Condation Monitoring

7/28/2019 Condation Monitoring

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Snsrd by:

ConditionMonitoring

IN ThIS RepoRT:

Six steps to condition-based maintenance

Bolster your condition monitoring toolbox

Protect your condition-monitoring program from the recession guillotineGo beyond condition monitoring


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that some temperature is within an acceptable

range. I the temperature rises above the upper

limit, a control loop can activate a an to coolthe overheated area until the temperature re-

turns to an acceptable range.

This is clearly superior to a condition-mon-

itoring system that merely alerts a human that

the temperature was too high. Its then up to

the human to eliminate the variance condition

eectively and eciently.

However, it isnt always possible to deter-

mine the root cause o a variance automati-

cally. Nor is it always possible or cost-eective

to take automatic action. In such cases, humanintervention is desirable, making a condition-

monitoring system preerable over an automat-

ed control system.

For example, when a sensor detects a machine

vibration level above the upper control limit by a

user-dened amount or a user-dened period, it

can initiate an alarm condition. A human might

be required to determine the many possible root

causes o excessive vibration, such as operator

error, raw material problems, jammed parts, ma-

chine wear and so on. A human might also be re-quired to determine the most appropriate correc-

tive action. Thereore, its impractical to automate

the root-cause detection and subsequent control

loop to x the problem.

Six giant steps

There are many permutations and combinations

to evaluate when trying to select and prioritize

the conditions to monitor, how oten, or which

components, leading to what actions. Many com-

panies have spent considerable time and money

on internal and external resources to make these

determinations, and some have been rustrated to

the point o abandoning the exercise.

To make the process less onerous, prioritize

the assets or which CBM might make sense

based on what happens when an asset or com-ponent fails. If the consequences of failure are

catastrophic (large loss o production, major

saety risk), then CBM might be appropriate.

Compare the cost o ailure or use-based main-

tenance with CBM or a given asset, and actor

in the approximate value o the asset ailing to

prioritize candidate CBM assets. Apply the six

steps below to your prioritized short-list o as-

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sets and components. The example provided is

or a cooling water system where out-o-rangewater temperature may have catastrophic con-

sequences.

1. Determine operating context for the asset

being analyzed (cooling water system is to

maintain water between 40F and 45F).

2. Dene the assets functions (maintain water

temperature and contain water in the tank).

3. Assess possible ailures (water too hot or

too cold).

4. Identiy possible ailure modes or root

causes (heat exchanger ouled, valveclosed, pump bearing atigued).

5. Determine the most probable failure ef-

ects or each ailure mode (inecient

heat exchanger results in higher util-

ity cost, extra cooling tower sections in

operation, eventual inability to deliver

quality parts).

6. Propose an appropriate maintenance

task or each ailure mode using ailure

history, probability and costs to compare

nancial and technical easibility o cor-rective, preventive or predictive actions

(monitor heat exchanger eciency).

I CBM is the most cost-eective solution,

select one or more condition indicators and

dene the frequency of data capture, the con-

trol limits, the business rules or triggering an

alarm, and the action(s) to be taken or each

indicator. Actions can range rom an auto-

mated control loop, to sending a page to an

area mechanic.

Advanced CBM eatures on a CMMS

Search or a CMMS package that supports CBM

and youll nd a variety o eatures. At a mini-

mum, look or the basics such as the ability to es-

tablish upper and lower control limits that trigger

an alarm, and notication or simple workfow to

initiate a task when a trigger occurs. More sophis-

ticated eatures include

Multiple indicators per asset.

Trigger from one indicator resets all other

triggers or a given asset.

Nesting of triggers with different cycles (cy-

cle A is a 10-point inspection and cycle B =

cycle A plus an additional inspection; as op-

posed to procedure A = 10-point inspectionand procedure B = 11-point inspection).

Combining indicators using Boolean logic to

produce consolidated or alternate indicators.

Recommending corrective action based on

condition, i.e., using indicators, Boolean

logic and/or setpoints (e.g., oil analysis re-

veals gas, particulate or temperature trends

that necessitate a given PM work request).

Triggering a PM routine on a preferred

day or date i the meter reading is within

tolerance. Forecasting when the next meter reading

should occur based on historical readings.

PM shadowing to avoid duplicate PMs.

Overriding or taking credit for corrective

work that covers PM work due, to avoid

duplication.

Validating readings with a user-dened

validation ormula.

Color-coded alarm tables for indicators.

Graphic showing component hierarchy

and corresponding indicators. Hot spots on the graphic for drill-down to

details about indicators.

Visibly distinguished conditions and alarms

on the graphic (blinking, color change).

Acknowledging alarms or conditions eas-

ily rom within the graphic screen.

Entering a new condition easily from

within the graphic screen.

Dynamic integration of production activity

with equipment and component hierarchy

on the graphic screen (issue inspection workorder to check out root cause o production

line slowdown or pressure drop in vessel).

Trigger based on calculation of the history

o condition readings (average, average

variance, sum, median, max or min o last

10 readings must be within certain con-

trol limits).

Using data from anywhere in the CMMS

database to establish a trigger (when ul-

trasonic reading is greater than the nomi-

nal wall thickness by a given actor).

By David Berger, P.Eng.

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BolSter your condition

monitoring toolboXTake advantage o a variety o techniques to increase equipment uptime.


Global competitive pressures have increaseddemands to keep plants running better, lon-ger and more cost eectively by reducing unsched-

uled downtime and boosting uptime or machin-

ery assets. Much o the responsibility to optimize

asset eciency alls on maintenance stas.Yetthey ace numerous challenges in achieving the

goal. For a variety o reasons personnel may not

be able to ollow precision maintenance practices

to the letter; equipment maintenance is becoming

more complicated; and environmental and saety

laws have grown stricter.

The result has been sustained interest in

proactive maintenance programs to help

achieve equipment reliability objectives. Con-

dition Monitoring (CM) can play a crucial

role in proactive maintenance.CM involves regularly measuring physical pa-

rameters such as vibration, noise, lubricant prop-

erties and temperature via non-invasive methods,

usually during normal operation of equipment.

CM makes it possible to detect machine and com-

ponent problems beore they can result in unex-

pected downtime and the high costs associated

with interruptions in production.

CM ultimately can serve as a platorm or im-

plementing a condition-based maintenance pro-

gram scheduling maintenance, inspection and

overhaul based on machine condition instead o

the calendar. The goal is to trend and analyze

data to identiy troublesome conditions and

detect early stages o component degradation.

Then, remedial action can be taken to prevent

ailures and reduce unanticipated downtime.

Many plants already rely on some CM meth-

ods, particularly overall vibration monitoring

and lubricant analysis. However, the CM tool-

box also includes under-appreciated techniques

such as time domain analysis and bump testing.

So, well look at what various methods involve

and the insights they provide.

The sidebar gives some pointers or makingthe most of these techniques. They (and others)

can help promote successul CM programs.

Overall vibration

Vibration can be dened as the behavior o a

machines mechanical components in response to

internal or external orces. Because most rotating-

equipment problems cause excessive vibration,

this operating parameter generally is considered

the best to initially assess a machines condition.

Vibration monitoring can detect ault conditionssuch as imbalance, misalignment, rolling bear-

ing degradation, mechanical looseness, structural

resonance and sot oundation.

When analyzing vibration, frequency and

amplitude o the signal should be evaluated.

The frequency at which the vibration oc-

curs indicates the type o ault (certain types o

faults typically occur at certain frequencies). By

establishing the frequency, a clearer picture can

emerge regarding cause.

Amplitude typically determines the severityo the ault (the higher the amplitude, the high-

er the vibration and the bigger the problem).

Amplitude depends on the size o the machine

and must be considered relative to the vibration

level of the fully functioning equipment.

A typical starting point is to trend a machines

overall vibration level. This is the total vibration

energy measured within a specic frequency range.
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In the case o a rotor, or example, the overall vi-

bration would be measured and then comparedwith its normal value to assess any inconsistencies.

A higher-than-normal overall vibration reading

would indicate that something is aecting the

rotor. Further analysis can identiy the actual cause.

Hand-held units such as low-cost vibration

pens (Figure 1), overall vibration meters or more

sophisticated portable data collectors (Figure 2)

and related instruments combining compact size

with data storage capabilities make data collec-

tion for overall vibration analysis easy. Other

options include online surveillance systems toperorm round-the-clock monitoring o machin-

ery, regardless of equipment location. This type

o technology has been highly engineered to col-

lect data continuously (or at a predetermined

data-collection frequency) from permanently in-

stalled sensors. Findings then are transmitted to

a host computer for subsequent analysis.

FFT spectrum analysis

Among methods or viewing vibration and

noise signals and pinpointing the causes, a Fast

Fourier Transorm (FFT) spectrum is perhaps

the most useul. Vibration and noise signals

are broken down into specic amplitudes at

various frequencies. Because each equipmentcomponent vibrates at a certain individual

rate, maintenance personnel by processing

these signals can distinguish between several

dierent rates and then determine which rate

coincides with which component. The result-

ing FFT spectrum can point the way to the lo-

cation, cause and stage o a problem.

User-friendly FFT analyzers have been devel-

oped to measure vibration and noise signals and

separate them into their component frequencies.

These tools can display spectrum inormation insimplied ormats to enable a rst-pass diagno-

sis o machinery condition or identiy areas or

urther scrutiny (Figure 3). The placement o

FFT analyzer sensors, setup, and the process o

taking measurements can be perormed without

taking machines out o service.

Time domain (or time waveorm) signals oer

one o the ew methods to detect certain types o

problems. Time domain analysis also can bolster

condence that data in the frequency spectrum

have been properly interpreted; in some instances,it can help conrm a particular problem that sim-

ply may have been a best guess scenario.

Time domain is the actual data received rom

machinery and urther processed through Fouri-

er Transform to arrive at the frequency domain.

This allows personnel to discern actual frequen-

cies and amplitudes o components within a ma-

chine and helps target components that may be

ailing or aulty processes that could have gone

undetected until machinery ailure.

In general, the time domain is a record oevents as they happen and is very similar to look-

ing at recorded sound. A sine wave produced

by a signal generator in the lab would appear

in the time domain spectrum just as it does on

the screen o an oscilloscope. In the real world,

though, complications arise because a machine

doesnt produce a solitary signal. Thats where a

time domain signal shines.

For example, an operating motor connected

to a gearbox and then to a compressor produces

thousands or millions o signals that add and

subtract to and rom each other based upon their

relationships and the infuence o external orces.


Figure 1. This small hand-held monitoring tool provides a conve-

nient means to collect data on overall vibration.

Figure 2. Portable unit stores and analyzes data which also can be

uploaded to a computer or more detailed analysis.


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All ultimately can be separated and discerned

rom a time domain signal.

The need or time domain data is absolutelymandatory or some applications. These include

cracked, broken or deormed gear teeth in gear-

boxes; rolling bearing deects on very-low-speed

(less than 10 rpm) machines; motor startup tran-

sient issues resulting in bearing deterioration and

winding problems; and, or reciprocating com-

pressors, short-lived impact-type vibration con-

cerns, such as piston slap, main bearings and inlet

or discharge valve problems.

Bump testingOne of the generally under-appreciated CM tech-

niques involves a bump (or rap) test. It can pro-

vide operators with a quick indication of whether

high levels o vibration or noise are due to the

dynamic or static parts o a system. This impact

test is carried out to excite the structure to allow

measurement of natural frequencies, which then

can determine whether high vibration or noise

levels are due to resonance or a potential problem

with the machinery.

A bump test, unlike most other CM methods,requires that the machine be switched off. An ac-

celerometer is placed on the part o the structure

suspected of causing signicant resonant frequen-

cies. The most likely sources o these will involve

parts (such as an guards, thin panels and pipe

work) that ring or a long time ater being hit.

The structure is repeatedly but gently hit;

during these impacts a measurement rom the

accelerometer records the responding ring. Its

frequency content then is compared with norms.

By identifying a shift in the natural frequency,

bump tests can help detect mechanical aults such

as cracking in metallic components. (Cracked or

poorly bonded structures will exhibit less stiness,

resulting in a change in natural frequency.) The

test also can identiy weak or unstable structures.

Lubricant analysis

Lubricants represent vital sources o inorma-

tion ready to be unlocked and evaluated as part

o a CM program. Results enable operators to

conrm use o the proper lubricant, prevent po-

tential over- or under-lubrication, track lubricant

use and waste, raise ags about quality (includ-

ing inorganic contamination, debris rom wear

or lubricant degradation), and contribute to thedesired cleanliness and optimized perormance

o machines and systems.

Lubricant analysis can satisy two primary

objectives: detecting a problem and diagnosing

its source. Many lubricant suppliers oten provide

basic lubricant analysis as an added-value service

or using their lubricants. However, the analysis

only may conrm that the lubricant meets speci-

cations and oer little inormation regarding

machinery health. For this reason, one o the rst

steps in establishing an analysis program or lu-bricants is to identiy the lubricant testing tech-

nology employed to make analytical assessments.

While laboratory analysis o lubricants can

play an important role in managing machinery

assets more eectively, the good news is that not

all testing has to be perormed in a laboratory.

Many o the important characteristics o work-

ing lubricants can be examined visually or with

the aid o very simple tools.

For example, you can check clarity and water

contamination with a standing sample. A mag-

Figure 3. Particular peaks relate to specifc equipment compo-

nents, enabling pinpointing o causes o vibration and noise.
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net drawn up the side o a glass jar containing

lubricant diluted with a solvent can detect er-rous materials (lings and metal dust). A bulls

eye sight glass can show fow and discoloration.

Simple in-plant tools enable viscosity monitor-

ing. These are good day-to-day observations.

On a broader and more in-depth scale, you

should routinely evaluate several critical ma-

chine and lubricant parameters including ma-

chinery wear particles, contamination, and lu-

bricant or additive degradation.

Truly meaningul lubricant analysis programs

encompass testing a wide range o parametersusing a variety o methods. Some o the more

common test areas are:

Color and appearance. Regularly check

these characteristics. For oils too dark or

eective appraisal, reduce the volume o oil

to a constant depth or proper observation.

Viscosity. Oils found to be outside specica-

tion always are considered abnormal. How-

ever, a change within a grade also can be a

sign o trouble. Watch or changes o 10%

rom new oil. Base number. Compare the alkalinity val-

ues (base number) o the used diesel engine

oil to new oil. As a general rule, change oilwhen the alkalinity value o the used oil is

50% o the new oil.

Acid number. Acidity varies in new unused

lubricating oils based on the concentration

o antiwear (AW), antiscu (EP) or rust ad-

ditives. Increases above the new oil reerence

indicate oil degradation. Lubricants having

additives such as zinc dithiophosphate and

EP generally exhibit higher acidity than those

containing only rust and oxidation additives.

Emulsion. Water separability testing is pri-marily used to evaluate steam turbine, hy-

draulic and circulating oils susceptible to

high water contamination.

Foam. In systems where oam is per-

ceived to be a problem, perorm a oam

test to conrm whether the lube oil is the

source. I the oil isnt the problem, turn

your attention to other infuencing pa-

rameters (mechanical or operational) to

resolve the issue.

By Scott Brady, SKF Condition Monitoring

These are cost-cutting times. A recessionaryperiod is partially dened as a time whensupply outweighs demand; when we are produc-

ing more products than people wish to buy. De-

pending on the industry, this might not be the ap-

propriate time to discuss availability, uptime and

overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), or how

we can reduce yearly downtime by a percentage

point in order to eke out some additional product.

These are times o slowdowns, layos and plant

closures when we reconcile our overcapacity or

production and try to keep our doors open until

demand picks up again.

Wherever you nd yoursel in the spectrum,

one thing is for certain: Dont think you are cut-

ting costs by cutting back on condition-based

maintenance programs or other intelligent as-

set-management strategies. Quite the contrary.

protect your condition-Monitoring

Program from the

recession guillotine:Cutting back on intelligence and efcient approaches to managing your assets is never a good idea. In

act, more intelligence and efciency is always better, especially when times are tough.


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Intelligent maintenance not only increases e-

ciency when the mantra is Produce! Produce!

Produce! It also saves money when things slowdown. Cutting back on personnel might be nec-

essary and outsourcing some o these unctions

might be the best option, but cutting back on in-

telligence and ecient approaches to managing

your assets is never a good idea. In act, more

intelligence and eciency is always better, espe-

cially when times are tough.

Lets do a quick experiment to prove the

point. Imagine an airline is going through di-

cult times and decides to cut back on main-

tenance to save some money. What will likelyhappen? Perhaps nothing will happen or some

time, but eventually we can guess the airline will

begin to lose track o its assets (knowledge o

the mechanical condition o the planes) and, in a

best-case scenario, only reliability will suer. At

some point, it is going to cost a lot o time and

money to regain control o the situation; more

than was saved by shortsighted cuts. When busi-

ness does eventually pick up, the planes will start

breaking down and then the airline will nd that

it cannot meet demand. This recession will notlast forever and, therefore, the question becomes

not only how companies survive, but where do

they want to be when it is over?

In his book The 7 Habits o Highly Eective

People, Stephen Covey talks about the habit o

sharpening the saw. He suggests that i a saw

mill wishes to cut as much wood as possible, it

will be more successul i it stops every once in a

while to sharpen the saw. Just as ones immediate

inclination would be to cut, cut, cut i the goal is

to cut more wood, the common business prac-

tice o eliminating programs, laying people o

and stopping intelligent work when a slow time

hits are wrong. A slowdown is an opportunity to

sharpen the saw and to look or smarter and

more ecient ways o running the plant; to slim

down and shape up so that you are ready to run

when the race begins again.

A slowdown in demand is the right time to

invest in greater eciencies, to streamline main-

tenance practices and procedures and to remove

unnecessary maintenance actions through bet-ter understanding o the condition o the assets.

These goals can be achieved by adopting condi-

tion-based maintenance practices. I you dont

have the in-house expertise to carry this out, ask

for help. Outsourcing is an efciency a plant can

take advantage o, especially as it allows one to

cut back on payroll when times are tough and use

manpower only as needed. As the baby boomer

generation begins to retire and the industry begins

losing in-house experts, there will be even more

incentive to take advantage o outside expertise,automation and remote monitoring.

Intelligent maintenance practices which in-

clude predictive maintenance technologies such

as vibration analysis, precision balancing and

alignment, oil analysis, IR thermography and ul-

trasound, intelligent lubrication management

regimens, process monitoring, root cause ailure

analysis and reliability techniques are money-

saving eciencies, not expenses. Why would some

choose to cut these programs in hard times instead

of embrace them? One answer is that not enoughhas been done to actually calculate the positive eco-

nomic eect these programs have had on the plant.

One goal of condition monitoring is to re-

duce the number o unplanned maintenance

actions in the plant. Unplanned maintenance

actions negatively eect production schedules

and might cause injuries, accidents and col-

lateral damage. When a plant has successully

implemented a condition-monitoring program,

the expectation is that the number o instances

o these unplanned ailures is reduced. This is aairly easy thing to track and measure. There are

a number o other ways to measure the eect o

intelligent maintenance regimens on the plants

bottom line, but ailure to actually measure and

document these positive results can oten result

in a good program getting cut.

An economic downturn is an opportunity to

step back, review internal processes and proce-
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In todays environment, chemicals makersace ongoing pressure to operate saely andreliably at the lowest possible cost. Most com-

panies have adopted condition monitoringtechnologies as a key approach to improve the

availability and reliability of process equipment

and to proactively avoid downtime.

While these condition monitoring solutions

are providing solid value or most plants, un-

planned outages continue to be an issue, signi-

cantly impacting nancial perormance through

lost production and extra repair costs.

So, in this article, well explore the underlying

challenges and introduce the concept o con-

dition management an enhanced approach

that helps companies reap the ull benet rom

their condition monitoring investments. Well

also discuss how to get started in condition

management, looking at both business and

technical considerations.

Building upon a baseline

For years plants have tracked the health o key

equipment. Sites generally have focused on a

relatively limited deployment o specic moni-

toring technologies aimed at protecting critical

assets primarily large rotating equipment.

This has become simpler with the widespread

availability o highly capable eldbus-enabled

monitoring tools, e.g., or vibration, tempera-

ture, pressure, corrosion and fuid analysis.

Now, the advent o intelligent eld devices

and sensors as well as low-cost wireless unitsthat can be deployed into areas where hard wir-

ing would have been cost-prohibitive is extend-

ing these base capabilities and the data they

provide.

Unfortunately, plants arent enjoying the full

potential o the data or three reasons:

1. The ocus o condition monitoring deploy-

ments is too narrow. Sites need to instru-

ment a wider range o assets, so manage-

ment can look beyond specic equipment

to entire process areas or complex asset

sets such as heat exchangers, dryers and

other plant units.

2. The volume o data available now is huge

and will continue to grow exponentially.

This creates a signicant knowledge man-

agement challenge around making sense

o the data. Exacerbating the problem,

the aging workorce means that plants are

losing more and more people with critical

operational experience, knowledge and

interpretive skills.

3. Many companies still have operational

silos. Plant personnel arent collaborating


go Beyondcondition monitoring

Despite condition monitoring, unplanned outages continue to be an issue, signifcantly impactingfnancial perormance through lost production and extra repair costs.

dures, engage outside experts and improve the

plants overall operations. As distant as it may

seem, you must keep long-term goals in minddespite todays troubled times. When the reces-

sion is over, you will need to be ready to compete,

not be bogged down by accidents and reliability

problems caused by shortsighted cuts in mainte-

nance. When surveying current plant practices

and beeng up or implementing intelligent main-

tenance strategies, it is important to consider the

positive economic eect o these programs and

develop metrics to measure your success or ail-

ure. One simple measurement, but certainly notthe only one, is the relative number o planned to

unplanned maintenance actions. In any case, good

programs oten get cut i metrics are not in place

to justiy them. Now is the time to sharpen the

saw and to measure how sharp it is to see how this

improves the plants bottom line.

By Jonathan Hakim


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to detect, manage and analyze emerging

issues. The net result is continued outag-

es, even when the underlying condition ortrend had been correctly detected.

Condition management defned

Addressing this set of challenges requires an

enhanced, more holistic approach condition

management. Under this approach, the vast ar-

ray o condition data is the entry point to a ve-

step process where the data are:

1. aggregated and rationalized;

2. combined to create context and support

proper analysis;3. clearly presented and communicated;

4. systematically managed to ensure the

timely, accurate, consistent and eective

resolution o the underlying issues; and

5. used as input to an ongoing continuous

improvement process.

The rst three elements are aimed at turning

the data into inormation, changing the condi-

tion inormation rom noise in the eyes o op-

erations personnel into useul decision support

intelligence or all personnel.The aggregation and rationalization also

need to address the varying types o data, the

time element (real-time, near-time and ofine)

as well as the various access and communica-

tion methods utilized by vendors.

Once the data are turned into properly con-

textualized and actionable inormation, its

critical to manage the use o the inormation.

It comes back to the undamental dierence

between condition monitoring and condition

management. Condition management inorma-tion helps unlock the useulness o the condi-

tion data by:

driving the appropriate workow/process-

es to resolve the issue(s), bringing together

the key personnel across operational disci-

plines (engineering, maintenance, control,

saety, etc.).

. providing input to an ongoing knowledge

management process where new situa-

tions and their appropriate resolution are

systematically captured and documented.Further, condition management supports Six

Sigma or Lean Sigma initiatives by supplying

input or an ongoing process where the knowl-

edge base is regularly reviewed and rened.

A telling example

A leading specialty chemicals maker discovered

the value o the approach but only ater a se-

rious incident. The process uses a signicant

amount o power, so the company operates

a 300-MW captive power plant. The site haddeployed condition monitoring tools on assets

there vibration, rpm, and amperage on the

pumps in the cooling towers, the manuactur-

ers monitoring tools on the turbine, and as-

sorted fow and temperature meters throughout

the cooling system.

When the primary pump in the cooling tow-

er ailed, the control system initiated a cutover
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to a back-up pump and then cleared the alarm.

An operator entered the occurrence in the log,

where the required follow-up was to have

maintenance sta repair the primary pump.

Shortly ater this initial incident, the operator

started receiving alarms that the temperatures

in the cooling system were driting out o range,

coupled with pressure warnings. Assuming that

this was a storm created by the cutover to the

back-up pump, the operator acknowledged and

cleared the alarm set.Close on the heels o this second set o indi-

cations, the turbine monitoring system fagged

a signicant temperature variance and recom-

mended an immediate shutdown. Again, on the

assumption that this was a blip caused by the

cutover, the operator cleared the alarm.

Ater two minutes, which was the dened

re-alarm time, the turbine monitoring system

reported dangerously high temperatures and

again recommended a shutdown. This time, the

operator (per the written procedures) contacted

the plant manager, who gave approval to pro-ceed with the shutdown.

This caused a production outage that im-

pacted delivery o a critical intermediate to one

o the companys key customers. Further, the se-

quence of events and the elapsed time from ini-

tial warnings to shutdown resulted in extreme

temperatures within the turbine. This led to sig-

nicant damage, necessitating the replacement

o its main bearings.

The root cause turned out to be that back-

up pump had not come online as expected. Indoing the situation analysis, the company dis-

covered a number o specic issues:

1. The back-up pump wasnt instrumented

in the same manner as the primary one,

so there wasnt any critical warning to the

operator.

2. Condition inormation or the primary

pump and the back-up pump werent

linked.

3. The pump, temperature/pressure and tur-

bine data werent connected. Each washandled discretely by the operator in sep-

arate areas o the human/machine inter-

ace (HMI); the combined elapsed time in

dealing with the discrete events exceeded

the sae shutdown point or the turbine.

4. No automated communication alerted

maintenance, engineering or plant man-

agement to the developing issue.

5. The operator didnt have any way o see-

ing the maintenance status o the primary

assets including the pumps this wouldhave shown that the back-up pump had a

pending inspection because o previously

reported issues.

Looking at this real-lie example in its en-

tirety, no particular action or practice alone

could be blamed. Instead, the situation arose

because o the lack o context and ineective

use (i.e., management) o available inormation.

The oundation or success

As the example underlines, eective condition

management must address all o the elements

together. Specically this means:

Figure 1. Success depends upon properly using wide variety o

inputs rom all plant levels.

Figure 2. In CALM, the operate/maintain stage oers the largest

portion o return-on-asset improvement. Source: ARC


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collecting the right data (condition, pro-

cess area and system);

gathering the complete set of data neces-sary to provide the context needed to ac-

curately assess an issue and its impact;

automating the response, including actions

and escalations; and

enforcing the post-event analysis and con-

tinuous improvement process.

Moving to condition management is ulti-

mately a knowledge management challenge.

In many companies, such a move requires a

change in both technical and business process

practices. This challenge is manageable butrms need to be committed to the change in

approach and need the discipline to eectively

implement and sustain it.

The process has to include the use o sup-

porting tools and technologies that allow the

capture o the institutional knowledge cur-

rently existing in plant personnel across all the

disciplines.

Condition management undamentally is a

closed-loop model with our main elements

collect, analyze, act and optimize. This modelprovides the ramework or translating the

business needs into a solution architecture or a

plant. Figure 1 shows the relationships among

these elements, starting at the process measure-

ment level through decision support and eed-

ing back to the process.

Getting started

As with any change process, its critical to under-

stand the starting point. This demands taking a

hard look at several areas and asking some tough

questions:

Culture. Does the company understand

that there are issues and that theres inherent

and signicant value in resolving them? As a

simple test, can people articulate the impact or

cost o an unplanned outage? Is the company

really willing and ready to change? Eective

condition management will include changes to

business processes and roles, so these points are

undamental.

Business processes. Are the rms processes

documented? Have they recently been validated

or benchmarked against others in the industry

and best practices? In many cases, simple pro-

cess enhancements or better communication

can deliver signicant perormance improve-ments. Dont apply technology without this

process baseline. Note in particular that a or-

mal approach based on root-cause analysis and

including continuous improvement eorts is a

fundamental requirement.

At a broader level check whether a ormal

liecycle management program is in place. A

recent survey conducted by the ARC Advisory

Group found that companies that had adopted

such a program had a signicantly better return

on assets than those that hadnt. The researchalso indicated that the largest portion o the

gains come rom properly managing the op-

erate and maintain stages o the liecycle. Its

precisely here where condition management is

a key enabler o improvements. The ARC lie-

cycle model, (Figure 2) shows the relationship

between plant asset management (PAM) and an

asset liecycle management scheme.

Corporate knowledge. Does the company

have a knowledge management process or

tools? Whats the current state o the workorce? Is a retirement bubble coming up that

necessitates immediate action? Does the com-

pany really know where the necessary knowl-

edge resides?

Skill base. Does the rm have the essential

expertise in areas such as reliability-centered

or condition-based maintenance, optimization,

advanced process control (APC), and condition

monitoring and analysis?

Technology base. To ully achieve the prom-

ise o condition management, a wide range o
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technologies both in the plant and at the cor-

porate level need to come together (Figure 3).

So, engineers, planners and managers

need to work together and ask themselves a

series of technology questions that focus on

ive key areas.

1. The state o the core automation systems.

Is the distributed control system current?

Is the plant using a digital eldbus withintelligent devices, traditional 420-mA

analog or both? This will impact what

data are available and how to access them.

Its important to understand that the plant

doesnt need to be state o the art. Many new

analytic tools can iner conditions rom the

simple data points that are being collected as

part o the control strategy.

Its also crucial not to conuse alarm man-

agement with condition management. Alarm

management plays a critical role in dealing withthe huge number o discrete input/output points

that are part o the control strategy, working in

real time at a discrete level. Condition manage-

ment complements alarm management by per-

orming the advanced analytics that warn o a

developing issue long beore it becomes a pro-

cess or system alarm or alarm storm.

2. The current level o condition monitor-

ing. What instrumentation is in place?

Which assets are addressed? What data

can these current tools provide? How arethe data currently used? What tools are

being used? What processes are in place

to deal with the issues identied? Is there

any automation o these processes?

Find out i the inormation already being

gathered is handled in systematic or automated

ashion and moves across departmental bound-

aries. One of the major values of condition

management is making inormation useul be-

yond the realm o the collection point or device

putting it in a broader context.3. The current level o APC and process opti-

mization. Is the company using such solu-

tions? These models can play a key role in

identiying and understanding the depen-

dencies and context or the condition data.

4. Integration inrastructure. Does the rm

have a standardized way or integrating

applications at the plant level, applica-

tions at the business level and among

plant and business applications? This will

be critical or gathering the condition in-ormation at the plant level and then driv-

ing the workfow necessary to resolve is-

sues. For example, i a critical condition

is recognized, automated workfow tools

should page or email the key personnel,

automatically trigger the necessary work

requests or work orders to the mainte-

nance team and update the necessary

HMIs and management dashboards.

5. Business intelligence. Is there an integrated

measurement system as well as a vehicle to

deliver the inormation across the compa-

ny? The vehicle most commonly employed

Figure 3. Plant- and corporate-level technologies need to come

together eectively.

Figure 4. Such a graphical display can oten serve as the vehicle

or delivering inormation.


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is some orm o portal or dashboard solu-

tion such as the one shown in Figure 4.

The next steps

The analysis that establishes the oundation or

starting point is the most important step in the path

to condition management. It is a comprehensive e-

ort that brings inormation and, importantly, peo-

ple, together. It also provides the groundwork or

setting priorities and expectations and or under-

standing the implications on processes and roles.

With the oundation eort complete, a com-

pany can better see the possibilities or value

and improvement, determine risk/reward andidentiy which parts o condition management

can be implemented rst. The success o initial

low-risk/high-reward projects, in turn, can und

an ongoing program.

Many chemical makers can gather the inor-

mation or a condition management baseline

rom within. This valuable eort can enable

them to more clearly understand their resourc-

es, processes, limitations and options.However, the subsequent steps can be com-

plex and likely will involve the assistance o a

technology partner amiliar with the tools and

solutions required for a condition management

architecture, not just condition monitoring.

Condition management is an over-arching

solution that makes use o the mountains o

data generated by individual condition mon-

itoring systems. It combines, rationalizes,

presents and communicates decision sup-

port inormation eectively. It truly can helpmanagement identiy the actions and prac-

tices needed to get ull beneit rom moni-

toring investments and, in turn, optimize the

return rom plant asset investments.

By Neil Cooper, Invensys Process Systems

Mining For Money through energy

monitoring and management

Ive always been interested in the connection

between reliability management and other unc-

tional responsibilities within a manuacturing

organization, such as quality and safety. Clear-

ly, reliable manuacturing processes improve

quality, one of the three primary elements of

overall equipment/business effectiveness (OEE/

OBE). Also, when manufacturing processes are

reliable and predictable, there is less chance or

injury. Lately, Ive been giving much thought to

the relationship between reliability and energy

management. In my opinion, there is a close

connection - one that is worth exploring.

Monitoring and managing energy consump-

tion is good or the organization and good or

the environment. Its a win all the way around.

In the United States, 30% to 40% of the elec-

tricity we generate is required to power in-

dustrial electric motors! Even a small energy-

eciency gain can signicantly increase the

aggregated demand or power, reducing capital

expenditure to build more power plants and

the consumption o ossil uels and associated

emissions. For your rm, spending less on en-

ergy translates into real dollar savings. Plus, by

reducing strain, wear and tear on your machine

assets, manuacturing reliability is improved,

creating even more value or your organization.

Outline o Benefts

Over the life cycle of a machine asset that sup-

ports manuacturing processes, energy consumed
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is frequently the largest expense. Some aspects of

the cost to energize a machine cant be controlled,

but some can.Lets look at the economics o energizing a

200-horsepower electric motor. Assuming a load

actor o 80% and a modest energy cost o $0.06

per kilowatt hour (kWh), it requires more than

$57,000 each year to power the motor, assum-

ing an 8,000-hour operating year (Figure 1). A

quick scan of the Web revealed that the price for

a three-phase, 460-volt electric motor is in the

$5,000 to $8,000 range. Im sure there are mo-

tors that cost more or less, but the point is that

the cost to energize the electric motor is about100 times its purchase price, assuming a 10-year

lie. Carving 5% to 10% o o this cost can pro-

oundly aect the bottom line.

In my example, a 10% improvement in en-

ergy eciency drives an extra $5,700 to the

bottom line - and thats or a single, garden-

variety 200 hp electric motor! How do you get

this savings? Ive listed a ew items or you to

consider. Some have direct, positive eects on

operational reliability in addition to the obvi-

ous energy cost savings.1) Select high-efciency motors compar-

ing brand-to-brand perormance. High-

eciency motors cost more money up

front. Dont be lulled into accepting the

up-ront savings. Assuming a regular-

eciency electric motor costs $5,000 at

purchase and uses 10% more energy than

a high-eciency motor, you could spend

up to $60,000 on a high-eciency mo-

tor and still be ahead money in terms o

the economic rate o return over the 10-

year lie cycle o the asset (assuming an

8,000-hour operating year). Paying a 50%

up-ront premium or a high-eciency

electric motor yields an internal rate o

return of 229%. Thats the equivalent of

nding a bank that will pay you 229%

interest annually on your deposits. A 5%

energy eciency or which you must pay

a 50% price premium up ront still yields

a 115 % internal rate o return. Youll be

hard-pressed not to justiy this investment

i youre employing decision-making tools

based on lie cycle cost.

2) Design drivetrains or energy efciency.Fail-

ure to consider energy losses in mechanical

drivetrain decisions can signicantly aect

your overall energy bill or an asset. Sure,we want motors to be ecient, but improv-

ing the eciency o the driver is only hal

the battle. We need to manage the eciency

o the driven components, too. Selecting en-

ergy-ecient gearbox and coupling designs,

or instance, can substantially aect the to-

tal energy bill. Apply the precision balance,

alignment, looseness, resonance and lubri-

cation principles discussed in points 6 and 7

to the entire drivetrain.

3) Manage electrical system integrity. I yourmotor control center (MCC) has bad con-

nections, degraded or undersized wiring,

or shorts, energy eciency will be compro-

mised. I circuits run hot or become hot,

energy isnt being carried eciently. More-

over, the reliability o the MCC and (in

some cases) the motor itsel can be compro-

mised. In the case o stray current, the high

buildup o potential also can lead to electri-

cal discharge erosion, a wear mechanism o-

ten reerred to as futing. Here again, theloss o energy compromises reliability.

4) Operate in ideal load range. Using our

electric motor example, operating above

or below its rated load range produces

poor energy eciency and decreases reli-

ability. For most electric motors, energy

eciency degrades precipitously when the

motor is operated at less than 40 percent

o its rated load.

5) Make optimized rebuild/replace decisions.

When an asset wears out, it gets loose and

sloppy, which o course results in energy

waste. Getting that last few days, weeks


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C o v e r S t o r y

or months o service may be costing you

dearly in terms o energy eciency.

6) Manage balance, alignment, looseness andresonance. Imbalance, misalignment, loose-

ness and resonance all generate mechanical

riction. It takes power to create riction

which converts electrical energy into ther-

mal energy - and you have to pay or it. In

some instances, riction is desirable. When

its caused by lack o precision in managing

balance, misalignment, looseness and reso-

nance, youre literally paying or the energy

required to increase wear and reduce the re-

liability o your machines. Precision main-tenance pays o, both in terms o reliability

and in energy management.

7) Employ precision lubrication. Improper

selection o lubricant viscosity can sig-

nicantly aect both energy consumption

and reliability. I the viscosity is too low,

surace-to-surace riction occurs. I the

viscosity is too high, viscous drag results.

Both waste energy. A common mistake is

to employ multi-purpose grease in elec-

tric motors. The viscosity o this grease istypically around 320 centistokes at 40C.

Most electric motors require grease that

is ormulated using base oil with a viscos-

ity o 100 to 150 cSt at 40C. The extra

viscosity reduces energy eciency and

compromises the motors reliability. Like-

wise, motors frequently are over-greased,

urther compromising energy eciency

and reliability.

8) Monitor energy consumption. Changes in

asset condition are frequently revealed with

energy monitoring. We traditionally have

employed vibration analysis, thermogra-

phy and other condition monitoring tools

to identiy and troubleshoot abnormal asset

conditions. By denition, i a machine starts

vibrating or getting hotter, it is using more

energy or converting energy with reduced

eciency, so monitoring energy eciency

is a natural condition monitoring activity.

Moreover, it is comparatively easy to do

and can be done on a continuous basis. En-

ergy monitoring also enables you to com-

pare the efciency of various equipment

and component designs, helping you make

better design and procurement decisions

that minimize lie cycle cost o ownershipand maximize return on net assets (RONA).

Its Worth the Energy

Monitoring and managing energy consumption

is a slam dunk. Gaining just 5% improvement

can translate to considerable savings or your or-

ganization. I youre mismanaging several o the

above-named actors, 10%, 15% or more im-

provement may be possible. Because this wasted

energy is frequently converted to heat and/or me-

chanical displacement (vibration), good energymanagement policy and good reliability policy

are natural allies. To sweeten the pot, there are

several government programs that are intended to

motivate you to be energy conscious, oten cover-

ing all or part of the up-front investment required

to improve your energy eciency.

To recap: reduced electric bill, improved reli-

ability, economic support rom the government

and good environmental citizenship. Whats

stopping you? Start monitoring and managing

energy consumption today in order to minimizelie cycle cost o ownership.

ByDrew D. Troyer



This article originally appeared in the

September-October 2009 issue o

Machinery Lubrication.
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