Sunday, April 29, 2012

How To Get The Most Out Of Your Machine Condition Monitoring

By Eva X. Cumings


Machine condition monitoring has existed for practically the same amount of time that man has had machines. One of the initial problems however, was that most people were interested in applying technological and mechanical advancements to the creation of new machines and not towards making sure that what they already had was functioning properly. For the most part, monitoring involved a basic visual inspection, and not much else. However, technology has now evolved to the point where it is possible to discover structural or mechanical irregularities before they become dangerous or costly disasters.

Machine condition monitoring has become a profession dedicated to innovating new methods of monitoring and tracking the most concealed and difficult to directly see parts of a specific mechanical system. For most systems, if the physical manifestation of an underlying issue have become apparent from the outside of the system, then the solution has most likely become extremely expensive to implement. Rather than isolating minute internal issues, monitoring techniques choose to instead focus on elements such as gas emissions, thermal concerns, and used petroleum based solutions.

If a particular machine does the same thing, for the same amount of hours, for the same amount of days, then changes to what is coming out of the machine allows engineers to determine internal changes. If the oil or hydraulic fluid in a machine is not deteriorating at a previously established level, then unless the workload has shifted, the change must be the result of an internal issue. Additionally, spectrographic oil analysis allows for the adequate prediction of impending machine failure because monitoring companies can determine if abnormal wear or grinding is occurring based on the molecular make-up of the used oil.

An excess of heat is obviously a sign of improperly functioning equipment, because of either a defective cooling system or an unhealthy amount of wear. Again, by the time unsafe amounts of heat are visually detectable on the outside of the machine using the naked eye, the damage is generally already done. Advanced thermographic techniques used in the area of machine condition monitoring can be used to find minor temperature variations. This is important because any increase in total heat dispersal means something inside the system has changed.

Machine condition monitoring has become increasingly important with regards to the environmental obligations of individual institutions; gas emission testing is a crucial part of this newfound responsibility. Not only do certain levels of an individual substance in gas emissions indicate a poorly functioning emissions scrubbing system, but they can also lead to hefty fines as a result of pollution or environmental damage.




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