Blog

Determining Proper Equipment Data Collection Intervals

July 31, 2014

Guest post by Brad Loucks, Mechanical Engineer at Pioneer Engineering In a condition monitoring vibration program, determining the appropriate intervals of data collection is just as important as the data that is being analyzed. Properly scheduled data collection intervals of equipment provide data analysts with a better picture of how equipment is performing over a […]

Your equipment is what it eats!

July 29, 2014

Engineering advancements have resulted in many different types and grades of lubricants being available for equipment maintenance. Unfortunately,  the risk of improper selection and mixing of lubricants has increased as well. Mixing different types of lubricants (grease and oil,  etc.) within a machine is one of the most common equipment reliability problems. Doing so can […]

How your Equipment Generates a Mathematical Model

July 24, 2014

Guest post by Ray DeHerrera,  Mechanical Engineer at Pioneer Engineering Vibration analysts use multiple tools to predict a potential fault in a machine; from transducers to accelerometers,  the toolbox for vibration analysts is continually expanding to allow for more comprehensive and accurate data collection and interpretation. One tool that is absolutely important to the data […]

Do you have duplicate data in your OMNITREND software database?

July 22, 2014

Have you ever collected data and uploaded the data back into OMNITREND® only to realize that you have duplicate data in your database? As a technician,  you are pressed for time and your boss needs that report like yesterday. Every so often, when uploading the data you can get distracted by other people or from […]

Reliability Improvement – The Next Step after Condition Monitoring

July 17, 2014

Guest post by Mitch Stansloski,  P.E., PhD., Founder and President of Pioneer Engineering I find that in today’s economy, many of our clients have added, or are attempting to implement, an effective condition-based maintenance program. These clients understand the value of this type of program over and above the traditional time-based maintenance strategies. However, it is important […]

The value of wireless vibration monitoring

July 15, 2014

A US manufacturer of chemical products and food supplements has recently experienced an increase in demand for the products they manufacture. To maintain and supply that increased demand,  they have increased their reliability efforts. They have done so by re-evaluating their current vibration analysis program and the negative impact recently experienced with unplanned downtime. After […]

Machine Lubrication – Where to Start and How to Maintain

July 10, 2014

Guest post by Brad Loucks,  Mechanical Engineer at Pioneer Engineering When discussing machine lubrication techniques and associated maintenance tasks with industry personnel, I often hear the same story; “Once a month, we fill it up until it’s full.”  This story can unfold further to reveal that every piece of machinery under such a program receives the […]

What do pancakes and your reliability efforts have in common?

July 8, 2014

Just because you pour syrup on it don’t make it a pancake! Certain ingredients are required to make a reliability program that is desirable,  meaningful, and sustainable. The minimum ingredients are: Equipment criticality rankings to recognize where to correctly apply maintenance and reliability efforts. Understanding what components (bearings, valves, switches, etc.) lead to functional failures in the […]

Flatness Measurement in High Temperature Environments

July 3, 2014

A microchip manufacturer in the United States utilizes circular aluminum plates approximately 2 to 3 feet in diameter in the manufacturing process. These plates are heated from ambient temperature to +400 degrees F. The manufacturer wanted to ascertain if any distortion would exist across the surface of these plates when hot and if any differences […]

Contamination Impacts Equipment Reliability

July 1, 2014

Ingression can be defined as going in or entering,  a right or permission to enter, or a means or place of entering. It is important to understand, recognize, detect and reduce the effects of particle ingression. Doing so will have a very positive effect on your maintenance and reliability efforts. Dirt is often the root cause leading […]