Determining asset failures within a manufacturing facility is becoming much more prevalent year by year, in order to get away from the reactive maintenance cycle and into the predictive. Not only for helping maintenance teams get ahead of the curve so production can continue, but to increase the value created by those mechanical assets by reducing revenue losses through stoppages in production and costs of repair. When predicting those failures, it is imperative to use the correct technology for each asset and diagnose problems efficiently.

Vibration and Ultrasound Analysis

The more common techniques used to predict failures on mechanical equipment are Vibration and Ultrasound.

Vibration measures axial and radial displacement caused by machines experiencing early signs of failure. Measured through velocity and acceleration, indicative faults can be determined such as imbalance, misalignment, soft foot and many other critical causes. A great technique for overall health assessment of a machine and commonly deployed by most manufacturers. Generally, Vibration can cover assets of all sizes, with reliable data on rotating assets at or above 600 RPM. As technology has expanded, a tri-axial vibration sensor can take this to the next level, by giving definitive faults, or acting like an autonomous vibration technician.

But how can early signs of failure be caught on machines that we do not expect to vibrate much, if at all?

Ultrasound can cover a much larger range of rotating equipment, a more fine-tuned technique, measuring the decibels (noise) and the deviation from that norm. Allowing for early signs of failure, most applicably in bearing wear and tear. The figure below showing the P to F curve, indicates the potential failure to failure of an asset, vibration and heat are later signs and leave less room to assess the asset for repair before failure. With the growing pressures of production, having more warning before a failure can be a massive advantage.

As mentioned, Ultrasound has great benefits for bearing health. More specifically, knowing when there are complications and when to lubricate that bearing. Making it a perfect candidate for an autonomous lubrication system by simply incorporating an AutoLuber. This not only eliminates extensive and troublesome lube routes, but also provides condition monitoring in tandem.

Both analysis types have their uses and benefits, it simply takes the time and consideration to determine which to use for an asset, to start predicting failures.

With a wide range of predictive reliability technologies in the world today, Industrial Matrix prides itself on providing an all-encompassing platform. Our bespoke solutions allow our clients to choose the right technology for the right asset and eliminate the need for multiple condition monitoring programs.

Contact Industrial Matrix today to learn more about using our platform to deploy both vibration And ultrasound monitoring, as well as any other condition monitoring technology.