Flender Foam Test Rig Put into Use at the Lanzhou R&D Center

To support the establishment of the group company's key laboratory, the Lanzhou Lubricant R&D Center recently successfully introduced a Flender foam test rig from the German company STRAMA. Through the joint efforts of technical personnel from both sides, the earlier work of equipment introduction, installation and commissioning was completed smoothly, and the rig has now been progressively put into the center's routine work of evaluating the anti-foaming performance of oil products.
Excessive foam generated in the course of gear operation has an extremely adverse effect on the load-bearing capacity of mechanical components such as gears and bearings, and excessive foam in gear oil may lead to leakage at shaft seals, threaded holes and other positions. Therefore, the evaluation and study of the dynamic anti-foaming performance of oil products has become one of the key research projects of lubricant researchers. The Flender foam test rig can provide the necessary data support for better solving the problem of evaluating dynamic anti-foaming performance in the course of machinery operation.
The Flender foam test rig is currently the only piece of equipment in China for evaluating the dynamic anti-foaming performance of oil products; in particular, its evaluation of the dynamic anti-foaming performance of oils such as wind power oils has been recognised by most oil suppliers and oil users in Europe. The foam test is carried out in a sealed gearbox with a glass observation window: a pair of gears rotates in the oil sample, mixing air into the oil to form oil froth (an oil-air mixture and foam); the rig runs for 5 minutes and then, after stopping for 1 minute, measures the percentage increase in foam volume as a way of evaluating the dynamic anti-foaming performance of the oil. Under these conditions the state of the oil is related to the air drawn in and to mechanical operation, and the properties of the oil-air mixture, the surface foam and the deterioration of the oil can be detected very quickly.