Efficient Plant April 2019 - 21

feature | reliability strategies
In industrial environments, scheduled
maintenance-sometimes called preventive maintenance (PM)-serves a similar
purpose. This strategy has grown more
common as sites have shifted away from
reactive mindsets.

THE GOOD NEWS
Reactive maintenance is not likely to
disappear altogether. In applications where
downtime costs are less critical, companies
will continue to run certain motors to failure, replacing them as necessary.
For critical equipment, downtime can be
costly. Owner/operators of such equipment
face financial consequences if these assets
aren't properly maintained. For this reason,
many have implemented PM programs to
prevent motor failure and help assure maximum uptime.
In many cases, preventive maintenance
is performed using route-based, periodic
monitoring. This approach requires either
an in-house or third-party expert to
periodically travel to an industrial site to
collect motor-performance data, and similar
information from other assets. The data can
include vibration levels, temperature, speed,
and other applicable parameters.
This information is taken back to an
office, where it's uploaded into a database
and compared to prior sets of asset operating data. The process creates operating
trends that can be reviewed to identify
potential problems. Trend information
can also support decision-making as you
consider whether to schedule maintenance
or perform complete replacement of failing
motors.
The above method does have its drawbacks, though. One is lag in response.
Production schedules and the speed of
operation will change. Temperature and
vibration may reach critical limits under
different speed or load conditions. From the
time of data collection and evaluation until

APRIL 2019

implementation, a failure could occur. The
good news is, approaches to monitoring
and, in turn, analytics have improved.

THE BETTER NEWS
As helpful as route-based monitoring can
be, it offers just a fraction of the value
to be gained when the IoT (Internet of
Things) is added to the mix. When motors

are equipped with IoT technology, routebased monitoring can be transformed to
predictive maintenance (PdM). The same
well-trained experts can be used to provide
remote continuous condition monitoring,
which is the foundation for improved
machine reliability.
Continuous condition monitoring leading
to PdM is scalable and can be expanded to

INCREASE EQUIPMENT
RELIABILITY

THAT'S WHAT WE DO...

At Inpro/Seal®, we are dedicated to providing equipment reliability solutions through
engineering excellence, superior sealing technology and unmatched customer
support. Our custom engineered sealing solutions increase MTBR and significantly
reduce maintenance costs through permanent bearing protection and process sealing
technologies on a variety of rotating equipment.
Our unique product line includes:
* Inpro/Seal Bearing Isolators
* Smart Shaft Grounding™
* AM (Air Mizer®) Solutions Shaft Seals
* Sentinel® Floating Brush Seals
To learn more about increasing your equipment's reliability, visit www.inpro-seal.com.

EFFICIENTPLANTMAG.COM |

21
http://www.inpro-seal.com http://www.inpro-seal.com http://www.EFFICIENTPLANTMAG.COM
Efficient Plant April 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Efficient Plant April 2019
