Mechanical Technology

Mechanical Technology — August 2015

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Proactive maintenance, lubrication and contamination management

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Ultrasonic detectors can locate and quantify

compressed air, gas and steam loss to leaks

and faulty traps, passing process valves,

cavitating pumps, over lubricated bearings

and more.

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untold stories of prospective clients, upon

being shown the latest offering, saying

something like “So that is what that

thing is!”. Invariably this is followed by

scratching through a cupboard in a back

room somewhere, dusting off an infra-red

camera, vibration analyser or ultrasonic

detector with long-dead batteries with an

“Aha! I thought I saw one of those here

somewhere.” At this point the salesman

knows he is in for a hard sell. Any one

or more of the reasons mentioned above

will have tripped up the organisation and

experience will be negative. So how do

you prevent yourself (and your organisa-

tion) from falling into the same hole, or

getting out of it if you are already there?

Getting out is worse!

As always, the key lies in careful

research and planning. Do your home-

work. Know where you want to get to.

Identify and anticipate the hurdles and

don’t underestimate them. Ensure there

is visible management support and com-

mitment. Build a solid foundation. Look

for the quick wins that are meaningful

and will give the initiative the boost it

will most certainly need. But, you might

ask, where to look and for what? So let’s

consider what could make for meaningful

quick wins in today’s economic climate

and business landscape.

First, be reminded that predictive

maintenance starts with condition

monitoring, but there are two aspects

to plant condition. The most common is

health status, which is linked to reliabil-

ity. This is very, very important and is a

foundational pillar supporting predictive

maintenance, but there is another that

is often overlooked and can be the key.

This is plant performance. When plant

performance is routinely measured and

monitored as part of the production

process it is automatically taken care of.

Deficiencies show up quickly and the

need for corrective action is obvious and

usually taken care of.

However, when aspects of plant

performance are not routinely measured

and monitored and deterioration occurs,

the consequences can be very significant

and nevertheless go undetected. This is

because many degradation processes are

slow and insidious. The worst is when

the deterioration leads to rising operat-

ing costs that eat into the bottom line to

an ever increasing degree. The effects of

reducing efficiency can be particularly

pernicious, especially when it occurs in

items like pumps, fans, compressors,

boilers and their associated distribu-

tion networks. In these situations it is

not unusual to find that, eventually, the

avoidable energy loss exceeds the energy

consumed. The cost to the organisation,

the environment and the country is huge.

In addition, plant in this inefficient state

requires more maintenance and is less

reliable.

So – the quick wins we are looking

for lie right here.

Think thermography

to detect faulty

steam traps, heat loss to defective or

inadequate lagging, overheated bearings,

motors with bad cores, heat loss and

leaks in buildings.

Think ultrasonic detectors

to locate and

quantify compressed air, gas and steam

loss to leaks and faulty traps, passing

process valves, cavitating pumps, over

lubricated bearings and more.

Most findings in the above categories

are associated with quick, easy and low

discovery costs. Similarly the corrective

interventions are usually simple and low

cost, yet yield significant benefits. These

are quick wins that will easily earn rec-

ognition and support by rapidly helping

your organisation’s bottom line.

These two technologies are so well

suited to finding low hanging fruit be-

cause of their versatility. Look for this

when evaluating your starting point and

consider both plant health and perfor-

mance. With many strings to your bow

you are a lot more likely to hit a target

that will add value and put you on a

sound footing.