Early Warning of Failure

Here’s a brilliant example of where online condition monitoring has an advantage over route-based condition monitoring.

It shows how quickly things can change and how quickly an online system can respond in providing an early warning of failure.

Here’s an actual timeline of events where an online system prevented a kiln fan failing in service.

12:43 – The online system records a threshold breach for the first time (15mm/s vibration where the threshold is 4mm/s)

13:46 – The system software changes from monitor to alert mode. Maintenance teams receive a text message alerting to a problem.

17:20 – Maintenance teams shut down the fan after a production run and find one of the steel mounting brackets has snapped. This is repaired and a test run carried out to confirm the repair.

00:00 – The next production run takes place.

Most route based monitoring systems rely on trending data from one month to the next. An online system is always alert, it can quickly determine a worsening trend or a sudden change in condition as it did in this case.

These systems are powerful and can prevent failures, if you’ve ever wondered about what they can do fo you I’d be happy to share further information.