Vibration Monitoring for Predictive Maintenance [Application Note]
Published by – October 16, 2015
Categories:
TALON recently was called to help a Petrochemical company to establish a predictive maintenance program. The company had 50 “critical” operation pumps, compressors and electric motors spread throughout a large complex. The new head of machine reliability wanted to do continuous monitoring of these assets. Past maintenance programs could best be described as reactive, waiting for a fault and rushing to repair the fault before production could be severely affected.
Along with the new job, the head of machine reliability was mandated to establish a program to control costs and bring some predictability to the budget. TALON was consulted and after a discussion of expectations, capabilities, and skill sets within the maintenance department, we proposed a system to be implemented in steps. PC420 sensors from Meggitt were chosen to provide continuous monitoring of vibration of the critical units and best fit to the current instrumentation infrastructure within the plant.
PC420 vibration sensors are 4-20mA, 2-wire loop powered sensors designed to provide a peak vibration signal for “go-no go” operation. Compact, easy to mount and add to current PLC based system; PC420 sensors do not require extensive experience in vibration spectrum reading or long term data base establishment. PC420 units are designed to be mounted on operating equipment with a minimum of preparation. Two wire loop powered operation allows for simple infrastructure expansion. Meggitt supplies all sensors, mounts, cables and accessories needed for installation. In addition to ease of installation the PC420 is perfect for staged implementation easing budget expenditures and work scheduling.
In short, vibration monitoring can give you valuable information on the health of your assets right away, available real time. For more information or an analysis of how vibration monitoring can help you control budgets contact TALON.