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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Interpretation of equipment clues can help diagnose problems before failure occurs
Industry analysts predict that in the near future, most motors will be controlled by variable frequency drives. Here are the reasons why.
PWM inverters introduce motor shaft voltages and bearing currents. The bearing damage in inverter-driven motors is mainly caused by the shaft voltage and bearing currents created by the common-mode voltage and its sharp edges [1]. All inverters generate common-mode voltages relative to the power source ground that cause coupling currents through the parasitic capacitances inside the motor. The main source of bearing currents is the capacitance-coupling currents that return via the motor bearings back to the ground.
The installation of an AC drive with an advanced software tool has dramatically cut call-outs for blockages at an Irish county council pumping station.
Why question the PLC? For many, questioning the application of a PLC to the pump station panel is surprising. After all, the pump station panel was once controlled with a range of relays, timers, and other devices - the exact type of application where the PLC has had such success in industrial automation.
The residents of Orlando and nearby communities are more likely to see lightning strike than have their toilets run dry. Extensive high-tech upgrades at Orlando's three advanced wastewater treatment plants, including new automation and control systems, have helped city staff process more sewage and gray water effectively and reliably.
Back in the old days, level control had little or nothing to do with saving energy. In fact, it was often a necessary evil. Today, that is no longer true - the VFD offers the potential for power savings in lift station applications that range from a few hundred gallons per minute to those that have to move thousands of gallons each minute.
Effective and secure cellular communications for remote data acquisition
Dynamic pressure sensors and accelerometers are frequently used for precision measurements in oil, gas and petrochemical industries, as well as for natural gas supply monitoring applications. The development of piezoelectric sensor technology with integral charge amplifier, as well as the development of high temperature charge output designs, has been especially important for dynamic sensing applications. To truly understand the benefits of this technology, one must first review the evolution of this type of sensing.
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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.
Sensors and automation passively participate in our everyday lives to improve comfort, add safety and reliability, and increase the efficiency of needed products and services. As the use of sensors and automation has proliferated throughout various industry sectors, these products have become reliable, economical and easy to maintain and service. Experienced personnel and suppliers can create, adapt or integrate their products and services for almost any application. The challenge becomes how we collect, correlate and translate this data into actionable information.
Production, distribution and refining applications in the oil and gas industry rely heavily on motor-driven pumps and pumping systems. Keeping electric motors driving critical operations at peak performance is vital to ensure maximum profitability.
Gulf Chemical & Metallurgical Corporation (Freeport, Texas), a subsidiary of the Eramet Group, is a recycler of spent petroleum catalysts and a leading producer of ferroalloys. The company applies hydrometallurgical and pyrometallurgical operations to recover molybdenum, vanadium, nickel and cobalt for reuse by major catalyst producers and steel manufacturers. Embarking on the road to improved equipment reliability represents a key aspect of a concerted strategic initiative for Gulf Chemical. The introduction of wireless technology and additional support has yielded successful outcomes for its facility.
While driving a car with the gas pedal to the floor and then controlling your speed using the brake is obviously inefficient, many facilities use the approach for pump control. Flow control with throttling or restrictive devices sacrifices energy efficiency and results in unnecessary costs. However, with an understanding of basic principles, an analysis of the specific application, information about available control solutions and evaluation of technologically advanced equipment, facilities can make a quantum leap in improving the efficiency and economy of pumping operations.
Explore the current condition of SCADA reports and some new technology that will improve the quality of those reports.
When it comes to pressure and flow, variable speed pumping applications can be divided into three basic categories. Constant pressure-variable flow (Cp-Vf) attempts to keep pressure relatively constant over a range of flows. Constant flow-variable pressure (Cf-Vp) tries to achieve the opposite by using varying pressure to keep flow constant. Variable pressure-variable flow (Vp-Vf) applications can accommodate a change in both.
Pulsation and water hammer can be limited with proper forethought and equipment.
Lubricated machines require clean, dry oil to work properly. Recent studies have determined that as much as 80 percent of all failures and wear problems that hydraulic and lubricated equipment experience are due to oil contamination. The most damaging forms of contamination are particulates and moisture.
A recent marketing survey found that 84.0 percent of satisfied customers would "jump ship" for a better deal if an opportunity arose. With markets becoming increasingly globalized, customer retention has become a critical part of business strategy. Companies need to ask themselves: What reason can I give this customer to stay, even if my competitor offers a cheaper price? The keys lie in keeping customers loyal to brands and products and ensuring a consistently outstanding customer experience.
Columns and Blogs
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."
