Most companies regard maintenance as non-core to their business. It is seen as a necessary evil that eats into their budget but yields nothing tangible in return. In fact, according to Fluke's product manager for I-tools, Eric van Riet, who visited local Fluke distributor Comtest in May, predictive maintenance is a relatively new concept globally. For this reason, Fluke is heading the drive to inform industry about predictive maintenance, how to set up a scheduled maintenance programme and how to use thermographic images to identify possible problems. Van Riet says, "We are holding a series of seminars across South Africa to show industry how it can run its maintenance routine differently and more effectively."
He says that industry trends such as increasing concern for personal safety and increased attention to power-related issues are driving a general shift from reactive to predictive maintenance. "The tools that are used for predictive maintenance, such as thermographic cameras and power quality instruments, are now more accessible to the average end user, giving him the aids that he needs in order to assess the condition of his facility," says Van Riet.
Twenty years ago, the primary goal of maintenance was loss prevention and the fundamental requirement was to provide the basic need at minimum cost. Today, we are seeing companies researching all possible means of extending the productive life of these assets, and ensuring they remain productive at the right times, ie, when the plant is in full production.
Three types of maintenance
There are three types of maintenance: reactive, preventive and predictive:
* Reactive - or breakdown-maintenance can result in secondary damage, safety risks, unplanned downtime, unplanned maintenance and product waste.
* Preventive - or time-based maintenance - involves more frequent overhauls, risk of early failures, tampering (needlessly) with good equipment, time-consuming overhauls - and experts are needed for each overhaul.
* Predictive maintenance, on the other hand, is condition-based maintenance that involves monitoring the condition of the equipment and predicting when it will fail. It allows the users to plan maintenance ahead of time, thus saving money as the equipment is only repaired when it needs it and overhauls are focused only on faulty parts.
The role of thermal imaging and power quality analysis
Most defects result in an increase in temperature and thermal imaging provides a fast and clear picture of this temperature increase. Also, thermal images can be taken while production is running, without any contact, making it a safe form of measurement that can be carried out by anybody, although analysis of the resulting image does require some knowledge of IR principles.
The effects of bad power quality are not immediately obvious and that bad power quality can come from anywhere, with severe consequences, particularly in terms of loss in production. Power quality problems can result in malfunctions, shutdowns, excessive energy cost and/or decreased equipment lifetime.
A definition of predictive maintenance
Predictive maintenance compares the trend of measured physical parameters against known engineering limits for the purpose of detecting, analysing, and correcting problems before failure occurs. Put simply, this represents a mind shift from "if it is not broken, do not fix it" towards "fix it before it breaks".
Comtest is the sole authorised distributor of Fluke Industrial and Electrical test tools in southern Africa. Fluke is a world leader in the manufacture, distribution and service of electrical and industrial test tools solutions.
For more information contact Val Verwer, Comtest, +27 (0) 11 254 2200, info@comtest.co.za
| Tel: | +27 10 595 1824 |
| Email: | sales@comtest.co.za |
| www: | www.comtest.co.za |
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