Tim Dimopoulos, Vice-President Annex Business Media tdimopoulos@canadianmanufacturing.com
Mike Fredericks, President & CEO Annex Business Media
Machinery & Equipment MRO is published by Annex Business Media Inc., 80 Valleybrook Dr., Toronto, ON Canada M3B 2S9; Tel. 416-442-5600, Fax 416-510-5140. Toll-free: 1-800-268-7742 in Canada, 1-800-387-0273 in the USA.
AWARD-WINNING MAGAZINE
Subscription rates. Canada: 1 year $61.50, 2 years $97.95. United States: 1 year $105. Elsewhere: 1 year $120. Single copies $10 (Canada), $16.50 (U.S.), $21.50 (other). Add applicable taxes to all rates. On occasion, our subscription list is made available to organizations whose products or services may be of interest to our readers. If you would prefer not to receive such information, please contact us via one of the following methods – phone: 1-800-668-2374, e-mail: privacyofficer@businessinformationgroup.ca, fax: 416-442-2191, mail to Privacy Officer, 80 Valleybrook Dr., Toronto, ON Canada M3B 2S9.
Publications Mail Agreement No. 40065710. Return postage guaranteed.
Pay a little now or a lot later
There’s a running gag in the popular sitcom, The Big Bang Theory, when the main female protagonist, Penny Hofstadter (played by Kaley Cuoco), consistently ignores the “check engine light” in her car. In one episode, the super-smart, socially awkward lead character, Sheldon Cooper (played by Jim Parsons), reminds Penny that he had pointed out the “check engine light” several months ago.
The doltish waitress replies, “Well the ‘check engine’ light is fine. It’s still blinking away. It’s the stupid engine that stopped working. It cost me like twelve hundred dollars to fix it.”
The spoof is ony mildly amusing, but one can infer that Penny doesn’t really care to repair it or that she cannot afford to service the car. The same parody plays out on the industrial plant floor when personnel ignore signs of distress.
Even though many conditions can be detected and monitored with human senses – touch, smell, taste and sound – they’re neither consistent, nor reliable. These days, facilities are more apt to depend on more efficient condition monitoring methods. (Imagine building a business case for investing in a condition monitoring program based on sound or smell alone!)
Industrial facilities experience many forms of leakage, including bearing leaks, compressed air leaks, vacuum leaks and natural gas leaks. Compressed air leaks, for instance, can seep through a small pinhole or through a fitting, and will impact the system, the environment and the wellbeing of the personnel.
These facilities typically have pressure relief valves that adjust the flow of air, depending on the amount of pressure needed downstream. Even though the PRVs blow the air to release the pressure downstream, there is a good chance that they can fail over time.
Similarly, facilities that use plastic extrusion machines for melting high volumes of plastic are heavy users of compressed air. These noisy environments harbour equipment that are prone to leakage.
Ultrasonic practitioners will scour facilities from end to end to find leaks. On average, a leak of 12 cubic feet per minute can cost about $1,500 per year, according to one estimate. Since there can be hundreds of leaks in various sizes, it all adds up to major savings once the leaks are sealed.
Condition monitoring techniques, such as vibration analysis and diagnostics, infrared thermography and ultrasound testing, are an integral part of a proactive maintenance program and will help identify a change in the equipment that’s indicative of a developing fault.
One ultrasonic inspector recalls her own “check engine light” moment when she informed a grocery bag manufacturer that their PRV was leaking. Their response: “It does that all the time – all year round – that’s the way it works.”
Well, no, it’s not!
Oftentimes we get used to something and take it as normal. There are countless ways in which maintenance and operational personnel turn a blind eye to wastage.
We cannot always guarantee success, but we can load the dice by linking reduced operating costs and energy savings to increased return on capital investment.
Rehana Begg Editor
Extending the Bearing Life Cycle
Help your bearings and machines achieve maximum service life
» SKF Machine Condition Indicator
This is a robust, battery-powered machine vibration/temperature monitoring device that reliably warns about impending machine failures, without the need for expensive hard wiring and electrical power supply.
goo.gl/dHD18U
» SKF Belt Alignment Tools TKBA series
Belt–driven machinery downtime caused by misalignment is a thing of the past .
The series allows pulleys and sprockets to be aligned on the side face. The unit magnetically attaches to the inside or outside face of almost any belt pulley or chain sprocket and has no small parts or targets that can get lost.
goo.gl/ogWG6U
Talk to your SKF
Authorized Distributor for more details and pricing.
» SKF EasyPull mechanical puller TMMA series
Equipped with spring-operated arms and a solid design, the patented SKF EasyPull is one of the most user-friendly and safe tools on the market.
Ergonomically designed, the spring-operated arms enable the user to position the puller behind the component with just one movement.
goo.gl/2zzfEP
» Shaft Alignment Tool TKSA Series
The TKSA Series are easy to use laser alignment solutions for achieving accurate shaft alignments. With two wireless measurement units, large sized detectors and powerful lasers, the instrument performs in even the most challenging conditions.
goo.gl/zw7223
» New! Battery driven grease gun TLGB 20 TLGB 20 includes an integrated grease meter to help prevent over- and under-lubrication. This unique tool features a durable, ergonomic design with a threepoint stand for operator comfort and convenience and a 20-volt, lithium-ion battery.
goo.gl/AOWzgs
By applying the right maintenance practices and using the correct tools in all stages of the bearing life cycle, you can considerably extend your bearing’s service life and thereby increase plant productivity and efficiency.
» Portable Induction Heater TIH030m
The heater combines high heating capacity with portability. Placing the induction coil outside the heater’s housing allows the heating of bearings weighing up to 40 kg. The heater is available in a variety of sizes.
goo.gl/TOSupQ
» SKF SYSTEM 24 Single Point Automatic Lubrication
Continuously delivers precisely measured amounts of lubricant to desired points via a gas-driven pump. It is ideal for lubrication points difficult to reach manually, or where there are a large number of lubrication points where manual greasing would be less effective.
goo.gl/1gpzZZ
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it
Contributor Nick Fewer exposes four condition monitoring shams and advises how brushing up on skills and instrumentation will help transform an ailing program.
Seals of Approval / 14
A guide to selecting the best shaft seals for the application.
Testbed / 20
Grease the Skids / 24
With the right bearing lubricants, electric motors perform at their peak.
Is your pump saving you money, or are you paying to save your pump? / 34
How to avoid costly repairs.
Departments
Editor’s Notebook / 3
Industry Newswatch / 6
Business Briefs / 9
Counterpoint at MainTrain 2016 / 38
Maintenance 101 / 43
What’s Up Doug? / 44
Mr. O, The Practical Problem Solver / 50
Spare Parts / 50
What’s New in Condition Monitoring /46
What’s New in Drive Systems / 46
Product Spotlight / 47
2016 Sergio Guy Memorial Award
James Reyes-Picknell has been awarded the prestigious 2016 Sergio Guy Memorial Award by the Plant Engineering and Maintenance Association of Canada (PEMAC).
The award recognizes individuals who have made significant and valuable contributions to the profession of maintenance and physical asset management, and to the success of the association. The Award was presented at MainTrain, PEMAC’s annual awards banquet on September 21 in Toronto.
Through his work, contacts, publications and presentations, Reyes-Picknell was recognized as a thought leader in the area of maintenance, reliability and asset management. His career, spanning over 35 years, includes leading a global consulting practice (PwC/IBM), contract engineering and reliability consulting, leading the support efforts for aircraft and a major warship program, working
OECD TRIMS GLOBAL OUTLOOK
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development slashed its growth estimate for Canada this year as it trimmed its outlook for the global economy.
In its latest interim economic outlook, the OECD said weak trade and financial distortions are exacerbating slow global economic growth.
“The marked slowdown in world trade underlines concerns about the robustness of the economy and the difficulties in exiting the low-growth trap,” OECD chief economist Catherine Mann said.
“While weak demand is surely playing a role in the trade slowdown, a lack of political support for trade policies, whose benefits could be widely shared, is of deep concern.”
The think-tank said it now expects the Canadian economy to grow by 1.2 per cent this year, half a percentage point lower than its outlook in June.
Growth next year is expected to be 2.1 per cent, down from its earlier estimate of 2.2 per cent.
The OECD cut its global forecast for this year to 2.9 per cent from its June estimate of 3.0 per cent. That’s slightly
hands-on in a plant reliability and maintenance engineering role and serving as a shipboard engineering officer.
Reyes-Picknell has a degree in Mechanical Engineering, post-grad studies in business and naval architecture. He is currently the president of Conscious Asset, a specialist consulting and training firm.
Reyes-Picknell has also given back to the profession through volunteer contributions to PEMAC and other like-minded professional associations. Reyes-Picknell, participated last year in developing a PEMAC white paper for the membership, entitled “Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) KPIs for Measuring Success.”
Reyes-Picknell is the editor of the second and third editions of Uptime, the popular maintenance reference text for PEMAC’s Maintenance Management Professional (MMP) Module 1 Course. This year, he also facilitated Machinery and Equipment MRO magazine’s webinar series.
For more information, visit pemac.org.
below the 3.1 per cent growth seen last year.
Global growth next year is predicted to hit 3.2 per cent, down from an earlier forecast for 3.3 per cent.
The Canadian economy contracted in the second quarter due to the Alberta wildfires in May that temporarily shut down production in the oilsands and destroyed parts of Fort McMurray.
However, economists expect growth
WEBINARS ON DEMAND: MRO OIL AND LUBE SERIES
This month Machinery and Equipment MRO wraps up its three-part webinar series focusing on oil and lubrication, but it’s not too late to download a complimentary copy. Sponsored by Mobil Industrial Lubricants, the series features a veritable panel of experts, who answer questions and share tips on topics ranging from how using high-performance lubricants may reduce lubrication intervals; how to minimize lubrication risk in operations; and the lubricant’s role in energy efficiency.
Download a free copy of each webinar at mromagazine.com.
to bounce back in the third quarter as rebuilding work begins and the oilsands operations that were shuttered ramp production back up.
Five of seven subsectors gained ground, led by the motor vehicle and parts subsector and the food, beverage and tobacco subsector.
Wholesale sales were unchanged in July in volume terms.
Source: OECD
The New Standard in Large Motors
Whether you pump it, compress it, blow it or convey it, Baldor Large AC GPM motors are the perfect choice for your application. Available in low voltage or medium voltage configurations, Baldor Large AC GPM motors are inverter ready and in stock for fast delivery.
And, if you need a general purpose motor modified with optional features to fit your exact specifications, you can count on Baldor Large AC GPM motors to set the new standard in performance with the fastest turnaround in the industry.
baldor.com 479-646-4711
• Low & Medium Voltage
• Modifications Available
• In Stock & Ready to Ship
• Designed for Safe Operation
CANADA’S FOOD MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY TO SEE RECORD PROFITS IN 2016
Despite a sluggish Canadian economy, the outlook for Canada’s food manufacturing industry is sunny thanks to the increasing global appetite for Canadian products from the U.S. and other foreign markets. The industry’s pre-tax profits should reach a record $4.3 bil lion this year, according to The Conference Board of Canada’s
latest Canadian Industrial Outlook: Canada’s Food Manufacturing Industry.
“While the majority of the manufacturing sector has struggled to take advantage of the weaker exchange rate, cheaper oil prices, and the strengthening of the U.S. economy, the food manufacturing sector has seen sales continue
could weigh on industry margins, profits will remain healthy over the next few years.”
The stronger U.S. economy is a key driver behind the industry’s positive export outlook over the coming years. The U.S. represents the largest export destination for Canada’s food products, accounting for more than 70 per cent of the industry’s exports in 2015. Rising food demand from developing countries will also support the
PRECISION
Timing
PERFORMANCE
Timing
CONVENIENCE
T im ing Belts Accessories
industry’s exports.
Dampening the outlook for Canada’s food manufacturing industry, however, is the fact that Canadian consumer spending is stretched thin. Many consumers are being more price conscious at grocery stores, keeping an eye out for affordable food options and items on sale. Growth in consumer spending on food and alcoholic beverages is expected to slow to a mere 0.5 per cent this year, or half the average growth rate of the previous five years.
After declines in four of the previous five years, Canadian food manufacturers will see their margins improve to 4.4 per cent in 2016. Beyond 2016, however, industry costs will increase, which will result in a dip in profit margins.
Source: Conference Board of Canada
MAINTENANCE TEST TOOLS COMPANY GROWS WITH CMMS SOLUTIONS ACQUISITION
Fluke Corporation, the world leader in electronic test tools and software, has acquired eMaint Enterprises, LLC, a global leader in computerized maintenance management software (CMMS). eMaint’s award-winning software platform is used by more than 50,000 maintenance professionals in 55 countries providing asset management solutions in multiple markets including food processing, healthcare, facilities, fleet, services, manufacturing, and more. No further details were announced.
Fluke’s comprehensive line of industry leading handheld test tools and portable sensors are used by service and maintenance technicians, electricians and plant engineers around the world. eMaint’s web-based, Software as a Service (SaaS) solution can be accessed on PCs, smartphones, tablets and other browser-based devices. For more information, visit www.fluke.com.
Business Briefs
News and views about companies, people, product lines and more.
• Wilsonville, OR – Flir Systems, Inc. reached an asset purchase agreement to acquire the business of Point Grey Research, Inc., a leading developer of machine vision cameras for use in industrial, retail, scientific, traffic, mapping, and other advanced imaging applications, for approximately $253 million in cash. Based in Richmond, BC, Point Grey develops advanced visible imaging cameras and solutions.
• Maple, ON – Northern Transformer Corporation, a manufacturer of electrical power transformers, celebrated a milestone move to its purpose-built, 105,000 square-foot facility in Maple, Ont. on Sep-
tember 16. Giovanni Marcelli, Chairman of the Board, initiated the facility’s upgrade project after his acquisition of Northern Transformer in 2012.
• Montreal – SNC-Lavalin signed an agreement in principle for a new Joint Venture with China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) and Shanghai Electric Group Company Ltd. The new company would develop, market and build the Advanced Fuel CANDU Reactor (AFCR). The creation of the joint venture in principle follows the signing of a framework agreement in 2014, and is subject to all government and regulatory approvals.
• Barrie, ON – Pilz Automation Safety Canada announced
that Andreas Sobotta has accepted the position of CEO & General Manager of the Canadian operation. Sobotta is an experienced professional with many years in the electrical and controls world and has held various leadership roles at Davis Controls, Festo, Siemens, Phoenix Contact and most recently Hammond Manufacturing. Pilz, with their head office near Stuttgart/Germany, is a global leader of safety automation.
• Cleveland, OH – The Precision Metalforming Association (PMA) is hosting its first annual Metal Stamping Technology and Tool & Die Conference (December 6-7) in Chicago, IL. The conference will provide metal stamping, die design and die construction companies with an opportunity to network and learn about new, emerging, evolving and maturing technologies that are impactful to
these industries.
• Toronto – Ontario Power Generation (OPG) started Canada’s largest clean energy project, the refurbishment of the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station east of Toronto. The project will create up to 11,800 jobs annually and contribute nearly $15 billion to Ontario’s economy. OPG plans to continue to operate its Pickering Nuclear Generating Station until 2024.
• Gothenburg, Sweden – SKF has manufactured its largest ever spherical roller bearing (bore diameter 1,25 metres) to be used within the mining industry. The bearing is equipped with SKF SensorMount, a unique system that measures the actual mounting fit of the bearing onto the shaft. It helps avoid the risk of improper mounting, a major issue for large size bearings. The bearing weighs 7,780 kg. Each roller within it weighs 42 kg.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it
Debunking four CBM misconceptions so you can turn performance information into proactive maintenance tasks.
BY NICK FEWER
Condition-based maintenance, applied to mission critical and non-critical assets, can be an effective strategy for spotting decreasing performance and for triggering maintenance so that work can be completed before the equipment fails. Even with CBM in place, it’s advisable that maintenance practitioners brush up on the skills and instrumentation that will help turn performance information into proactive maintenance tasks. Among the many misinterpretations of CBM, there are four that we’d like to lay bare, along with suggestions on what to do instead.
1 MYTH: “It’s more effective to perform maintenance on time rather than condition.”
Many people are inclined to believe that performing Time Based Maintenance (TBM) on a piece of equipment will effectively reset its life to 100 per cent, improve reliability and mitigate or prevent equipment failures. Multiple-failure studies dating back to the 1940s, during World War II, have shown this theory to be false and ineffective. Based on these studies it was found that failures can be categorized into different failure patterns
that can either be random in nature, or degrade over time and eventually fail. The truth is that about 80 per cent of total equipment failures will be non-age-related (random) compared to 20 per cent found to be age related or having a wearout failure pattern. These results raise a question: “If 80 per cent of failures are random and could occur at any time, how can we effectively schedule value-added maintenance activities?”
In a perfect world all failures would be age related, as this would provide the ability to plan and schedule repair right before the failure occurred and makes time-based maintenance the preferred maintenance strategy. However, in reality, with only 20 per cent of our failures being age related, time-based maintenance should only add value to a small portion of the total failures we’ll experience. Saying that TBM will protect us from 20 per cent of failures is also being generous, as most PMs are general in nature and are based on the original equipment manufacturer’s instructions. Depending on the owner/operator company, an operational readiness program may be developed and RCM studies may have been completed on critical assets to ensure PMs are designed relative to the types of failures that the equipment will experience. Alternatively, if a plant is already operating, it may have optimized its PMs (PMO) to ensure each task adds value by combating a particular failure mode that has been experienced by the plant, over its operating life, and removing tasks that waste time and lack value. The reality is that not a lot of companies go through the rigorous process of fine-tuning their PMs prior to or while in operation. So, if we can expect about 80 per cent of failures to be random, then TBM will not be effective at addressing these failures.
In these cases, adopting a condition-based maintenance (CBM) strategy using appropriate predictive maintenance technologies will assist in extending equipment life and increase equipment uptime. This is done by using predictive technologies that will identify particular failures in the early stages prior to loss of function and well before catastrophic failure. In scenarios where predictive technologies aren’t being used, failures are generally noted by an operator during daily workarounds when he or she hears the ominous sound of a bearing rumble or smoke coming from a bearing. By this time there is insufficient time to properly address the failure without causing panic, unplanned
downtime, or potential production loss.
Early fault detection is key to allow the CBM team to increase the frequency of data collection to closely monitor faults as they develop, while at the same time providing direction to the maintenance team so the repair can be planned and scheduled. Doing this can extend the useful life of the equipment and the repair work will be executed in a controlled environment, which not only saves on maintenance costs but also increases equipment uptime and reduces the probability of an HSE incident as well.
Intrusive maintenance is known to cause breakdowns (maintenanceinduced failures) rather than prevent them, so wouldn’t it be nice to have confidence that when you do have to perform intrusive maintenance, it’s based on the operating condition and health of your asset rather than the clock?
2 MYTH: “Adopting a condition-based maintenance strategy will stop failures from occurring.”
A common misconception is that having a condition-based maintenance program will prevent failures from occurring. This is not the case as CBM is employed to detect failures – it cannot stop them. Integrating multiple predictive maintenance technologies, such as lubricant and vibration analysis or thermography into an organized and structured program can paint a clearer picture about the health of an asset.
As a plant operates, its equipment tells the story about how it’s feeling, much like a doctor listening to patient’s symptoms. The doctor hears the symptoms, then runs diagnostic tests, such as blood work and X-rays, to assist in diagnosing the illness or problem. The same principle applies to CBM. As the equipment operates, it produces different forces or vibrations, it’s oil condition changes, heat is generated – all of which are symptoms of the machinery’s “illness” or problem.
Failure detection will only be effective if the program is structured the correct way, meaning: (1) the sampling frequency or time between samples will allow the failure to be detected, (2) the right technologies are being used by trained employees who know how to configure the data acquisition equipment to ensure value-added data is collected, (3) the data collected is consistently measured under the same or close to the same operating conditions from the same mea-
surement points and (4) the analysts know how to identify failures based on the data captured. A correctly functioning CBM program should provide early failure detection and tracking, which allows the maintenance team advanced notice to ensure the repair is completed in a planned and scheduled manner. If the goal is to stop failures from occurring rather than just detecting them, we need to move past using CBM and integrate reliability-based methodologies into our program to provide a holistic approach. Using different forms of reliability analysis tools will provide an understanding of the causes and effects of the failures being experienced. Understanding why a failure is occurring is the key to eliminating it by addressing it at the root cause level. Having a mature CBM program in place is a great achievement and provides major cost savings. However, wider benefit will come from failure prevention rather than failure detection, that is, higher inherent reliability and availability, lower overall operating costs, and reduced spares consumption.
3 MYTH: “Not all vibration data collected should be considered effective for CBM.”
Are all vibration data collected analyzed or particularly useful? Vibration measurements can be collected in many forms and the effectiveness of the data depends on how the signal is processed. Some data acquisitions systems on the market today used in conjunction with online condition monitoring software lack the data-sampling rate to allow any form of accurate high-frequency fault detection. Not being able to sample fast enough will not give the high-frequency resolution required to detect problems, such as typical gearbox faults. It’s possible that having an
online continuous condition monitoring system in a plant can give a false sense of security to those who do not fully understand the fundamentals of vibration. It is believed that any and all failure characteristics can be detected with this “state of the art” system, so this data collected is the basis for effective CBM.
Much the same can be applied to measuring an overall vibration measurement. Many equipment packages used in industry today are available with vibration monitoring capabilities provided from factory installed transducers and control systems. These systems will normally provide a simple overall measurement used for equipment protection capabilities rather than condition assessment. To a maintenance group that is unfamiliar with proper vibration analysis techniques and fundamentals this may provide a false sense of security in that the equipment package is monitoring vibration and is therefore perceived as an effective form of CBM.
Having an overall vibration magnitude set point used for equipment protection only protects the machine from catastrophically failing. It can neither provide early fault detection weeks, or even months ahead of time, nor accurately tell you what part of a bearing has the fault or which gear tooth is broken. Effective CBM is about collecting detailed, specific useful data that can tell you a story about the machine’s condition; overall measurements are very generic in nature and do not reveal useful information. An overall reading can tell us that there is an increase in vibration at a particular point on a machine. Let’s say a “warning” alarm has been activated and our piece of equipment is now operating in alarm. When we sit down and look at the data we know that there are numerous things that can occur that will cause a change in vibration. It could be a faulty trans-
ducer, the transducer may need to be calibrated, it could just be a bad reading, or maybe the change in vibration could actually be real. There may have been a process change resulting in increased load or maybe there truly is a problem with the machine. This data leaves many questions unanswered and makes it ineffective at accurately diagnosing the fault without further troubleshooting, site visits or intrusive investigation.
Comparing the same scenario, but instead of using the overall data, we do a little more signal processing and we derive some common plots used, such as a spectrum and time waveform to assist us. The advantages of a spectrum are being able to see how the vibration force is dispersed over a defined frequency range and a time waveform provides a time-based sample of the vibration and shows how the machine responds from one point in time to the next. Using the spectrum we clearly see what forcing frequency or frequency range the vibration is coming from, which can tell us a lot about what fault condition exists on the machine. When we look at our spectrum we see non-synchronous harmonics (impacting) with what appears to be operating speed side bands. Immediately we think, “That looks like the characteristics of an inner-race bearing fault but, to confirm, I’ll take a look at my time waveform where I can visually see the impacts and can calculate the same non-synchronous frequency between the impacts.” Also, we can confirm our operating speed side banding, which is caused by amplitude
modulation from the defect coming into and out of the load zone, which can be visually seen in the waveform. As time passes, the peak-to-peak amplitude of the time waveform will coincide with the defect to load zone position.
This simple example shows how effective properly using the data can be and that one measurement of overall vibration is not too revealing. Not being able to break down the data into its different frequency and time-based properties provides little to no assistance to properly diagnose a machine fault. An overall measurement may be very effective when integrated as a machinery protection set point but it must not be confused with being an effective form of CBM.
4 MYTH: “You can depend on vibration software to tell you when you have a bearing fault.”
Many if not all vibration analysis software on the market today come equipped with bearing databases whereby you can select the type of bearings in your machine and your bearing fault frequencies are automatically calculated for you. The benefit of this is we don’t have to manually calculate our defect frequencies, Ball Pass Frequency Inner (BPFI), Ball Pass Frequency Outer (BPFO), Ball Spin Frequency (BSF ) and Fundamental Train Frequency (FTF), potentially making a mistake and coming out with an incorrect forcing frequency and it also saves time. The software packages allow the forcing frequencies to be overlaid onto the spectrum or time waveform making it fairly easy to detect a bearing fault by quickly cycling through each frequency to determine if any of the higher frequency peaks are lining up with any of the forcing frequency markers generated in the software. This is a great feature and it certainly helps but it also can promote the wrong mindset when performing analysis if you don’t have a good understanding of your bearings; this mindset being: “If they line up then you have a fault and if they don’t then you’re all good.”
This mindset could be true if we were in a perfect world where no variables could change this forcing frequency. For example, if we knew that our machine speed never changed, required load was always consistent, every bearing has the same amount of wear, no slippage was occurring, the same model bearing and bearing manufacturer was used every
single time you replaced the bearings –all of which will affect the frequencies at which our faults will appear. Different bearing manufacturers can use a different number of rolling elements for the same model number bearing. This can be confusing as we know that bearing fault frequency equations are highly dependent on the number of rolling elements in the bearing, this changes the frequency at which your fault should appear. During any normal operating day there are many variables or conditions that change that will cause the fault frequency markers programmed in our software to not directly line up.
The main thing to remember is to not solely rely on the software to tell you when you have a fault. There are a few criteria that can be used to provide a fairly accurate estimate as to whether a bearing defect exists or not. When you see consistent vibration at a non-synchronous (non-integer multiple of running speed) frequency in your spectrum you can be fairly confident that it’s a bearing fault. The type of bearing fault can also be determined as each fault generates certain characteristics and forcing frequencies, such as, bearing faults will most likely generate non-synchronous harmonics (impacts) in your spectrum with accompanying sidebands at running speed (1X) indicate a BPFI (inner race) fault. Non-synchronous harmonics with about half running speed (≈0.5X) sidebands normally indicate a BSF (rolling element) fault and just seeing non-synchronous harmonics with no side banding is most likely a BPFO (outer race) fault. (Note: this is just a general set of criteria used when the inner race is rotating. In cases where the outer race is rotating, simply switch the BPFO and BPFI.) By simply knowing the operating speed, this can be very helpful in self diagnosing a bearing fault when you have little to no details about the bearing geometry or manufacturer.
Ultimately, software capabilities are getting better and there will be times when the fault frequency markers line up and a bearing fault is detected automatically with very little effort. Variables and conditions are not always controlled, so some attention to detail and self-reliance must be employed as well. MRO
Nick Fewer is a condition monitoring and reliability consultant at Aker Solutions, based in St. John’s, N.L. He can be reached at nickfewer@hotmail.com.
Seals of Approval
How to select the proper industrial shaft seal for an application.
BY BRYAN UNCAPHER
For all rotating machinery in plants across industries, shaft seals play critical roles in protecting bearing arrangements and contributing to the reliability of equipment and systems. Proper sealing ultimately provides an effective defense in keeping machines performing as intended.
The decision-making process in selecting an industrial shaft seal would be easy if there were simply one universal seal design and material appropriate for any and all applications. Unfortunately, this is not the case. An ideal seal pick will always be influenced by application operating conditions and requirements.
Turning to application criteria
Industrial shaft seals primarily function to retain lubricant, exclude contaminants (such as dust or moisture), separate media (including lubricant) and resist pressure. Radial shaft seals are the most prevalent types for general and heavy-duty industrial applications. They serve to seal the opening between a rotating and a stationary component or between two components in relative motion.
In general, their design consists of a cylindrical outer covering of sheet steel (the “case”) or an elastomer providing the requisite interference fit to seal statically against the housing bore. In addition, a sealing lip made from an elastomeric or thermoplastic material enables sealing dynamically and statically against a shaft.
of the sealing lip and the shaft counterface surface ultimately form the most important functional area of any radial shaft seal.
Hundreds of different radial shaft seal design and material combinations have been standardized to a large degree over the years, and custom versions can be developed as necessary.
Internal and external temperatures. Materials for seals are engineered to perform over an optimum recommended temperature range. Beyond the designated range, thermal stress can adversely harden or otherwise degrade seal material (most notably, nitrile rubber). Such heat aging often will appear as a series of radial cracks on the seal. Conversely, if the operating temperature is too low, the seal material may stiffen and leak. In both cases, a switch to another seal material to accommodate the extremes would offer a fix.
Shaft surface finish. Next to heat damage, shaft surface roughness is a prime cause of a seal’s leakage failure. A shaft surface is actually a series of peaks and valleys. One that is too smooth has difficulty supporting an oil film, leading to a high underlip temperature. Too rough, and peaks can project through the lubricating film and abrade the lip. Manufacturers will typically provide surface roughness and finish specifications, based on industry standards. These specs should be followed to prevent premature seal wear and failure.
Shaft surface speed. Radial shaft seals inherently are designed to perform with designated surface speed limits. Generally, surface speed capability and parameters such as seal torque, power consumption, under-lip temperature, and the effect of dynamic run-out will take inverse proportions. All these speed-related influences can affect seal service life. If the application exceeds speed recommendations, specialized design considerations would be recommended, since exceeding the limit could result in the lip of the seal failing to control fluid, including lubricant.
The lip is designed with a sealing edge formed by molding or machining and normally pressed against the counterface surface of a shaft (with a defined radial load) by a garter spring. The edge
So where to begin in selecting a proper seal? The first step is to review the inherent application and operating criteria that will impact seal integrity and performance.
As examples of variations to help compensate for higher shaft speeds, choices can be made to reduce the radial load of the seal lip, switch to a sealing material that can handle higher temperatures generated from higher speeds, change the lubricant type or viscosity, optimize the shaft sealing surface, and/or turn to a non-contacting seal design.
Internal and external pressure. Pressure loading from system conditions or a fault (such as a plugged vent) will mechanically load and distort a seal’s lip
is driving limitless innovation
Today’s growing cities demand both efficiency and reliability in the pursuit of a sustainable future, and Danfoss has been providing innovative solutions to Canada for 65 years. In water and wastewater facilities — a municipality’s largest energy consumer, Danfoss variable frequency drives not only improve energy use, they minimize water loss. For industries like marine, mining, and food and beverage manufacturing, Danfoss technologies provide reliable, intelligent process controls that are making industrial solutions smarter and more efficient.
Discover how we’re Engineering Tomorrow at danfoss.ca
60h
savings in global energy consumption from today’s installed drives by 2025
“The material of a seal, then, is as critical as the seal’s design. Must the seal work within certain temperature and pressure ranges? What types of fluid media are being sealed? How about the role of friction? All these and similar considerations can help point the way toward an appropriate seal material (or materials).”
profile, resulting in rapid wear and failure. As a guideline, standard industrial radial shaft seals are designed for only about 7 psi (pounds per square inch).
In applications exhibiting higher shaft speeds, the permissible pressure differential across the seal becomes smaller. As pressure is applied to a seal, more of the lip surface is forced against the shaft, which produces greater friction (as does increased shaft speed). Since too much friction will lead to faster wear and shorter life of a seal, the two parameters of pressure and surface speed (known as the PV factor) must be balanced against each other for maximized seal performance. Among the options to compensate for the effects of pressure, adding a metal support ring under the lip back face or the lip profile of a seal can be redesigned (by the manufacturer) to resist deformation under pressure loading and moderate surface speeds.
Shaft eccentricity. Radial shaft seals can accept certain ranges of shaft deviation from true centre or the shaft diameter not rotating in a true circle. Outside of a manufacturer’s limit, these conditions could “crush” the seal lip, resulting in rapid wear and/or open a gap causing leakage. Limits should be respected.
Fluid media. The material of a seal must be chemically compatible with the fluid media to be sealed and with the lubricant in an application. Otherwise, the seal may be chemically attacked, resulting in rapid wear and damage, catastrophic material decomposition, and/or excessive swelling or shrinking.
The choice of a proper material to promote seal compatibility with media especially deserves close scrutiny. For example, nitrile rubber will perform well with a wide range of mineral -based oils as lubricants, but polar solvents (such as acetone) can cause catastrophic swell (observed as a softening) and physical destruction of the seal. Similarly, seal compounds such as ethylene propylene will swell rapidly from contact with aromatic hydrocarbons and mineral oils. And some synthetic-based lubricants, while resisting oxidation, can attack rubber compounds with detrimental results.
Making a material difference
The material of a seal, then, is as critical as the seal’s design. Must the seal work within certain temperature and pressure ranges? What types of fluid media are being sealed? How about the role of friction? All these and similar considerations can help point the way toward an appropriate seal material (or materials).
However, while a material may exhibit excellent properties in meeting some of the requirements in an application, the material may fall short in others. As an overview, the following relative property advantages and disadvantages of commonly used seal materials can provide a big assist in narrowing selection.
Of course, it should be underscored that these general pros and cons represent guidelines only for further evaluation against application requirements to determine the viability of a material. An experienced manufacturer can help in arriving at a proper solution.
Nitrile (NBR). Advantages: resists abrasion wear and general oils and performs at low temperatures (down to -55º C). Disadvantages: limited by upper temperature range (up to 110º C) and prone to high oil swell in the case of ultra low-temperature grades.
Hydrogenated nitrile (HNBR). Advantages: resists wear and hot oil and operates across a suitable temperature range (-40º C to 150º C). Disadvantage: fouling can occur during seal molding and processing.
Fluoroelastomer (FKM). Advantages: excellent chemical and oil resistance, reliable performance at high temperatures (225º C), and capability when dry running. Disadvantages: safety concerns of hydrogen fluoride, difficult to process, and poor initial cold followability.
Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). Advantages: operates over a wide temperature range (-60º C to 250º C), resists all fluids, demonstrates low friction, and will not swell. Disadvantages: stiffness at low temperature, poor dynamic response due to inelasticity, no inherent hydrodynamic capabilities and easily damaged.
Polyurethane (TBU). Advantages: excellent pressure and extrusion resistance, very good resistance to high-energy radiation, good resistance to mineral oils and temperature, and low gas permeability. Disadvantages: potential swell in water, melting at high temperatures, and harder and more rigid than elastomers.
Polyetheretherketone (PEEK). Advantages: abrasion resistance and good wear properties, chemical resistance and high
THIS AIN’T YOUR GRANDADDY’S MULTIMETER
Introducing the DM284, an all-in-one True RMS digital multimeter and thermal imager that show you exactly where an electrical problem is to speed up troubleshooting.
Infrared Guided Measurement (IGM™) is the future of instrument and tool technology. Plain and simple. And for the hardworking professionals in the building and electrical industries, it’s the perfect addition to the toolbox. By helping you identify and verify problems invisible to the naked eye, you’ll save time, money, and maybe even lives.
Request a demo from participating distributors at FLIR.ca/DM284
· THERMAL IMAGING AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
· CONVENIENT, ALL-IN-ONE TOOL
· PINPOINT PROBLEMS QUICKLY
temperature stability. Disadvantages: high stiffness and very rigid.
The reality is that many factors will be involved when selecting an appropriate seal material for an application – and tradeoffs in materials should be weighed carefully. Research and technology, however, offer good news: material combinations or specially developed compounds can make the grade.
For example, materials can be paired to impart benefits from the strength of each, such as using FKM rubber for the seal-
this material especially suitable for use in hydraulic applications.
In addition to materials, coatings can play important roles, whether to accommodate small imperfections in a housing bore surface or to increase seal durability.
Evolving by design
The hundreds of industrial seal design and material combinations have not evolved by chance. SKF has been highly proactive. Data from thousands of seal tests conducted annually are entered into a database, providing valuable know-how, broad empirical knowledge base for failure analyses, benchmarks and a consistent flow of new products and innovative solu-
The range of testing includes durability, contaminant exclusion, salt/water corrosion, cold fracture, pump rate, friction torque, dry wear and material compatibility tests. SKF also can rely upon test rigs developed for specific applications and structured to simulate real working condi-
Tests for dynamic applications are monitored continuously to verify parameters such as under lip temperature, friction force, oil leakage and a host of other test conditions. Samples are analyzed to characterize failure modes using state-of-the-art instrumenta-
In addition, Finite Elements Analysis (FEA) provides developers with a tool to perform simulations of almost any operating condition using different seal geometries to identify the critical areas in a seal design. This paves the way for introduction of new versions.
All such ongoing work has resulted in an expanded portfolio of seal design and material choices, augmented by custom alternatives. The proper balancing of application requirements and an understanding of how seals will subsequently perform as part of a system can pay off in solutions that properly seal
Bryan Uncapher is Director – Seal Business Development for SKF USA Inc. He can be reached at Bryan.S.Uncapher@skf.com.
PRODUCTION TESTBED
A valve plant gains understanding of Industry 4.0 by becoming a reference factory for customers.
BY BILL ROEBUCK
Festo is applying new technologies and systems in a planned strategy to showcase its own machines and products as they are being used to build, yes, its own machines and products. It’s all under the umbrella of a strategy called Industry 4.0, which the company sees as its opportunity to remain competitive on a global scale, according to Dr. Eberhard Veit, Chairman of the Management Board of Festo AG & Co. KG, Esslingen, Germany.
Industry 4.0 is about industrial digitalization, which is the key to networked, flexible production in the future. “It makes the whole world one marketplace,” said Dr. Veit.
Speaking to an international group of senior magazine editors at Festo’s 14th International Press Conference in December 2015, Dr. Veit noted that the key elements of industrial digitalization are the individual components that communicate with each other within an overall system and that can control and regulate themselves. Festo is using such technology at its newly revamped factory in Ostfildern-Scharnhausen, near Stuttgart, Germany.
In Europe, a close co-operation be -
tween the industrial associations and the spheres of industry and politics is ensured by “Plattform Industrie 4.0,” a consortium established to create a basis for a uniform understanding of the concept of Industry 4.0. Technological standards are being developed, along with business models and new forms of co-operation that will strengthen the global competitiveness of industry.
“In interdisciplinary groups, the participants in “Plattform Industrie 4.0” are carrying out intensive work on the future topics of standardization, research and safety, but also regarding aspects of new working worlds and training,” explained Dr. Veit. “We are talking here about the transformation of industrial manufacture into a fully networked, flexible production system. To remain competitive, we must take the initiative with our characteristic spirit of inventiveness and give shape to this new development.”
Smart condition monitoring “Digital refinement will give rise to increasingly intelligent products,” said Dr. Claus Jessen, Board Member, Product Supply at Festo. “In the future, the indi-
vidual elements of an overall system will be able to communicate with each other and autonomously control and regulate themselves. They are the core of industrial digitalization and support the production process through enhanced functionality – from self-sufficient energy supply up to condition monitoring.”
Festo is working in close collaboration with its customers – it has 300,000 worldwide – to develop new concepts and business models – from the development of communication-capable components to their integration into modern automation environments.
Festo is relying on Industry 4.0 not only for its products, but also for its own production processes. Pilot projects have already been initiated at the new Scharnhausen Technology Plant. By putting new, relevant technologies into practice, the company is able to keep abreast of developments in the industry.
Dr. Claus Jessen
Dr. Eberhard Veit
Eaton’s Diamond Advantage hydraulic hose series is engineered to optimize pressure, temperature and abrasion while maintaining hose flexibility, fluid compatibility and ease of hose assembly. Pairing Eaton’s Diamond Advantage hoses with over 550 Eaton Z-Series hose fittings make it an excellent choice for your engineered hose assembly needs.
And, you can find Eaton Diamond Advantage hydraulic hoses at your local Motion Canada location. Our local sales and service specialists are experts in providing application and technical solutions, with the choices and expertise you need to stay up and running.
Role of education
The tasks of the human employee are also changing from merely operating machines to solving complex problems, said Dr. Veit. “In shaping the production of the future, Festo is strategically concentrating on a triad comprising new technologies, state-of-the-art training and further education, and the human at the focus of attention.”
The completely revamped Scharnhausen factory, which is Festo’s main production plant for valves, valve terminals and electronics, opened in September 2015 and employs 1,200. “We wanted it to be a reference factory for our customers,” said Stefan Schwerdtle, Head of Global Production Centre, Scharnhausen.
The human operator is and will remain the key element of modern production, but will be assigned more and more new tasks, said Dr. Jessen. “The role of the hu-
man within the industrial value creation process is now being transferred from that of a machinery operator to a problem-solver. New requirements will arise, for which employees will be prepared by means of appropriate education and training measures. To an increasing extent, education is becoming the key success factor,” he explained.
Employee learning plays a central role at the Scharnhausen Technology Plant. “We have integrated a Learning Factory into our plant, where we can convey teaching content in a practical way, directly on location,” said Dr. Jessen. “We believe learning is a continuous process.”
Courses are designed around the KISS principal, said Klaus Zimmermann, Head of Sales Region Germany Training and Consulting, Festo Didactic. “Keep it short and simple.” Many courses are simply one-point lessons, he said. They
range from 10-20 minutes to a maximum of two days. The topics can be as basic as how to use tools, how to save energy, or how to assemble a product.
Maintenance is proactive
“Every one of us in the factory is a customer and has a customer,” said Festo’s Stefan Labonde, head of materials management. The materials management team (which also manages equipment maintenance) meets every morning “to plan the perfect day.” Maintenance is a proactive function. A big part of the job is to reduce bottlenecks in production, he added.
“Our objective is to have the maximum availability of [production] machines,” said Florian Fuch, who works in the factory’s maintenance department. Maintenance employees carry tablet computers that show faults and can display the status and history of all production machines.
“We function as mobile maintenance specialists,” said Fuch. Maintenance goes to the problem, gets information from the operators, checks the availability of spare parts if needed and can access detailed instructions on the tablets. If there’s a tough problem, photographs can be sent directly to the machine’s manufacturer for troubleshooting assistance.
To make the work experience more comfortable for employees, the lighting in the factory shifts colour throughout each day. “It’s more blue in the morning, and more red later – just like real daylight,” said production worker Annette Ostertag.
The plant also offers four colourful creative rooms for ‘Ideenschmiede’ (roughly, idea smithing). They are equipped with computers, electronic whiteboards, comfortable seating – and coffee. The rooms are designed to foster a creative culture for those working on projects. “Employees can use them their own way to find new ideas,” said Zimmermann. “The rooms allow them to see things they have not seen before.”
For anyone visiting the Scharnhausen factory, it’s definitely an experience in seeing things not seen before. It’s on the leading edge of future technology for production, condition monitoring and education, and Festo’s open-door attitude means many others will be able to learn from its advances.
MRO
Bill Roebuck was the editor of Machinery & Equipment MRO from 1985 to 2015. He can be reached at broebuck@sympatico.ca.
The human operator in future plants will require new skills training to perform problem-solving tasks.
Grease theSkids
Enhancing electric motor performance through bearing lubrication.
BY ALAN SUAN
When it comes to optimizing the performance of your electric motors, bearing lubrication should be your top priority.
According to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), more than 50 per cent of electric motor failures are caused by bearing failures. These failures can lead to unnecessary downtime, increased costs, and reduced productivity, so it’s recommended that you follow bearing lubrication best practices to help enhance electric motor equipment reliability and performance. With that in mind, here are a few key tips to help you get started.
Choose the right lubricant
Grease is often used as the primary lubricant for electric motor bearings because it is easy to apply and offers better retention on rolling elements when compared with oil.
But, to select the right grease you must carefully consider your equip-
ment’s operating conditions. In general, electric motor bearings are subject to high temperatures, heavy loads and high speeds, requiring lubricants formulated specifically to withstand these harsh conditions.
Here are a few characteristics to look for in your electric motor greases:
• Viscosity: The oil viscosity should be appropriate for the load and speed of the application at operating temperature to help ensure maximum protection and component life. Most electric motors operating at 1,800 - 3,600 RPM prefer a grease with base oil viscosity of about 115 cSt @ 40° C. Motors operating faster or slower may prefer a different viscosity. Pay particular attention to motors with variable frequency drives (VFDs) as they may routinely run below their top speed and require a heavier viscosity.
• Consistency: A grease’s consistency is one of its most visible characteristics and is stated in terms of its National Lubricating Grease Institute (NLGI)
grade, which ranges from 000 to 6. The consistency of a grease matters as it impacts pumpability and the lubricant’s ability to reach the areas that require lubrication. An NLGI 2 grade is the most common for electric motors. High speed motors and vertical shaft motors may prefer NLGI 3.
• Oxidation Resistance: Electric motor greases need to have excellent resistance to oxidation, which can often occur at high speeds and high temperatures. ASTM D 3336 High Temperature Grease life test results help indicate grease performance under these extreme conditions.
• Extreme Pressure (EP): In general, it’s advisable to use a grease without extreme pressure additives. EP additives can shorten the life of the grease and should be avoided unless absolutely needed. Electric motors with frequent starts/stops, frequent low speed operation or with high thrust loads, shock loads or vibration may benefit from anti-wear or EP additives.
New technology is available that can obtain accurate motor analysis information—mechanical power, torque and speed—that can help predict failures and help avert unplanned downtime.
Download the free app note, “ Why you should add motor analysis to your maintenance routine,” to learn the 4 keys to understanding motor efficiency and causes for failure.
Download the FREE application note at fluke.com/motoranalysis
• Dropping Point: The dropping point indicates the temperature at which the grease will melt or the oil will catastrophically separate from the thickener. Since motors must achieve long grease life in service, they should operate substantially (>200 F°) below their drop point.
While well-formulated mineral greases can deliver equipment protection under normal conditions, synthetic greases can help deliver even greater protection, wider operating temperatures and longer grease life.
When to regrease electric motor bearings
Electric motors utilizing double-shielded or double-sealed bearings are typically of the lubricated-for-life design and do not require regreasing.
All other bearings should be periodically relubricated to replace grease that has deteriorated, leaked away, or become contaminated. The regreasing interval is influenced by a range of factors – including operating temperature, continuity of equipment service, quantity of grease in housing, and size and speed of bearing, among others. Determining when and how often to relubricate is not simple.
Typically, this decision is informed by the maintenance staff’s experience, as well as the equipment builder’s and grease supplier’s recommendations. There are also several industry methods used to determine the correct relubrication frequency, which can be found in guidebooks, such as the Practical Handbook of Machinery Lubrication. Regrease intervals for electric motors range from three months to two years with most doing well at six- to 12-month intervals. Work with your lubricant supplier or equipment builder to identify how best to determine the optimal relubrication interval so that you can make a fully informed decision.
Determining the correct amount of grease when lubricating bearings
Making sure you apply the correct amount of grease is important when initially greasing or regreasing bearings.
Insufficient amounts of grease can lead to wear, while too much can lead to overheating, seal damage or contamination of the windings. Both conditions can lead to
bearing and motor failure.
When determining the quantity of grease to be added to a bearing, two methods are frequently used:
1. One-half to 2/3 of the free space in the bearing when the operating speed is less than 50 per cent of the limiting speed of the bearing; or 1/3 to 1/2 of the free space when the speed is more than 50 per cent of the limiting speed of the bearing; or
2. Quantity of grease (g) = Outer bearing diameter (mm) X bearing width (mm) X 0.005, or Quantity (oz) = 0.114 X (bearing OD) in X (bearing width) in.
In addition to greasing the bearing itself, you should also pack the bearing housing with grease, as it acts as a grease reservoir.
But, how much grease should you put in the bearing housing?
• 30 per cent to 50 per cent fill: Suggested for very high speeds in order to reduce churning and overheating of the grease.
• 50 per cent to 75 per cent fill: Suggested for slow speeds, or in the absence of other methods of regreasing.
• Full pack: Suggested for particularly dirty environments.
It is recommended you work closely with your lubricant supplier for specific guidance.
When regreasing, it’s also important to consider a few best practices. For example, before applying, first check the amount of grease in the bearing by removing the fitting or grease plug and see if any excess grease is released. Then check the bearings and seals for any excess leakages.
Further, ahead of converting to a new grease, thoroughly flush out the previous grease to avoid compatibility issues.
Even if applying the same type of grease, purging can help ensure that the new grease can perform at an optimum level. In both cases, be careful that the purging does not result in over-packed bearings or seal damage.
Use technical services to monitor the health of your equipment
Finally, an effective electric motor maintenance program utilizes condition monitoring to evaluate equipment health in service and prevent or predict failures.
Vibration analysis is a highly effective tool for determining bearing health and identifying specific faults. It should be used to monitor all critical motor bearings.
Infrared analysis of the bearings is also an effective tool for monitoring bearing health. Happy bearings run cooler, so any increase in temperature could indicate wear or a lubricant issue. Too much grease will cause overheating from fluid friction within the grease. Monitoring temperature before and after lubrication can help ensure that practices do not result in over-greasing.
Ultrasonic vibration can indicate wear and has also been shown effective in determining regrease requirements. A skilled operator with an ultrasonic microphone-equipped grease gun can hear when the bearing has received the correct amount of grease.
Understanding and implementing the guidance provided in these tips, as well consulting your lubricant supplier to identify the best lubricant products and services for your operation, can help you enhance the performance of your electric motors to get the results you need. MRO
Alan Suan, Industrial Americas Marketing Advisor, ExxonMobil. For more information, visit www.mobilindustrial.com.
5ways to extend CNC spindle life
Early attention to performance issues and insisting on rebuild procedures can help machine tool operators keep their spindles on the job.
For most manufacturers, the productivity of their CNC equipment can be measured in fractions of seconds, including not only the cutting or grinding cycle times, but also the intervals between tool changes. The performance of the spindle – the workhorse of the CNC machine – has a dramatic impact on that productivity.
When operating problems, such as excessive vibration or chatter, hinders machining efficiency, productivity may be crippled until the spindle is replaced. If no spare is available, repairing or remanufacturing the spindle could take weeks and effectively putting a machine out of business in the meantime. Hence, getting longer life and optimum operating performance from spindles is a worthwhile economic goal for manufacturers.
The solution to getting higher performance and extended life from spindles on CNC machines is a combination of practices aimed at (1) preventing premature spindle failure and (2) after a failure occurs, insisting that the remanufacturer pro-
vides not only comprehensive CNC spindle repair services but can also provide modifications and operational recommendations that can ensure longer spindle wear life – even when run at higher speeds.
The following guidelines can help machine operators achieve those goals:
Identify when to repair – before failure
When a customer pulls a spindle it is typically because of part quality issues and/or intensified noise level.
“Noise often results from damaged bearings creating vibration that may eventually lead to chatter, a more severe vibration that feeds upon itself,” explains David Kirkpatrick, president of Superior Spindle Service (Taylor, MI), a company that specializes in rebuilding, grinding and machining of machine tool spindles. “Chatter often creates waves in machined surfaces to the point where the parts are out of tolerance and must be scrapped.”
Another immediate and serious consequence of chatter relates to spindle efficiency. Many manufacturers deal with chatter by setting their machining parameters low. Therefore, instead of tool strength and spindle horsepower defining the metal removal rate, chatter becomes the limiting factor that keeps the process from reaching its potential.
“Cutting tool chatter and spindle vibration are indicators that a spindle requires attention or a catastrophic failure can occur,” says Kirkpatrick, a CNC machine spindle expert with more than 30 years of experience.
In some cases, when vibration does not cause a part quality problem, operators have been known to run the machine until it catastrophically fails – a very expensive decision.
The solution for operators of CNC equipment is predictive
maintenance. This requires regular monitoring of operating parameters and maintaining disciplined, detailed records. For example, vibration analysis should be monitored and recorded at appropriate intervals, perhaps quarterly or even monthly.
“The frequency of vibration analysis depends on the application,” Kirkpatrick says. “The temperature of the spindle should also be monitored. It is important that an expert determine that the spindle should be switched out before parts go out of tolerance or motor damage occurs. Plus, if the spindle can be changed out over a weekend, the shop can avoid critical downtime.”
Look to a remanufacturing specialist
When CNC spindle repair or replacement is needed, a remanufacturing specialist can often provide more comprehensive spindle services, sometimes also including repair of related motors, encoders, proximity sensors and drawbars.
Some spindle remanufacturers, such as Superior Spindle Service, offer one-stop repair services. Because there is a direct relationship between spindle performance and the proper function of these other components, it is critical that the pre -
cision spindle repair facility be able to evaluate and service all spindle components.
The evaluation process begins with disassembly of a spindle that is out of spec or failed. In the evaluation it could include the motor –surge test, drawbar – retention force and all electronics (encoders, proximity sensors, bearing sensors, etc.).
“Service technicians should meticulously disassemble and check each spindle for adherence with the original manufacturer’s specifications,” Kirkpatrick explains. “This is followed by a geometric inspection using electronic measuring equipment that is repeatable within a micron. It is advantageous that a digital photo record be kept to ensure that all repair quotes and failure analysis reports are as accurate as possible. Next, grinding, machining and balancing should be performed by experienced technicians using advanced manufacturing equipment.”
It is essential that spindles are reassembled in a clean work environment. For example, at Superior Spindle Service a class 10,000 clean room is used for inspection and assembly. The clean room is designed to prevent any airborne contaminants and humidity from affecting spindle quality and performance
HIGH PERFORMANCE COMES STANDARD.
NSKHPS™ High Performance Standard Series Bearings
NSKHPS Series Bearings deliver a high performance standard for load capacities, limiting speeds and operating life across an expanded range of sizes. These bearings provide dramatically improved reliability and maintenance cost-efficiency across a vast array of industrial applications. Maximize operating life and minimize downtime - NSKHPS Series Bearings are designed to outperform and outlast in the toughest conditions.
Spindle runout testing ensures accuracy and alignment.
and further ensures that each spindle is returned to precise OEM specifications.
Look for kaizen-type innovation and improvements
Kirkpatrick says there is much room for kaizen-type improvement throughout the remanufacturing process. In one case his firm was working with a major automotive manufacturer who was experiencing excessive downtime – over 31 hours –each time they had to change a spindle.
Superior Spindle Services was able to extend spindle life by incorporating specific modifications. As a result, the customer’s average spindle downtime was reduced to less than 10 hours, an accomplishment for which the spindle remanufacturer received a Kaizen Award.
“In the manufacturing environment, if you can reduce the cycle time even a fraction of a second, it can make a big difference. So, with respect to a 20-plus hour downtime savings, that is monumental.”
Require failure reports
For every CNC spindle repair, customers should expect to have a detailed failure report including text and photos. “This process provides the customer with documentation of the rebuilder’s findings concerning the causes of failures,” says Kirkpatrick. “This is vital because it can help customers take corrective actions to prevent future failures.”
Kirkpatrick says that his firm also provides customers with recommendations that may increase spindle service life. In some cases, application engineers might suggest ceramic (silicon nitride) ball bearings be used to replace conventional steel ball bearings. The ceramic ball bearings have 30 per cent more mass than steel ball bearings and allow spindles to operate at
Expect advanced testing and verification
After spindles are remanufactured, it is vital they be thoroughly tested and verified. If related assemblies are in question, such as electronics or motors, those should be tested and verified as well.
“Advanced testing includes vibration analysis and running the spindle closed-loop on a Siemens or a Fanuc drive,” Kirkpatrick explains. “Our technicians also align encoders using special software. We also test motor thermistors, bearing thermistors and proximity sensors.”
Each rebuilt spindle needs to be thoroughly “run in” at the operating speeds as they were designed. Vibration analysis and temperatures are monitored throughout the run in procedure and may take up to 18 hours to complete. Before leaving the testing facility, detailed reports should be generated for verification by Quality Assurance Technicians.
To ensure minimal downtime and maximum productivity, the above-mentioned procedures will increase mean time between spindle failures. MRO
Reassemble
COUPLING PLATING
When hydraulic fittings rust, the base metal is eaten away by oxidation, eventually damaging the hydraulic system, contaminating fluids, compromising fittings and adjacent components, and creating leak paths.
72
MONEY, PUMP?
BY MICHAEL ASCHENBRENER
What does your spare parts budget look like in comparison to what you spend for new pumps? For example, are you ordering large numbers of diaphragm pump parts? Are your impellers lasting months instead of years? Does your mechanical seal fail after a month? Are your process pump bearings failing prematurely?
Frequent and costly process pumps repairs could very well be avoided with correct application and proper initial application along with routine maintenance. With the breadth of process pump types and materials, solutions for misapplications are usually a question away. Applications within any industry are as numerous as there are pumps to apply to them but the fluid theory, chemical resistance, and process knowledge required to correctly apply a pump to a process are consistent. We have gathered key indicators of misapplication, considerations to make, and real-life case studies that will assist you in evaluating your current repair, maintenance and installation practices.
Key indicators of operating error
When troubleshooting a pump, there are signs to look for that are may give you an idea of what could be wrong or at least when to call in the specialist for help. If you detect any of the below, take action before further time or money is lost.
Premature failure of wear parts within a pump or system
• Diaphragm leaks/ general seal leakage or leakage of any kind
• Heat from motor/pump
• Vibration from motor/pump
• Bearing failures
• Uneven coupling or hub wear patterns/ misalignment/poor base support
• Noise/grinding
• Pressure drop on discharge side – efficiency loss
• Pressure drop on inlet side – loss of NPSH that could result in cavitation
• Change in motor AMP draw
Inconsistent process results/unequal flows and pressures
• Impeller trim is not to specification
• Piping adjustments (change in size, angle, orientation)
• Unapproved system changes/adjustments
• Hasty and incorrect changes to process/pump to get up and running (using what is available, not what is needed for the application)
• Pump performance does not meet expectation
• Undocumented changes
Considerations to make when selecting a pump for your application
Different styles of pumps are manufactured for specific purposes; there is not a one-size-fits-all pump. Several factors have to be known before making the best pump selection:
Material to be transferred – This includes the fluid, media within the fluid of a slurry, solids, hardness of solids and size, specific gravity, PH, temperature and viscosity.
Seal information – What sealing method is currently being used? What setup do they have – single or double seal? Flushed or non-flushed? Is it a packed pump?
Discharge pressures taken at the flange in PSI or if not available, pump operating conditions from pump identification tag.
Discharge conditions – What does the piping system on the discharge side include? How long is the pipe run? Flanges, elbows, vertical piping run, horizontal piping run, open or closed discharge setup?
Is the system’s NPSHa equal or greater than the pumps NPSHr?
Suction conditions – Is the piping setup correctly on the feed side of the pump? Does the pump need to have self-priming capabilities? Is the piping setup correctly to prevent pulling a vortex?
Has the pump been sized to run at a single constant speed or will the system require operation across variable speeds?
Real Life Case Studies
As you will see from the various scenarios below, selecting the right pump is just one part of a successful pump solution. In each case, the key indicators mentioned above were part of the analysis in coming to the solution.
Case Study #1
Industry: Food and beverage
Application: Process tank circulation system
Type of Pump: End Suction Centrifugal Problem: Improper identification of impeller trim. When the process pump was ordered, there was no impeller trim identified, so a full size impeller was used instead of being trimmed to specification.
Fix: The application information was used to check the pump curve to determine correct impeller trim (size). After further inspection, the impeller was trimmed to meet the customer’s specifications for their operating conditions. With the change, the customer was able to identify and correct inefficiencies within their process.
Case Study #2
Industry: Food and beverage
Application: Transferring viscous candy product
Type of Pump: Circumferential Piston Pump
Problem: The mechanical seal taken
and protect cables and hoses in robotic applications with Triflex® R three dimensional cable carriers and retraction systems. Available from stock. Ask us for a free sample!
from the customer’s inventory was not what was required for the current food product application. The candy product batch was ruined when the wrong seal failed and pieces of the seal went into the process line.
Fix: The correct seals were selected and marked, a system was set in place to make sure that spare parts were labeled to work only with a specific pump. The fix allowed the customer to improve their process implementation while simultaneously improving their uptime.
Case Study #3
Industry: Mining
Application: Transferring gray water
Type of Pump: AODD
Problem: Initially using an FKM (Fluoroelastomer) for water applications, the customer wanted an all-purpose elastomer. They went with a higher chemical resistance elastomer, FKM. However, using FKM with the gray water caused the diaphragms to delaminate and the AODD pump to fail.
Fix: The customer was guided to change to Buna elastomers for pumping gray water. The change saved the customer money and downtime.
Case Study #4
Industry: Automotive Application: Fluid dispersion management system
Type of Pump: AODD (Air Operated
Double Diaphragm)
Problem: The customer bought parts to repair their AODD pump, and incorrectly installed diaphragm backwards, which resulted in more downtime, labour costs and expediting charges.
Fix: The customer brought in pump repair training (hosted by Motion Industries), so that their maintenance personnel would be able to troubleshoot in-house and repair their own pumps for an increase in uptime – and saving money.
Case Study #5
Industry: Pulp and paper Application: Transferring Propylene Glycol
Type of Pump: End Suction Centrifugal Problem: The suction specific speed was too great, resulting in numerous impeller failures and higher spare parts costs, downtime, and labour costs for repair. Fix: The replacement impellers were sized per the application and balanced before being placed into service. The customer was able to save on downtime and the cost of purchasing numerous impellers.
Case Study #6
Industry: Heavy manufacturing Application: Oil Transfer for cooling towers
Type of Pump: Gear
Problem: The customer was having bearing and mechanical seal failures in a new pump. Several bearings and seals
were purchased to keep the pump operational. Upon further inspection, it was determined that the motor and pump were incorrectly aligned.
Fix: The customer re-aligned the pump and motor to the coupling specifications, resulting in several years of successful operation without seal or bearing failures. The identification of the alignment issue resulted in creation of a standard operating procedure of checking alignment for all pumps/motor skids before placing them into service.
Case Study #7
Industry: Heavy Manufacturing Application: Chill water transferring
Type of Pump: ANSI – Centrifugal
Problem: This case study had two problems. First, the customer was dissatisfied with the short life of the pump couplings for the application. Second, within the same application, the process pump was giving off a loud popping sound. From its initial sizing, the customer confirmed they had enough NPSHa for the selected pump, but in reality they did not have enough supply.
Fix: The proper coupling was identified for the specific application and was installed and aligned. The loud popping noise was due to cavitation. To match the NPSHr, a variable frequency drive (VFD) was used to reduce the speed of the pump to meet the accurate NPSHa. A point to note: your NPSHa can fluctuate and the minimum available should be used when selecting the pump. The repairs corrected both issues, resulting in reduced coupling failure and no cavitation. The cost of the parts was reduced, and uptime was increased.
What’s the point to all of this? Saving money and maximizing productivity is a must for businesses in this ever-changing global market. When a problem is detected, don’t ignore the signs. With a little detective work and by asking the right questions, you can save money and increase uptime. Proper monitoring of your equipment and taking the corrective actions when needed will save you money in parts, labour and downtime. MRO
Michael Aschenbrener is Motion Industries’ Process Pumps & Equipment Branch Manager, and can be contacted at Michael.Aschenbrener@MotionIndustries.com. For more information, visit www.MotionIndustries.com as well as Mi Process Pumps Specialist, Motion Industries’ newest knowledge site.
THE POWEROF BR
Discover the future of fluid power at IFPE 2017. If you’re looking for advanced technologies and product innovations in hydraulic and pneumatic systems and applications, then 350+ manufacturers and suppliers are here to show you their best. Through live demos and one-on-one expert guidance, IFPE 2017 brings you the most groundbreaking advances for enhancing performance, boosting efficiencies and containing costs—all in one eye-opening place.
Agroup of heavyhitters took to the stage at this year’s MainTrain conference, which was held in Toronto (September 19 – 22). The annual conference, organized by the Plant Engineering and Maintenance Association of Canada (PEMAC), is Canada’s largest maintenance and physical asset management conference and a veritable site for professional development and networking. This year’s conference theme was “Sustainable, Effective, Evolving.”
During the Counterpoint panel, three pairs of debaters were asked to argue perspectives on three topics. Each team was in the hot seat for 20 minutes before opening the floor to questions. A live poll at the end of the session gave the audience a chance to weigh in on whether they were swayed by the panellists’ perspectives. (See poll results on page 40.)
Counterpoint columnists, Mark Barnes and Jeff Smith, tackled the topic: “A comprehensive preventive maintenance program will result in lower maintenance costs every time,” while Boudewijn Neijens, CMO at Copperleaf, Paul Daoust, Lead Engineer, Ops Integrity, TransAlta, elected to present a spoof on the topic, “Where will asset management deliver the biggest bang for the buck for companies that implement it?”
What follows is an edited transcript of the debate presented by Susan Lubell, Principal, Steppe Consulting Inc., and Cliff Williams, Corporate Maintenance Manager, ERCO Worldwide. Their question: “What is more important, a focus on reliability, or a focus on maintenance?
“What is more important, a focus on reliability or a focus on maintenance practices?”
BY REHANA BEGG
Susan
Lubell Steppe Consulting
Inc.
The Case for Maintenance
Let’s think about this from the point of view of why it is more important to cover maintenance practices. Asset management is about getting value from our assets. What does that mean? It actually means we have to know what assets we own; we need to know what condition they are in; and what value they bring to our organization. This is from the perspective of safety, health, the environment, regulatory, production or economics. These are all of the things we need to know if we are going to drive value from our assets. How do we maintain those assets to get the maximum value out of it? Do you hear the word reliability there? I only hear maintenance. So, how do we do this? We get back to the fundamentals of our maintenance practices. We need our asset registry, we need to be able to find those pieces of equipment, we need to have our planning and scheduling, our work identification, we need to have our PMs – our predictive maintenance – and we need to have that all set up. There’s no point in doing fancy analytics when the underlying data isn’t there, and no need to apply accuracy and precision that isn’t there to begin with. I think we need to get back to the fundamentals of our maintenance practices by doing our basics well.
The Case for Reliability
Cliff Williams Corporate Maintenance Manager, ERCO Worldwide
Sue, you’re right! But hang on a minute, I just thought about something: How many people are involved in maintenance? You’re going to get involved whether you like it or not. In how many organizations is maintenance the service department? How many people have operations as their customers? This is where the rubber hits the road. Are they really our customers? Are we really a service to these people? When we think about maintenance practices – Sue described it perfectly – we really have to get the fundamentals right. And if we get
HYDRAULIC FLUIDS WITH THE POWER TO PROTECT
SYN LUBE SERIES 32-68 100%
• High Performance, 100% Synthetic, Polyalphaolefin (PAO)-Based Fluids.
• Provides extended drain intervals and excellent compatibility with seals.
• Available in ISO Viscosity Grades 32, 46 and 68.
HO SERIES HYDRAULIC OILS PETROLEUM
• Premium Quality, Petroleum-Based Hydraulic Oils (ISO Grades 32-100).
• Anti-wear fortified to protect hydraulic system components.
• High aniline points ensure long seal life with fewer leaks.
SFGO ULTRA SERIES 32-68 NSF H1
• NSF H1 Registered and NSF ISO 21469 Certified - Food Machinery Grade.
• High Performance, 100% Synthetic, Polyalphaolefin (PAO)-Based Fluids.
• Available in ISO Viscosity Grades 32, 46 and 68.
SYNXTREME FRH1-46
• High Performance, FM Approved, Fire Resistant Hydraulic Fluid.
• NSF H1 Registered and NSF ISO 21469 Certified - Food Machinery Grade.
that right, and we implement a comprehensive maintenance program, we’d be perfect. Except…
What percentage of failures would you guess were attributed to poor or lack of maintenance? Would you venture 80 per cent, 90 per cent, 70, per cent, or 50 per cent? When Dupont did a study (there are a number of studies, but this is the one I am familiar with), they looked at reliability and failure of their equipment. They found that number to be around 25 per cent.
So, if we have this absolutely perfect maintenance department, and everything is perfect, we are going into 25 per cent of our problems stemming from maintenance. So should we focus on maintenance, or should we focus on reliability?
Who is involved with reliability? If 25 per cent belongs to maintenance, who does the rest belong to? Well, we have good operators, with good SOPs [standard operating procedures]. They never ever push the button before they’re supposed to! They never open a valve too late!
At one plant I said to the maintenance lead, “Give me your plan for next year.” He said, “We spend $80K on mechanical seals.” I said, “How do you figure that out?” He said, “Someone is going to leave a valve closed, and when we start up there will be no cooling water… I don’t know when, but it’s going to happen.”
This illustrates the huge impact on reliability when operators don’t run equipment properly, and don’t operate properly. Getting back to a question that was brought up in the previous debate: Where does design fit in? I can bring out photographs that show man-made covers that are underneath stairwells, with valves up in the air that need to be calibrated, and
a great design team that says, “Yeah, we saved some money.” I know of an instance where we put in 100 valves, knowing that they were problematic. When I asked the project manager why he put them in, he said, “Because we would have gone over budget and it would cost my project.”
So that was driving reliability. What we need to focus on is partnerships, by talking to each other and working together. For those of you who work as a service group within your organization, why not turn that around and say, I am going to be a partner from now on. If you can work with that, you can build and change the culture towards collaboration. And you can improve the culture much more by improving reliability more so than you can by concentrating on maintenance.
Duke it out!
The poll results following the MainTrain 2016 debates.
1. An investment in a comprehensive maintenance program will result in lower maintenance costs every time
3. Where will asset management deliver the biggest bang for the buck for companies that implement it?
For more than 80 years, Autogard® products have led the industry in overload protection. Autogard’s full line of torque limiters can be customized to fit customers’ ever changing application needs and are ideal for use in heavy-duty and specialty engineered components. Autogard Torque Limiters provide equipment protection, accurate torque limitation, instantaneous disengagement, rapid reset, reduced downtime and increased life of system components.
And, you can find Rexnord Autogard Torque Limiters at your local Motion Canada location. Our local sales and service specialists are experts in application and technical support, providing the parts and the know-how you need to stay up and running.
AUDIENCE QUESTION
Len Middleton Consultant, Asset Management Solutions
Back to Sue’s point. I appreciate the effectiveness versus the efficiency principle in general, but at what point do we have to be effective? Do we have to be 100 per cent effective? Or is 95 per cent close enough before I can work on efficiency? With a limited number of resources, where do I prioritize?
SL: You don’t have to be 100 per cent perfect. You need to focus on the effectiveness of the work you’re doing, or you’re taking all those valuable resources – whether they’re people or dollars that you’re putting on things that add value to your organization – and driving the max value out of your assets.
CW: There’s a saying that goes: It’s difficult to remember that the goal of the exercise is to drain the swamp when you’re up to your armpits in alligators. Sometimes you have to kill some alligators in order to become efficient at draining the swamp. So there is a balance point. When you get there – when you’re in control of more things than you’ve lost control of – then you can optimize. But initially, you have to become effective. MRO
MainTrain 2017 will be hosted in Saskatoon. For information, visit www.pemac.org.
IThe ERP Challenge
A push for accurate MRO data.
BY PETER PHILLIPS
This month, in our ongoing coverage of an ERP/MRP implementation of a building material manufacturing facility, we dig into the largest piece of master data, namely, spare parts.
We will need four to six months to capture and format all the stock and non-stock items. The facility that we are working with is just one of the building material manufacturer’s 26 plants that compiled their Spare Parts (MRO) data during the first six months of this year. Each plant submitted their completed lists at the end of June. The plants submitted between 3,000 and 5,000 spare parts in their storerooms, in addition to more than 1,000 non-stock parts they purchase when needed.
The ERP implementation team provided an MRO template that was populated by each individual plant. The spreadsheet captured all the necessary Spare Part (MRO) data that will populate the new ERP system. The template included columns for item number, item description, manufacturer, manufacturer number, vendor, vendor part number and price and reorder points.
Every site had to work with its suppliers to obtain missing manufacturer or vendor information. In some cases, working with the suppliers was a painful experience.
Here’s why: The building material manufacturer has a list of preferred vendors from whom every plant is required to purchase MRO parts. The company arranged to have the preferred vendors’ corporate offices work directly with the plants to help populate the data in the template. Each preferred vendor assigned a corporate team to update the spreadsheets with missing information the plant did not have available. This was done because the local vendor branches did not have the resources to process the massive amount of data each plant would have. (Bear in mind that every plant would have up to 6,000 stock and nonstock parts that need to be listed in the spreadsheet.)
Unfortunately, neither the plant nor the local vendor branches were informed about the corporate routing and processing of the MRO data. In the end, this caused a two-month delay in the preparation of the MRO data. As a consequence, many plants struggled to meet the submission deadline and the integrity of the data was not the best.
In addition, the MRO data collected was not properly or accurately collected. In some plants new maintenance personnel or temporary hires were assigned to construct the MRO list. Many of the lists were downloaded from the plants’ current CMMS program. Due to the staff’s lack of knowledge with the stockroom inventory and the CMMS, the MRO lists were inaccurate. Although the templates fields were populated, data was incorrect in some cases.
The lessons to be learned here are:
• Make sure every plant knows of special arrangements made with corporate vendor offices. Have conference calls with the plants, have one-on-one calls with the individuals preparing the list and email specific instructions and documents to those involved in the MRO data collection.
• Make sure the people assigned to the collection and popu-
– Part 3
lation of the spare part data has an in-depth knowledge of plant inventory and their current CMMS.
• Dedicate a person or team to collect the data and give them at least six months to prepare the list.
In the next issue, we focus on the format of the MRO data and developing the equipment list for the new ERP. Just like all the master data being prepared for the new ERP, every piece of information needs to have standard nomenclatures to indentify inventory. These standards need to be set by the ERP team.
Before and after you Go-Live, your master data integrity needs to be monitored. When we look at MRO/spare part data, we know that parts will be continually added and updated in the software. We will need a method to monitor new data added to the system. Gatekeepers – the individuals who are charged with enforcing ERP master data standards – need to perform two important functions for the spare part master data.
First, they need to cleanse the spare part data submitted by the plants. They must review the integrity of the data, ensure that all columns in the template are populated and they need to check and correct the description standard formats.
Second, they must maintain and monitor the MRO data additions and updates after the plants’ Go-Live with the new ERP.
A couple of ways to manage master data:
Have a corporate person or group manage the data entry process. Any additions or updates to MRO data must be approved by the corporate gatekeeper before it is accepted into the ERP. Depending on the size of the corporation, this may or may not be feasible. Changes in economic conditions, changes in corporate structure and changes in staff play an important role in sustaining a strong and reliable gatekeeping function. An alternative is to contract an outside vendor to manage the MRO data flowing into your ERP. Our client used a company called SparesFinder (sparesfinder.com). They are currently processing the spare part data submitted by the plants. In the process, they have cleansed the data, assigned manufacturer names and manufacturer numbers where there were none. They formatted all the part descriptions and provided a website where the plants can check and accept their data. After Go-Live they will continue to manage the MRO part of the ERP. The Sparesfinder software links directly to the company’s ERP and all changes must filter through sparesfinder personnel.
Regardless of your approach, managing this process is definitely needed before and after Go-Live. The entry of spare part information must be controlled. The gatekeeper function must be integrated into your implementation plan and maintained forever. The cost of purchasing and implementing a new ERP system is expensive. ERP life scans with software updating are estimated at 20 years, so long-term plans to manage the master data must be in place. MRO
Peter Phillips of Trailwalk Holdings, a Nova Scotia-based maintenance consulting and training company, can be reached at 902-798-3601 or by email at peter@trailwalk.ca.
COMO CHEAT SHEET
Seven simple condition monitoring questions and answers
BY DOUGLAS MARTIN
Condition Monitoring is the practice of monitoring the changing of a machine or asset conditions to provide some insight into its health. The conditions monitored are typically vibration levels, temperature, ultrasonic noise and oil condition, which do not require the machine to be stopped. Other conditions could be shaft play, bearing clearance or component clearance. Although these measures are focused on prevention of failure, you can also measure such things as current draw, head pressure, or flow, which monitors whether the machine, such as a pump or motor, is functioning efficiently.
What is the right bearing temperature?
For the most part, the “right” bearing temperature is not about the bearing. Instead,
it is about the other components in the system and most importantly, the lubricant and seals. Buna N (nitrile) seals are typically limited to 100ºC and a typical lithium grease is limited to 120°C. The critical issue with the lubricant is whether the lubricant will deliver an appropriate lubricant film (viscosity) at the operating temperature.
However, what is of most importance, is the change in temperature, not the absolute temperature. For instance, if the machine was running along at 40°C for a year, and the temperature rises to 80°C in the span of a week, then there is a problem that needs to be investigated despite meeting the criteria above.
What does vibration tell me?
Vibration can be broken into two general measures, velocity and acceleration. ISO
10816-3 describes typical machine limits for running in both velocity and acceleration. A high velocity level is generally about an overall mechanical issue, such as unbalance or misalignment, whereas a high acceleration reading is about a problem with a component such as a bearing or gear.
As with temperature, the change in condition is more important than the actual magnitude. That being said, one would expect that the machine to start at a smooth running level as per the ISO standard and have no appar ent component damage like a bearing race damage.
What about ultrasonics?
Much like the acceleration lev el of a vibration, ultrasonics provide information on the condition of higher speed com ponents such as bearings.
What can oil condition tell me?
Oil analysis can tell one the level of contamination (both particle and fluid) in the oil, the level of wear on the me chanical components, as well as the health of the oil.
The level of particulate con tamination can indicate the effectiveness of the seals in the machine. Moisture con tamination will also indicate the effectiveness of the seals but could also indicate the effectiveness of the breathers in the machine.
ure” strategy. A proper criticality analysis should be done on a facility to determine, based on resources, which assets should have condition monitoring. In addition, that criticality analysis should also give direction to the condition monitoring technique, either singly or in combination with
can be collected manually by technicians, on a route-based program or continuously. There is a fair number of tools that can be used in the collection of condition data. An operator-driven reliability (ODR) program integrates the daily routine of an operator with the condition-based
What about all that data?
As more assets are monitored, more data is generated. Computer applications are especially helpful in deciding what data is important to take action on. MRO
By analyzing the elements of the wear particles in the oil, the amount of wear of specific components can be measured and gives warning of a future failure.
The acid level of the oil is helps guage the age of the oil.
Should all assets have CoMo?
Although condition monitoring is a high maturity level for a maintenance program, it is most important with the most critical assets. Many assets are fine with a “run to fail-
One source: your partner for pumps, valves and service
KSB is your single source for all pumping needs. Our pump experts help ensure the best possible solution for every job, no matter if it’s selecting a new pump, stocking up on spare parts, or remanufacturing a long-service veteran. Ask us how you can bene t from our exceptional products, advice and service on your next project.
KSB Pumps Inc. info@ksbcanada.com • www.ksb.ca You can also visit us at: www.ksb.com/socialmedia
Our technology. Your success. Pumps ■ Valves ■ Service
What’s new in Condition Monitoring …
Ultrasonic testing device for Maintenance 4.0
Using the Sonaphone device from Sonotec, maintenance personnel can see and hear everything that happens in the ultrasonic frequency range from 20 to 100 kHz. Whereas with comparable ultrasonic testing devices it is possible only to find leaks in compressed air and gas systems, the Sonaphone also makes it possible to assess their size.
www.spectrum-instruments.com
Monitor weld purge at a low cost
Weld Purge Monitors are essential instruments to help obtain non-oxidized, zero colour welds. By measuring the oxygen content before, during and after welding, high quality welds are achieved when welding metals such as stainless, chrome and duplex steels as well as titanium and nickel alloys.
Take accurate leakage current measurements
Huntingdon Fusion Techniques HFT’s PurgEye 100 can help to eliminate the significant post weld cleaning costs that occur when the oxygen level has not been monitored correctly during welding.
www.huntingdonfusion.com
Leakage current can cause intermittent GFCI and RCD tripping of circuits, so quantifying it is an important part of a preventive maintenance program. The Fluke 368 FC and 369 FC Leakage Current Clamps help identify, document, record, and compare leakage current readings. The rugged meters have large diameter jaws (40 mm for the 368 FC; 61 mm for the 369 FC) for work with oversize conductors. www.fluke.com
What’s new in drive systems …
Online heater selection tool
The new SKF online heater selection tool introduces an easy, convenient, and highly accessible resource to make the right pick among heater technologies for mounting or dismounting bearings and similar work pieces in an application. Based on a bearing’s designation or input of key parameters, the tool chooses the appropriate heater for a job, including electric hot plate, induction heaters and fixed induction heaters. Suitable heaters are grouped into “mounting” and “dismounting” families for quick reference. www.mapro.skf.com/heaterselect
Pick the right timing belt
Brecoflex Co., LLC., a leader in the polyurethane timing belts, offers an exclusive, patented timing belt system allowing the customer to quickly and easily attach profiles or product nests of any material directly to the belt. Install, replace or exchange profiles while the belt is in place. ATC technology enables the capability for a field connection using simple hand tools.
www.brecoflex.com
Scalable drive system
Whether for electric, hydraulic or hybrid drive solutions, IndraDrive ML is the most scalable drive system in terms of power, performance control and connectivity. The new IndraDrive ML from Bosch Rexroth is a modular inverter that can individually power from 110kW up to 500 kW. Up to eight devices can be connected in parallel for power up to 4 MW – the only drive solution to offer megawatt power from one source.
www.boschrexroth.ca
Flexible drive unit for heavyduty applications
This special pump drive from Stiebel-Getriebebau ensures a high performance and efficient drive from the diesel engine – with a Pmax = 565 kW, Tmax = 3,300 Nm and n1max = 2,000 RPM – in the new DH 910 SA precision chipper from Doppstadt. With its height of 1,020 mm, width of 750 mm and weight of around 450 kg, the type 4660 special pump drive seamlessly integrates into the compact overall concept of the mobile chipper.
www.stiebel.de
Gates branched and silicone coolant hoses
Gates expands domestic and import coverage, including several for Ford and GM Light Trucks, with 70 new coolant hoses. These include 12 branched hoses with factory quality connectors for OE fit. This coverage expansion also includes seven molded heavy-duty silicone hoses that are OEexact and ideal for the extremely high temperature applications for which they are applied.
Gates.com
Improve hydrocyclone process control, damper actuation and water filtration
Festo recently featured its DFPI NB3s linear actuator with optional integrated position controller at MINExpo International 2016 in Las Vegas. The precise positioning of dart valves by DFPI actuators produces greater yield and higher profitability for mining operations. These actuators are rated at IP 65 to 69 K for harsh environments. www.festo.com
Long coupled clutch/brakes reduce motor shaft and keyway damage
Posidyne long coupled C-Face clutch brakes from Force Control Industries are an excellent option for high cycle (50 to 300 CPM) applications because they eliminate the damage to keyways and motor shafts that commonly occur. The long coupled Posidyne clutch brake offers both the simplicity of C-Face mounting, and the tight fitting coupling. A coupling that is shrink fitted or clamped to both shafts for a 360° connection transfers the torque through the shaft and not just the key. www.forcecontrol.com
Metric rigid couplings with step bores
Ruland has expanded its line of rigid couplings to include metric sizes with step bores. This gives equipment manufacturers designing precision servo driven systems or shaft-to-shaft connections a wider range of standard in-stock options.
The couplings, supplied with a proprietary coating called Nypatch to resist vibration and maintain holding power, are available in one- and two-piece clamp styles with or without keyways for superior fit and holding power.
www.ruland.com
A turbine fluid designed to prevent varnish and sludge build-up
Many turbines, especially gas turbines that have a common turbine and hydraulic reservoir, operate at extremely high temperatures with intermittent starts and stops, which can accelerate oxidation – the leading cause of varnish formation and deposition – and thermal degradation of the turbine fluid.
Petro-Canada Lubricants has launched Turboflo LV, which addresses these problems directly to improve fluid and equipment performance. By minimizing harmful accumulation, Turboflo LV optimizes equipment performance and reliability. lubricants.petro-canada.com
Low-pressure seal-less pumps
Wanner Engineering’s Q155 Series Quintuplex seal-less pumps (low pressure models) are designed for a variety of applications including reverse osmosis in water and wastewater treatment, mine dewatering, saltwater disposal, salt water injection and steam generation. Featuring a seal-less, multiple-diaphragm design, Q155 pumps eliminate hazardous VOC emissions and cleanup and disposal costs of packed-pump leakage. The design also eliminates the need for external lubrication and maintenance as well as plunger wear problems associated with packing. www.hydra-cell.com
Surge-anticipating valves
Singer Valve, a manufacturer of control valves, has added two surge-anticipating valves to MetroH2O, a free online education tool for control valves. Surgeanticipating valves are used whenever there is a possibility of dangerous surges due to power failures or pumping issues. The 106 RPS – L&H Surge Anticipating Relief Valve is mounted in a tee, downstream of the pump check valves. The 106 RPS – R&R Surge Anticipating Relief Valve is perfect for applications where static pressure is less than 100ft or 30m and where existing valve size may be too big.
www.singervalve.com
You need best in class products. You want affordable prices. You require quick and reliable delivery. WE ARE THE ENGINEERS OF PRODUCTIVITY.
If a product in our catalogue or online shop is marked with a star, then you know it has been selected by our experts for its outstanding features and performance – the standard product range. Our standard product range promises:
• a global product range
• quick deliveries – outstanding availability
• optimal price/performance
Portable dewatering and sludge pumps
Allegro Industries offers four models of dewatering and sludge pumps, which offer continuous operation at low water levels and extended dry runs without overheating the motor. These portable, submergible pumps are excellent for manholes, vaults, construction sites, and all dewatering needs. The DC Submersible Dewatering Pump is a totally enclosed, submersible dewatering unit. Watertight o-ring seals keep the pump’s internal parts completely dry and it delivers up to 43 gallons per minute (gpm) for rapid dewatering and instant prime.
www.allegrosafety.com
Pneumatic Connections
Sanitary, high-intensity continuous blender
A new sanitary, high-intensity continuous blender, Model HIM-124-S316, from Munson Machinery provides low to high shear as required for high-speed blending and homogenizing of dry solids, agglomerates, slurries or pastes when processing food, chemicals, pharmaceuticals or other contamination-sensitive materials. Homogeneous blends can be achieved in as little as 20 seconds residence time depending on material characteristics, at throughput rates to 5.7 m3/h. Liquids can also be added in small to large amounts through optional injection ports for de-dusting and agglomerating of dry materials, as well as for producing pastes, emulsions and slurries.
No drip spray nozzle conserves liquid, fits in tight spaces
Exair’s patented 1/4 NPT No Drip Internal Mix deflected flat fan atomizing spray nozzle atomizes fluid and sprays at a right angle to the nozzle orientation. This allows spray to be placed precisely where it is needed when the mounting and work areas are limited. This new nozzle works in the same way Exair’s standard atomizing nozzles do, but has the added benefit of positively stopping liquid flow when compressed air is shut off. www.exair.com/ndsmad.htm
Turbo Pressure Blowers
Howden American Fan Company offers a line of turbo pressure blowers, ideal for higher pressure systems in combustion air, air pollution control, textile fibre stripping, recycling applications, as well as countless chemical, pulp and paper, glass, and food processing industry applications. Howden offers turbo pressure blowers for pressures to 80 inches static pressure water gauge (SPWG), with capacities up to 8000 cubic feet per minute (CFM). The fans are available with a wide variety of materials, wheel types, fan arrangements and sensors. www.americanfan.com
Be
Erica Mazza, CMMS specialist, Region Municipality of Durham, asks: “Should reliability drive our maintenance strategy? Or vice versa?”
Cliff Williams, Corporate Maintenance Manager, ERCO Worldwide, responds: “It would probably be vice versa. A lot of the things, when you look at reliability, happens in the inherent reliability of equipment. The costs that determine 85 per cent of lifecycle costs are determined in the design and installation stage. So, starting up with a focus on reliability will drive maintenance best practices. Use a holistic tool such as RCM. If it’s not holistic, prepare for challenges... The story I tell about that is: There’s an orchestra that plays on cruise ships. They’ve won the best orchestra of the year award and they’re pumped. They say, ‘We’re going to work on the greatest cruise ship.’ Once they’re on it, they look over the side of the ship only to see it says, ‘Titanic.’ They are the best cruise ship orchestra, but the ship is going down! Moral of the story? Stop playing and start pedalling. The plan has to be holistic; it has to be driven with the goals of the organization in mind. Asset management is the new term that depends on strategic objectives.”
Source: MainTrain 2016.
MACHINERY AND EQUIPMENT PRICE INDEX
The Machinery and Equipment Price Index (MEPI) provides quarterly estimates of price changes for machinery and equipment purchased by industries in Canada. Here’s what’s happening in the second quarter of 2016.
• MEPI decreased 5.4% in the second quarter, following a 2.4% increase in the first quarter.
6.5 %
• The import component was down 6.5% over the period, while the domestic component decreased 1.9%
Year-over-year change
• The total MEPI increased 4.0% in the second quarter compared with the same quarter of 2015. The purchase price of machinery and equipment has risen year over year every quarter since the first quarter of 2013.
• The import component increased 4.7%, and the domestic component was up 1.8%. The movement in the import component was partly influenced by the year-over-year depreciation of the Canadian dollar (-4.6%) against the U.S. dollar in the second quarter.
Source: CANSIM table 327-0055
Mr. 0, The Practical Problem
Solver
Where’s your data?
Many maintenance teams still rely on paper notebooks or log books to store measurements from equipment, preventive maintenance checks (PMs) and even work orders. But errors can creep in during transcription or from reading poor handwriting. Paper records also degrade, take up a lot of space and are difficult to share across plants or offices. Spreadsheets are better but can be cumbersome to navigate and don’t work well on mobile phones. Neither can easily store visual data such as thermal images. Having the right data organized in one place – in the cloud –and available to detect a change in the condition of a piece of equipment is incredibly valuable. Teams can prioritize their work and avoid failures and unnecessary planned maintenance. Correlating measurements – for example, power monitoring plus thermal images, or vibration followed by thermal – dramatically speed up decision making. Wireless tools that can save data and upload to the cloud along with webbased software platforms allow data sharing with everyone on a team as well as between departments and between teams and their management. Teams and managers have comprehensive and meaningful data they can use to assess machine health and identify deterioration over time. Indeed, experts say 25 per cent of a maintenance team’s time should be spent on predictive activities. Perhaps with the latest innovations in test tools and software services you can say goodbye to your notebooks.
This issue’s tip came from Frederic Baudart, Fluke Connect product specialist. Reach him at frederic.baudart@ fluke.com.
From farm to table...
Whether your equipment is in the field or factory, you need the right bearings to keep things moving
NTN has the perfect bearing for every application in agriculture and food processing
SmartCheck
The palm-sized condition monitoring breakthrough that can help you avoid costly machine downtime!
FAG SmartCheck takes condition monitoring to a whole new level of convenience and portability:
Intuitive
Plug & play convenience means SmartCheck is ready to go right out of the box with preinstalled monitoring configurations.
Innovative
Compact, baseball-sized design goes where you need it. SmartCheck can be accessed via the internet or smartphonesupported apps.
Scalable
Configuration can be expanded and monitoring functions can be extended to multiple units.
Versatile
Perfect for monitoring equipment such as electric and geared motors, pumps, gearboxes, fans, spindles and machine tools & much more.
Turn your machine into a “smart” machine with FAG SmartCheck and stop breakdowns before they occur!
