LNG Load Arm Bearing Monitoring

G-RAY Diagnostics Ltd have been working closely with LNG Transportation and Cryogenic equipment especially the critical Jetty Load Arms.

LNG Storage Terminals use Loading Arms to connect there piping systems to the clients shipping tankers for import and export of the LNG. The Load Arms have a series of large rolling element bearings to allow positioning of the arm to the shipping tanker and to account for tidal movement during the off-take.

The Bearings are extremely slow moving hence their criticality is paramount to the reliability and safety of the arm movement.
We have developed tried and testing methods to allow the condition of the bearing raceways to be monitored using various techniques.

Our Load Arm surveys are usually conducted under certain dedicated testing conditions which includes installation of the sensors to the bearings using “Rope Access Trained” personnel. Measurements are recorded mainly from the 3 Bearings (Style 50, Style 40 and Counterbalance) through the full range of the arm movement i.e. Stored position to Connection position.

Load Arm Bearing maintenance is a very costly experience which includes hours of planning and large amounts of downtime can be consumed if a failure was to occur without any prior knowledge.

A comprehensive diagnostic report detailing individual bearing traces is produced allowing any maintenance to be scheduled accordingly.

We currently survey F.M.C. and S.V.T. Loading Arm designs however other vendors could also be discussed.

We also offer an installation service that installs Accelerometers to each of the bearings with hard wiring into a local data collection box that is fully Atex compliant. The hard wiring system reduces the need for “Rope Access Trained” personnel making the surveys significantly more cost effective with reduced data collection times.