MONITORING AND ALARM SYSTEM FOR ROLLING MILL OIL FILM BEARINGS

A monitoring and alarm system is disclosed for a rolling mill in which oil is pumped from a reservoir via feed piping and branch feed lines to oil film bearings and oil is returned from the bearings via branch drain lines and return piping to the reservoir. The system comprises sensors positioned in at least one of the branch feed lines, the branch return lines and the bearings. The sensors are operative to sense diverse parameters indicative of bearing operating conditions and to generate status signals representative thereof. A controller evaluates the status signals and triggers warning signals when the status signals indicate that the bearings are in danger of being damaged by continued operation. Alarms respond to the warning signals and alert mill operating personnel to such danger.