Marland CECON Clutches for Oil Refinery Cooling Fan Drive

March 23, 2015
Oil Refinery Cooling Fan Drive

A major industrial fan OEM needed a clutch solution for a large dual drive fan at an oil refinery in Brazil. The refinery never shuts down and requires a continuous, uninterruptible supply of cooling air. The fan is powered by an electric motor on one side and a steam turbine on the other side. Clutches are used to provide a smooth transfer of power from one power supply to the other without stopping the fan.

Marland CECON 18M clutches were selected to meet the challenging “no-downtime” requirement. One CECON clutch is positioned between the turbine and the fan, another CECON unit is positioned between the fan and the electric motor. The clutches have a disconnect feature that provides physical separation of the input and output shafts. This allows maintenance or replacement to be performed on the non-energized driver while the disconnect CECON is locked out in the disconnect position. The clutches also have the capability to support optional monitoring equipment that measures temperature and vibration.

CECON clutches are completely enclosed and designed for high-speed, continuous-duty applications in unprotected, adverse environments. The CECON 18M models supplied have an 18,000 lb.ft. torque rating with a max speed of 2,300 RPM. All models feature SAE 52100 alloy steel rollers, energized springs that ensure positive engagement and an aluminum alloy cage with precision-machined roller pockets which provide controlled spacing and load sharing. Lubrication is self-contained in the sealed housing and provides self-circulation and self-filtering through stainless steel filter strainers.