Pair Augury with other Technologies for Superior Results
Vibration Analysis is often referred to as the cornerstone of a condition monitoring program. Similarly, we believe Augury should be the cornerstone technology - a must-have which can be supplemented by other technologies based on your needs.
The majority of the time we can tell you exactly what is wrong with your Augury monitored machine and what you need to do to correct it, but there are times when the symptoms in the data can be caused by several different conditions or where the source of a problem is not clear. During these times, you can rely on other tools, technologies, and skills to take the guesswork out of it. Here are some examples:
- Vibration at the shaft turning speed is increasing but it’s not clear whether the issue is due to structural looseness or misalignment. Performing Phase Analysis with a dual-channel vibration analyzer can determine which is the root cause. Alternatively or additionally, a Motion Amplification Camera can determine not just if structural looseness is the cause, but exactly where the issue is. Similarly, a Laser Alignment tool can both verify and correct misalignment.
- We see symptoms of rotor or stator issues on an electric motor. Vibration analysis can reliably identify these issues, but is not the best tool to assess the severity of the issue. Once the issue has been identified, use an Electrical Signature Analysis or Motor Current Analysis tool to verify the severity.
- Ultrasound tools can be used to precision lubricate bearings and verify if an increase in noise levels is indeed due to a lubrication problem versus cavitation or turbulence.
- When symptoms of electrical faults are present in the Augury data, inspection of the electrical connections from the motor short-circuit protection device to the motor junction box can be performed with an Infrared Camera.
- Partnering oil-quality testing and wear debris analysis with Augury can help to find the root cause of gear and bearing wear in oil lubricated components.
Each of these additional technologies come at a cost and it may not make sense to employ all of them at your specific facility. Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) and Root Cause of Failure Analysis (RCFA) should aid in the decision process on how to allocate your capital and training dollars first. It’s likely some of these tools and technologies already exist within your facilities and if that’s the case, ensure they are being utilized to their full potential.
As Augury grows, more technologies and data sources will be integrated with our platform for additional enablement and convenience. But even then there will be a place for supplemental technologies to add value.
What kind of supplemental technologies do you use and how?
Comments
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Great information Christian! These are indeed very complimentary tools and practices that can provide a significant level of robustness and comprehensiveness to a machine health program. For those with CMMS, capturing the these practices and their results can also identify underlying issues and opportunities related to their effectiveness, especially where time/schedule, environmental factors and "people" are concerned. I should also add that from a Production/Process Health program, these are also key areas to include!
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Christian, Thank you for the great information. We have just recently used Augury to Identify a fan that was out of balance. We inspected the fan and identified that there was a lot of buildup on the fan and the mounting bracket was broken that held the base of the fan. We then use the four plane balancing to balance the fan. We then watched the Augury readings drop that verified we had a successful repair.
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Those are good points, Scott, thank you for adding them.
That is fantastic Roy! Not only did you save the machine from failure, but you eliminated the root causes. You provide us the ideal relationship - using Augury in the ways it is most helpful to you and supplementing it with your talent and expertise.2 -
Along with the data collected from Augury, I also collect data using ultrasound technology, and oil analysis.
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Mike, do you conduct analysis on fresh oil stock as well? Also, do you filter incoming oil stock before using?
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I do not do on fresh oil. I have been thinking about sending in a couple samples though. We do not filter before using. I'm currently looking at some different setups for that because we can get better in that area for sure.
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You're on the right track! There's some really good resources out there providing guidance on comprehensive lubrication programs and best practices. Good luck with your efforts!
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Another example of pairing other technology's
Augury identified that we had a belt misalignment. After looking at it with our laser alignment system we found that the shive alignment was off by 3/4". We used Augury to verify the repairs.
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