This article will define a business case for achieving significant rotating equipment maintenance and energy cost reduction at industrial and municipal facilities.
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Last year in “Trending Revelations in Vibration Analysis,” (Pumps & Systems, June 2009), I discussed the importance of statistic trending in vibrations analysis. Usually, as most would expect, vibrations gradually increase with time. This increase reflects the normal internal wear, accumulative misalignment and deformations that can occur within a pump. All these wear conditions will lead to eventual failure.
A Nashville-based hunting club required the flooding of several acres of land. A shallow area approximately 1.5-ft deep needed to be flooded to help attract wild game.
Water system operators know the challenges of keeping municipal drinking water consistently and safely chlorinated. Increased safety concerns regarding common disinfectants and mandated chlorine residual targets make maintaining large or small water systems difficult.
Over the past 50 years, advances in technology have provided the primary thrust behind the success and evolution of variable-speed drive systems. Here are some considerations for the proper selection and set up of different types of systems, and what lies ahead in the future.
Monitoring motor-pump combinations for signs of impending problems provides useful information to prevent pump failure and minimize costly downtime. Since rotating machines exhibit recognizable failure modes that are revealed by their vibrations, analysis of vibration data can identify changing conditions and diagnose an evolving problem. This can be the difference between a plant or mill continuing to operate or having to shut down for unscheduled repairs.
The details of a mass-based chemical injection system for an application that requires critical dosing of a trace chemical into a continuous flowing fluid.
Interpretation of equipment clues can help diagnose problems before failure occurs
"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" may have been coined by process and plant engineers tired of repairing or replacing pumps. Pumps are often the most under-serviced pieces of equipment in process automation when it comes to maintenance and prevention best practices. Unfortunately, nothing moves without the humble pump, and a process becomes inefficient when a pump doesn't operate properly or completely shuts down. Many times the pump manufacturer is seen to be the problem, when in fact the process or the surrounding equipment configuration is the cause.
To achieve a sustainable future, the green movement demands increased energy efficiency and conservation. Here is a look at how these changes will impact the water industry and its use of pumps and controls.
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This article will define a business case for achieving significant rotating equipment maintenance and energy cost reduction at industrial and municipal facilities.
The past may be prologue to the future, but the time between the two seems increasingly short. In the past, labor, capital and raw materials were considered the underpinnings of wealth creation. Today, real-time process knowledge and innovative management strategies have become far more important for creating value, as evident in the headlines above. Accordingly, the time for systemic change is now. . . the opportunity to reinvent industrial manufacturing and the products and services that surround it have never been greater since the beginning of the industrial revolution.
What Are Your Vibration Monitoring Goals?
Identifying goals before starting is key to designing a process tailored to specific needs. What are you hoping to accomplish by monitoring vibration? How would you like to acquire data? What are you going to do with the data? These important questions should be addressed before moving forward.
The 4-20mA current loop is used to transmit analog data representing various process variables like level, pressure, temperature or flow. Although conceptually simple, a 4-20mA current loop can be tricky to troubleshoot. Current flows in a single direction through each device in the loop.
Monitoring vibration—a valuable tool in predictive/preventive maintenance programs
Of the technologies available for condition monitoring of rotating equipment, the quickest return on investment is from vibration analysis. For the novice, vibration data seems complex and is generally difficult to assess compared to other techniques. Once trained, however, the novice can recognize the patterns and diagnose a machine problem.
In today's growing industrialized market, the need for reciprocating pumps is increasing daily. As technology drives modernization, the demand placed on the pumping systems is continually rising.
Variable frequency drive technology is more efficient and accurate, which leads to increased energy savings. Advancements in capacitors and direct current (DC) link reactors, IGBTs, heat management, processing power and measuring technology are all enabling the development of solutions to problems that were not even recognized earlier. Additionally, new and advanced algorithms affect energy efficiency.
Lift stations can be difficult and costly to monitor, especially when the stations are located in remote areas.
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In this multi-part series, we will investigate several aspects of centrifugal pump efficiency.
First of Five Parts
Since the original publication of this draft standard in the January 2008 issue of Pumps & Systems, I have received feedback, encouragement, numerous questions and criticism. The draft listed three basic levels of repair.
The McGraw-Hill scientific dictionary [5] states that a volute is "a spiral casing for a centrifugal pump... designed so that speed will be converted to pressure."
