Condition Monitoring
The concept of strategic condition monitoring is quite simple
The types of mechanical faults which can occur on a given machine are well known to your maintenance personnel. What they need is, first: a straightforward message that a fault is developing, and second: an indication of its severity. The question is: What characteristics do we need to measure to find the targeted fault, and how often?What exactly should we measure?
There is no single method which can measure everything at a reasonable price. However, if we define the target faults, (which we must do anyway), we can easily pick the monitoring method which will provide the fastest, cheapest, and most reliable result. The Chapter Methods + Technologies should help answer the question "What should we measure in order to see the fault development which interests us.How often must we measure?
How often we need to measure depends on the lead-time we expect from the combination of the fault type and the method we are using to make it visible. If we choose a good method for the target fault then we will have enough lead time. We need a minimum of 4 measurements within the lead time. If we think we have a month lead time then we should be measuring every week. Every day would of course be much better. (Daily measurement is however only practical with an online setup)Online or Offline?
In the chapter Portable Instruments we present a range of first class "offline" or hand held condition monitoring instruments. In Online Monitoring we concentrate on Intellinova which is an extremly modular and effective online concept.However we need to answer the following questions:
How many measuring points do we have? | How good is the access to the measuring points?
How often do we need to measure? | How long will it take a trained man to measure the points?
What is the annual cost of collecting good reliable data by hand?
What is the cost of installing and maintaining an online system to collect data automatically?
Is there a case for measuring some machines online and others offline? Is there a case for measuring a minimum online and then following up manually for more in-depth analysis?