Predictive maintenance & condition monitoring Preventing unplanned downtime at a Swedish sawmill
Even the most reliable machines will eventually fail. The challenge for many companies is whether to keep the machine running until the inevitable suddenly occurs or whether to turn the inevitable into a planned maintenance measure. The operator of a Swedish sawmill found the answer to this question in Schaeffler’s SmartCheck condition monitoring system
hour of production downtime. This is what happened to a sawmill in Sweden recently, when one of its main motors suddenly failed. Even though replacing the motor only took four hours, the operator suffered a loss of around €11,500 due to the unplanned production stoppage – downtime that could have been prevented. Condition Monitoring Systems (CMS) based
E
on solid-borne vibrations are an effective, proven tool for preventing unplanned machine downtimes and therefore production losses. However, some operations managers shy away from purchasing such systems when they discover that detailed specialist expertise in vibration analysis is required to identify damage types using a condition monitoring system. This drives up costs and many business operators do not wish to depend on external specialists. One of the outstanding features of the SmartCheck condition monitoring system from Schaeffler is that no specialist expertise or skills are required.
CMS rEady for iMMEdiaTE uSE The Schaeffler SmartCheck is ready to use in its delivered condition. The integrated software with its standard set of parameters allows general monitoring of simple drives and units such as motors, pumps and fans based on solid-borne vibrations. The condition monitoring system determines the three general parameters (ISO10816, RMS [broadband], and the peak-to- peak value) based on the acceleration signal and its envelope curve. Not only can operators call up these individual parameters using the SmartWeb webserver, which is integrated into the device, they can also graphically display their trend curve over time. Changes are therefore very easy to identify. Moreover, a temperature sensor is integrated into the device, which allows additional trend monitoring of the temperature.
LEarning ModE and aLarM ThrEShoLdS Every machine has its own characteristic vibration level, which is why the alarm thresholds need to be adjusted specifically to the machine during initial operation. For this reason, SmartCheck has an automatic learning mode. Based on the measured vibrations, it automatically determines the appropriate alarm thresholds. As soon as enough measurement data is available, the preset alarm thresholds are automatically replaced by the newly determined
Instrumentation Monthly October 2019
ven the best repair schedule including spare parts provisioning cannot prevent revenue from being irretrievably lost with every
alarm thresholds. An LED on the SmartCheck immediately alerts the operator when an alarm threshold is exceeded. The device features the SLMP communication protocol from Mitsubishi, which enables direct transmission of parameters and alarm statuses to the control system without having to lay any additional cables. An Ethernet cable is all that’s needed to display the machine’s condition in the control room. The SmartVisual tool is used to visualise the machine’s condition on a computer. This tool generates graphical representations of the drives being monitored, including the SmartCheck devices.
frEquEnCy-SELECTivE MoniToring aT a fixEd SpEEd General monitoring is perfectly enough for many machines and systems. In addition, there is also an option for monitoring specific frequencies, such as those found in damaged rolling bearings, gear teeth, and fan propellers using SmartCheck. All the user needs to do when configuring SmartWeb is to specify some basic data about the components to be monitored, such as the bearing designation or the number of fan blades.
frEquEnCy-SELECTivE MoniToring of drivES wiTh varying SpEEdS In drives with varying speeds, the monitoring frequencies change proportionally to the speed. In order to adjust the monitoring frequencies to the current speed, the machine’s speed signal is therefore connected to the SmartCheck device. With this signal, SmartCheck automatically adjusts the monitoring frequencies to the machine’s current speed. This function is called speed tracking.
ConCLuSionS rEaChEd in SwEdEn Neither frequency-specific monitoring of the main drives nor the commissioning of a service provider to carry out the condition monitoring was necessary at the Swedish sawmill. Monitoring using the general parameters as per the predefined settings on delivery has proven to be sufficient. In addition, the employees of the sawmill were able to carry out most of the
installation steps themselves. The mill was able to mount eight SmartCheck devices and a Schaeffler engineer provided on-site support during initial operation. Since then, the systems have been running smoothly and are extremely easy for the customer to operate, evaluate measurement values that are generated in SmartWeb, and to identify any potential problems. There has been no unexpected downtime since the SmartCheck devices were installed. The mill immediately knows when something isn’t right, for example, when temperatures inexplicably rise or when significant changes in vibrations occur. The operators then take the appropriate measures before more major problems arise.
ThrEE SofTwarE prograMS for SMarTChECk SmartCheck is configured exclusively using the SmartWeb web server, which is supplied with the device. This is also where the general vibration analysis is implemented, like the one that is used in the Swedish sawmill. SmartWeb is perfectly suited to simple machines and individual SmartCheck devices. The SmartUtility light software, which is the
second software program included in the delivery scope, enables several SmartCheck devices to be managed, e.g. to change their IP addresses. The current alarm statuses of all SmartCheck devices are displayed in a list. With the SmartUtility computer software,
which is optionally available for a fee, several devices in a network can be managed, firmware updates can be installed, and configurations can be downloaded, copied, and sent from a SmartCheck device.
Schaeffler
www.schaeffler.co.uk 35
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82
