Interactive Workshop on

Condition Monitoring of Rotating Equipment

Detect, Diagnose, Correct and Prevent machinery problems

Many decades ago it was common practice to wait for equipment to fail and then repair it.

Today, the focus of maintenance approaches within industry clearly has shifted from “reactive” to “proactive.”

“Condition Monitoring” (CM) represents one of the more practical approaches for operations seeking to reap the rewards of proactive maintenance. CM is a strategy whereby physical parameters are measured regularly to determine equipment condition. This procedure makes it possible to detect machine and component problems before they can result in unexpected downtime and the high costs associated with interruption in production.

For example an early measurements could help you to identify a process pump problems much earlier in the failure cycle … when may be all you have to do is to replace a damaged bearing. This ‘early warning’ allow you to plan and schedule the repairs when it is convenient for operations.

Today a number of organizations are having a special CM wing looking after this. But we believe that every engineer should have the ability to recognize the abnormal behavior of his machines. A genuine understanding by maintenance and operations of the role of condition monitoring, its limitations and its capabilities therefore becomes a necessity.

This interactive workshop is designed as the first step towards bringing the awareness on the latest maintenance practices amongst the Indian industry professionals – one of the primary objectives of Plant Operation and Maintenance Club.

Who should attend?

This interactive workshop is aimed primarily at engineers and managers, working in maintenance or technical roles within industry. The programme will provide a refresh of knowledge for existing Condition Monitoring practitioners, and it will provide a solid foundation for people moving into a Condition Monitoring role. Because the methods and examples are generic, personnel from all industries will benefit.

Date: 20^th & 21^st July 2005

Venue: Hotel Yuvraj, Near Central ST Bus depot, Station Road, Vadodara

Course Fees: Rs.3,000/- per participant 

                    (10.2% service tax will be charged additional)

Course Content

I. Condition Monitoring & vibration analysis

Learning scope:

• How to establish a successful Condition Monitoring Program

• How to understand the fundamentals of vibration signature analysis

• How vibration can be used to detect various problems in rotating machines

• Measurement pitfalls and their adverse effect on machine problem diagnosis

Topic Outline:

• Maintenance basic concept

• Types of Maintenance and evolution of CM

• Condition Monitoring Concept and application

• Parameters used for CM

• Vibration fundamentals

• Shaft/Casing vibrations

• Parameter selection for each application

• Selection of frequency span

• Vibration analysis

1. Frequency based

2. Time based

• How to correlate vibration pattern with a particular fault

1. Imbalance

2. Misalignment

3. Bent shaft

4. Looseness

5. Soft feet

• Basics of resonance

• Instruments used for vibration measurement/ analysis

• Establishing predictive maintenance programme – seven step approach

• Allowable limits of vibration for each category of machines - When to stop the machine

II. Alignment

Learning scope:

• The importance of alignment and how to quantify the amount of misalignment to determine if machinery is within acceptable tolerance limits.

• To recognize the symptoms of misalignment in rotary machines

• How to carry out alignment

• When to stop (tolerances)

• A variety of possible alignment solutions

Topic Outline:

• Importance of alignment

• Types of misalignment, their causes and effects

• Tools/ appliances and methods of alignment

• Preparation of pre-alignment checklist

• How to check or correct a ‘Soft Foot’ condition

• Temperature corrections for high temperature equipments

• Overcoming Difficult Situations

• Use of Alignment calculators

• Alignment tolerance

 III. Balancing

Learning scope:

• How to balance a variety of rotors

• How to confirm unbalance as one of the dominant problems and causes of Unbalance

• Single-plane and Dual-plane balancing techniques

Topical Outline: 

• Static & Dynamic balancing

• Single plane balancing

• Balancing in more than one plane

• Typical balancing operation

• Belt drive v/s end drive

• Extent of imbalance allowed

• Balancing speed

IV. Bearing and Lubrication

Learning scope:

• How to interpret the various signs of wear on a bearing to determine–and eliminate–the root cause.

• Measurement of Spike Energy, Shock Pulse & HFD in relation to 4 stages of bearing damage

• When should Bearings be replaced?

• How to understand nomenclature of bearings

• How to read and understand wear debris analysis reports

• How to tell if you are using a wrong lubricant

Topical Outline:  

• Introduction/ types

• Function of bearing

• Understanding of nomenclature and alfa- numerical specification

• Selection of bearings

• Bearing clearances

• Proper installation technique

• Operating environment

• Lubrication

• Wear Debris Analysis

• Common errors/ trouble shooting

• Monitoring of rolling elements

• 4 stages of bearing damage

• Bearing monitoring through spike energy, shock pulse measurement

• Periodic maintenance

• When to replace bearing

• Tips to check spurious bearings

• Preservation of bearings

V. Case studies and discussion