RELIABLE PLANT • February 2012 Orbits have historically been used to measure relative shaft movement within a journal-type bearing. The shape of the orbit told the analyst how the shaft was behaving within the bearing as well as the probable cause of the movement. This was accomplished using proximity probes usually mounted through the bearings with [...]
PLANT SERVICES • January 2012 Vibration analysis and condition monitoring are part of a bigger picture. Reducing maintenance cost, reducing production cost, improving uptime, reducing risk, improving safety, and improving product quality are some of the essential drivers for deploying vibration analysis and other predictive maintenance tools. They should be goals of any plant or [...]
Fault frequencies are very important in vibration analysis, because they allow the analyst to correlate vibration data to specific components in the equipment that may be in some stage of failure (equipment faults). Fault frequencies change with any adjustment in the speed of the equipment being monitored. Most modern vibration data collectors and software will automatically [...]
Back in July 2011, ArcelorMittal Point Lisas, Trinidad awarded TOSL’s Predictive Maintenance (PdM) Department with a one year contract for Reliability and Condition Based Monitoring. It was the first time a process like that would be implemented at ArcelorMittal. The contract is being executed by our Senior PdM technician, Mark Dwarika, and PdM technicians, Samir [...]
Unbalance, misalignment, bearing failures, gear faults, motor electrical problems, etc. are typical faults experienced in all equipment. Identification and elimination of these faults and other issues are critical to maintaining the health of your plant equipment. Healthy equipment means lower maintenance cost, increased uptime, better product quality and a safer work environment for employees. This [...]
TransAlta from Alberta, Canada won Uptime Magazine’s Best Vibration Analysis Program. Their Vibration Journey started when due to distance and the high costs of using a contractor, they moved away from outsourcing their vibration analysis services to a full time in-house vibration analyst. During the implementation and mentoring period, and in spite of the business [...]
