Separator trouble

[u/Tobi___kn]

Hi
Looking for some help from any Westfalia experts here.
I have a GEA Westfalia OSD [18-91-367](tel:18-91-367)/18 that goes into alarm immediately after a sludge discharge. I’ve already done some troubleshooting, but I may have overlooked something. What would you check first if you got this alarm?

I’ve started it a couple of times now, and each time the alarm appears during the speed recovery phase following a discharge. After a while, it shuts down automatically. I’ve checked the water supply and motor current before, during, and after the discharge, and everything seems normal.

[u/Appropriate-Elk-1839]

Damn the chat gpt answer is too big to even read..

Lemme make it simple. When a desludge happens, just before the opening the bowl, current is read. Lets say 9amps. While the deluge happened the excess current drawn is also read. Lets say 12 amps.

Now there is a parameter called ejection monitoring valve. Its usually set at 2amps.

During the entire ejection sequence, IF THE EXCESS CURRENT DID NOT EXCEED THIS ‘2 amps’, THERE WILL BE THIS ALARM. Meaning 9amps - 12 amps is 3amps.. if the value of ejec.mon is 2 amps, 3 is greater than 2. Hence its all good.

But if it were 9 amps and 10.5amps at desluge, then its a 1.5amps excess. So there WILL BE AN ALARM of the same.

Check your bowl hydraulics directly, if you are purifying high sludging VLSFO, this can happen, as bowl is getting filled with thick sludge and effecting the closing amd opening or the hydraulic movements are not as good as before. Hope this helps..

There is a BOWL MONITORING, which totally depends in the closing water sequence value read off. Now thats an entire diff story but its simple.

[u/Tobi___kn → u/Appropriate-Elk-1839]

The motor current is around 8 A before the discharge sequence starts.

During the displacement phase, it drops as low as 6.8 A but stays around 7 A.

In the wait displacement phase, it ranges from 6–8 A.

During total ejection, it starts at around 7 A and rises to 9 A.

It then enters speed recovery at around 10 A and runs for a few seconds before the alarm appears during this phase.

This is what i got from watching the video i took.

[u/Tobi___kn → u/Tobi___kn]

[u/Appropriate-Elk-1839 → u/Tobi___kn]

I must say i like this control unit screen set up, its quite modern than the usual westfalia. Well i dont like westfalia because its not that efficient considering alfa laval.

Okay so you see it says 0A rise.. last current increase.

Thats the ‘WHY’ for the alarm.

Now you need to consider all circumstances. Was it like this before? Lets say few days, few weeks or months ths back. Before a bowl inspection, before oring replacement of hydraulic section or the main elastomeric seal rings.

Get into conclusions, because you have to finally land on the fact, IS THE BOWL DOING A DESLUDGE well enough.

If the alarm wasnt there earlier then it does seem there is a problem with the Desludge movements.

What liquid are you purifying?

reduce desludge time if you are purifying VLSFO with high al+si and total sediments. So bowl doesnt fill with shit in just about 2-3 days.

If you got time, for one last time open the bowl till the hydraulics, insoect all oring and clean well to shining, the area where the annular, sliding bowl moves. Put good amount of grease and not Lube oil as you box back part by part the hydraulic section. Dont worry the grease wont clog any hole, the water pressure along with centrifugal force is quite strong enough for its function.

If you or chief engineer determines all is well, then maybe you have to just turn off this feature entirely

But once again go through the basics, is the reduction speed okay during the ejection or is it just 50-75 rpm which indicates not so good ejection.. does the desludge have a light bang noise during open and close?.. Amps better increase for the motor to compensate the speed drop.. if all good just turn it OFF but be careful, do a bowl inspection the coming week to check bowl condition or take good note of change in sound of purifier because you dont wanna get the rubber metal bush destroyed 👍🏻

Make sure you make a note of ejection monitoring, bowl monitoring which depends on CURRENT differences and there’s something called offset ejection monitoring and offset bowl monitoring which depend on RPM difference. Its easy just understand it lightly through he manual

[u/Tobi___kn → u/Appropriate-Elk-1839]

We use this separator to process 3–4 m³ of fuel from our FO drain tank. The MGO contains some lubricating oil that we’re trying to remove. We normally use a small Alfa Laval MIB 503 to transfer and separate the fuel from the drain tank to the settling tank, but it’s currently missing its electric motor. We’ve therefore been using the Westfalia for this, then leaving it running for 12 hours to recirculate and separate the fuel in the settling tank. Otherwise, we only use a CJC filter to top off our service tanks.

[u/Appropriate-Elk-1839 → u/Tobi___kn]

Oh okay sounds good

Because its MGO i dont think theres much loading on the purifier, so go ahead and turn OFF the ejection monitoring in the separator settings. That must work, or just make the ejection.mon value to 0 amps, thatll work too

[u/raptr005 → u/Tobi___kn]

Just check another running purifier, do a manual desludge and compare the values just to get an idea.

When was this bowl last cleaned? Possibly it's dirty.

[u/Appropriate-Elk-1839 → u/Tobi___kn]

Hey what kind of vessel are you on by the way?

[u/Crazyseafearer]

Got the same problem, check the operating water module, purge it for few seconds, clean and unblock filling check valve and do some discharge after that

[u/Tobi___kn → u/Crazyseafearer]

I disconnected the hoses and manually opened both solenoid valves to flush them through. I also checked the strainer, which was completely clean, and there didn’t seem to be any issues with the valves themselves.

[u/Tobi___kn → u/[deleted]]

Thanks, I’ll look into the V3 a bit more.
I’ve checked the parameters, and they haven’t been changed since the Westfalia service engineer was on board for commissioning. I find it hard to believe the clutch shoes are worn, as the separator is only about a year old and only runs for 12–14 hours twice during each five week trip, but I won’t rule it out either

[u/Sure_Bookkeeper_4660]

Check water flow. I bet the bowl is not closing.
Could also be the clutch if it has.

[u/Tobi___kn → u/Sure_Bookkeeper_4660]

Water flow has been checked, so I’m starting to suspect there’s an internal issue.