubrication. Stanford Digital Repository. Available at https://purl.stanford.edu/ts763jg7336. https://doi.org/10.25740/ts763jg7336.
Collection
ME170 Mechanical Engineering Design
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