Condition monitoring (CM) is a maintenance approach that predicts machine health and safety by means of the combination of machine sensor data that measures vibration and other parameters (in real-time) with state-of-the-art machine monitoring software. This approach enables plant upkeep technicians to remotely monitor the health of every individual piece of machinery and likewise provides a holistic, plant-wide view of mechanical operations. Condition monitoring software sends an alert whenever a change is detected in machine health, enabling your maintenance technicians to instantly assess the situation and determine if corrective action is required.

Benefits of condition monitoring
The proactive nature of condition monitoring is an progressive step forward on several levels for some manufacturers. First, plant personnel are safer and thus, we are all collectively safer. Second, plant managers can forestall unplanned downtime as a consequence of machine failure while concurrently making probably the most of planned upkeep downtime by servicing a number of machines and addressing all known problems on the identical time. Further, condition monitoring also eliminates pointless—and wasted—costs associated with over sustaining healthy machines based on the static metric of operating hours alone.

Although condition monitoring is a tried and true industrial upkeep device, it is only just beginning to be leveraged effectively in a wider array of producing industries. In the present day’s condition monitoring systems can do a lot more for us—financially, operationally, and most importantly, from a safety perspective. At this time’s condition monitoring solutions are highly reliable and have been proven extraordinarily effective throughout multiple manufacturing industries. Thus, for producers who adchoose condition based mostly maintenance strategies, the risk is low and the reward is high.

How to get started
In case you are taken with learning more about condition monitoring and building a proactive predictive upkeep plan in your plant, here's a quick "get started" outline and subsequent steps to guide your path forward.

The first step: Set up the hardware
The first step is the set up of monitoring sensors on serviceable assets including rotating machinery (generators, compressors, pumps, motors, fans) and stationary assets (boilers, heat exchangers). Plant managers work with the seller set up group to retrofit or modify machines as needed to make sure the appropriate set up of monitoring instrumentation. Completely different assets require completely different approaches. Not all assets are created equal, and as such, a wide range of condition monitoring products and approaches are required.

Step two: Measure your data
Once installed, sensors can immediately start to measure the next machine components:

Vibration and position – Indications of dynamic and static motion of the rotor or machine case.
Rotor speed – An essential part of analyzing vibration data and figuring out machine malfunctions. Machine vibration frequencies can show up as direct multiples or sub-multiples of the rotative velocity of the machine.
Temperature – RTD’s and Thermocouples measure the temperature of the machine’s radial and thrust bearings, lube oil, stator windings, and steam temperatures.
Working process sensors – these are typically already put in on the machine OEM stage or as part of the process control system. Valuable data from these sensors combines with the dedicated condition monitoring sensors to provide machine operating context enabling a complete image of how the machine is performing its supposed function.
Step three: Monitor your machines
Data is transmitted from put in condition monitoring and process sensors to a centralized condition monitoring software system for analysis and diagnostics. Trained upkeep technicians are alerted anytime an irregularity is detected and use data provided to find out if the machine requires immediate attention.

Anticipating machine failures before they happen, allows you to catalyze improvements that create positive ripple effects for the whole enterprise, reminiscent of:

Reduce downtime, Maximize production 90% of failures are NOT time-based. For many assets, failure can mean a considerable or total loss of production, often worth tens of hundreds to thousands and thousands per day. Typically industries tend to deal with the larger, more costly machines on the expense of ignoring the smaller supporting machines. Focusing on the machines that "make the money" is necessary but so too is deal with these machines without which the cash making machine can’t operate.

Enhance safety - Relying solely on hand-held units for monitoring machine health can expose factory workers to pointless risks in our highly automated factories. Additional, occasional catastrophic breakdowns resulting from maintenance gaps can increase employee exposure to hazardous conditions and potential environmental disasters.

Reduce maintenance costs- When seen on a per-asset basis, maintenance prices for plant-wide assets can appear modest. Nevertheless, when considered collectively across the dozens, hundreds, and even hundreds of assets in a typical plant, these costs can be appreciable. Reducing the upkeep costs on every asset via effective condition monitoring—even by a mere 10%—has a large impact on plant profitability. Condition Monitoring is a planning device that permits more efficient perception in planning and asset management, permitting maintenance to be carried out in advance of a functional failure.

Reduce hidden costs - Direct (traditional) maintenance prices are predictable and handleable. Indirect (hidden) upkeep prices, both stealthy and steep, can accrue to be as much as 5X higher. For many plants, reducing these hidden prices is a mandate that requires us to shift from the traditional reactive approach ("fix it when it breaks") to a proactive, reliability-based approach.

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