OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
The mCore SDR
Reliability and good component life is no accident, explains Angus Lay
removed due to excessive blowby and poor condition?” Both engines were fi tted to the same make and model of machine operating at the same site, both had the same operating conditions and maintenance strategies, yet Engine B fell well short of its target life. Review of the condition-monitoring data showed oil samples were normal until the engine developed signs of blow-by and the downloads from the machine showed no OEM alarms that would have contributed to the early deterioration. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? T ere had to be some sort of underlying condition that reduced the component life but what was it? A common misconception is that because there are no OEM alarms, the machine is running normally and in a healthy way. Let’s unpack the underlying causes for reduced component life. All components, whether it be an engine, transmission or hydraulic system, have a normal operating range for the diff erent parameters, from temperature, boost
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ne question I often hear, is “why did Engine A achieve its target life while Engine B only achieved 85% of its target life, and was
INCREASING MACHINE LIFETIME
pressure, oil pressure, etc. When the component is operated within these normal operating ranges, the stress on the component is at its lowest. However, when operated outside these normal operating ranges, whether it be too hot or
too cold, too low or too high a pressure, the stresses on the component increase. In the case of increased operating temps, it has a number of detrimental side eff ects, fi rst as the temperature of the engine increases the oil viscosity reduces. Second, we have thermal expansion as the temperature increases, the internal components expand, aff ecting the internal clearance. Combined, these two conditions result in increased wear rates, and while it may only be a slight increase, if left unchecked over an extended period of time, these increased wear rates rob the component of potential life. Now back to the OEM alarms: to put it simply, the purpose of these OEM alarms is not to ensure the machine operates the normal low stress range; it is to prevent immediate severe damage and/ or catastrophic failure from occurring. Quite often, the gap between the OEM
Asset overview screen from the mGuard MachineWatch platform
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