LORD Corporation – a leader in the management of motion, vibration and noise – has announced the availability of a customized 3D demonstration of its proven active balancing systems. Designed to showcase and visually depict LORD Corporation’s proprietary technology, the demonstration provides an overview of the active balancing process. The animation runs through a typical balance cycle and demonstrates how the LORD active balancing system will reduce unbalance by moving internal balance weights to the desired location to minimize the vibration.

For a copy of the 3D Balancing demo cd, email

Learn more about how LORD Balancing Systems can help reduce your unscheduled downtime

June 13, 2006
Kennesaw, GA

Ultrasound 101: This workshop is meant for all levels of airborne ultrasound users. We will briefly cover theory of airborne ultrasound, today’s airborne ultrasonic instruments, applications and “Real World Applications” with case histories.

This promises to be fast paced and informative with hands-on demonstrations of detecting corona and arcing, bearing analysis, air leak detection and valve leak detection.

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June 14, 2006
Kennesaw, GA

Ultrasonic War Stories: With over 17 years experience within the airborne ultrasound industry, Jim Hall has comprised over 150 short stories covering different applications and procedures using airborne ultrasound. These short stories are informative and are sure to pique the interest of even a seasoned airborne ultrasound technician. Stories such as underground leak detection, heat exchanger leak detection, condenser leaks, acoustic lubrication, to name just a few.
Time will be given at the end of the day to discuss your short story and to share with others in an open forum.

Learn more about Ultrasound training dates and locations

Avoid using substitution spare parts as they can be devastating and very difficult to troubleshoot.

If an anti-friction bearing has to be replaced and there is no replacement available, very often a bearing will be used that has a different number of rolling elements but, otherwise, fits the bill by physically having the same dimensions and has similar loading characteristics. If, for example, the old bearing has eight rolling elements and was original equipment, the designers had obviously chosen that type of bearing to avoid any possibility of developing a resonant condition in the machine. However, by installing a substitute bearing with a different number of rolling elements we may have, innocently, created a potential resonance problem which could have devastating results on the machine that it is installed in, or in other machines within close proximity.

The above scenario is,unfortunately, very common and most people ignore the fact that a substitute bearing could be the root cause of their problems for the simple reason that it is a new bearing and could never cause such a problem. As a result, they go off on a tangent trying to find the problem elsewhere. In such a scenario, if a substitute part has to be used to get production moving again, its use should be logged into the work order or CMMS program and be scheduled for change out as soon as the original equipment part is received. If this is not done, I will guarantee that when that bearing fails again it will be replaced with the same type and so the problem perpetuates itself.

In the real world, this is a very common occurrence and can be devastating, so please avoid substitutes.

Most excellent reader tip by John C. Robertson
AMSCO Inc. , Simpsonville SC
Tel: 864-967-7183

Thanks John - your Maintenance Tips hat is on the way!

Get your own Maintenance-Tips Hat by sending in a new Tip here

The inefficiencies of your current EAM solution really have you pinned down. Worse yet, high costs coupled with annoying migration issues leave no wiggle room for future upgrades.

Let Avantis® set you free. For a limited time only, trade in 50% of your current EAM software licenses for the Avantis EAM solution. FREE. Take advantage of this offer for a fast and low risk move to Avantis.

Learn more about this special offer

“DIFFERENT PEOPLE” SEE THINGS “DIFFERENTLY”.

To feel confident that equipment obvious problems are recorded and known. Have your RCM Team leave their office for a planned visit to a valuable piece of process equipment. Include some operators, technicians, engineers and interested parties. Arm the participants with a clipboard, paper, pre-numbered cardboard labels and string. Have participants walk over the equipment looking for faults or potential problems and tag and record each found defect. Go back to the office to discuss the recorded observations and then list in order of priority on a whiteboard. You will be surprised at the results. One example we tried this on was, a large Larox belt press filter and we recorded 62 defects after the RCM had been completed “in the office”.

The final trick is to empower the team to get those defect labels removed by rectification.

Most defects found will have to be reported to various departments (electrical etc).

Defects we found were hydraulic oil leaks, water leaks, noisy bearings, worn rollers, loose limit switches even several safety trip hazards.

Reader tip submitted by Greg Quilter, RCMaint Organisation Australia.
(Web site under construction)

Thanks Greg - your Maintenance Tips hat is on the way! We hope to see you wearing it during our visit to the WCEAM - July 11-14, 2006 in Surfer’s Paradise!

Learn more about the First World Congress on Engineering Asset Management

VERTICAL ALIGNMENT

Whenever an alignment job is being performed on vertical flange-mounted machines or machines which have their feet mounted to a wall resulting in a vertical shaft orientation, it is recommended to correct angularity first and then proceed to correct any offset that is still present between shaft centerlines.

If instead the offset is corrected first and any angularity is corrected subsequently, there is a good chance you will find yourself making a second offset correction unless you are using one of the better alignment systems which take into account the impact on offset from correcting angularity are utilized in the alignment procedure.

Tip provided by LUDECA, INC.
ALIGNMENT * VIBRATION * BALANCING
http://www.ludeca.com
Tel: 305-591-8935

Read Alignment Case Studies by Ludeca

Variable Frequency Drive (VFD) Winding Shorts

Voltage spikes from VFD’s are not the primary cause for winding failure in a VFD driven electric motor. The high voltage carrier frequency (number of pulses) of a Pulse Width Modulated (PWM) drive drops the partial discharge inception voltage into the operating range of the motor/VFD voltage.

This means that there is a capacitive build-up and discharge within small voids and at the end-turns of the motor windings. These discharges cause a buildup of ozone which breaks down varnish and wire insulation. Eventually, a pin-hole short develops.

At this point, the harsher electrical environment of the VFD, including voltage spikes, causes the developed short to act, tripping the motor while it is on the VFD. ‘Spike Resistant’ wire is most often ‘Partial Discharge’ resistant wire with a sacrificial coating on the outer surface, a conductive coating in the middle, then a final insulation system around the conductor. This type of wire insulation system dissipates the capacitive charges before they occur.

This type of failure can be demonstrated in situations where a motor short develops and the motor trips while on a VFD, but appears to run satisfactorily if put in bypass or connected to line voltage on a test bench. When sent into a repair shop, high voltage test methods are often unable to detect these faults as the signal dampens only a few turns into the motor winding and pin-hole shorts tend to occur deeper in the motor winding. As a result, some motors may be sent in for repair and are returned as ‘good,’ but are still unable to work on a VFD. In a standard power environment, they may only last months in operation before the winding finally shorts.

The method used for detecting VFD-related pin-hole shorts is Motor Circuit Analysis which uses a low-voltage AC output and looks for slight changes to the phase angle and current/frequency test results. The first stage may appear as a small shift in test results with the final stages appearing as a larger difference between readings. If detected from the VFD, the test results should be re-tested at the motor as the electrical environment of a VFD can also cause cable insulation failure, if the drive is not properly filtered.

Tip provided by ALL-TEST Pro, LLC
http://www.alltestpro.com
Tel: 860.395.2988

Read Motor Testing Case Studies by ALL TEST

Free 3D Balancing Demo Now Available
LORD Corporation – a leader in the management of motion, vibration and noise – has announced the availability of a customized 3D demonstration of its proven active balancing systems. Designed to showcase and visually depict LORD Corporation’s proprietary technology, the demonstration provides an overview of the active balancing process. The animation runs through a typical balance cycle and demonstrates how the LORD active balancing system will reduce unbalance by moving internal balance weights to the desired location to minimize the vibration.

For a copy of the 3D Balancing demo cd, email

Learn more about how LORD Balancing Systems can help reduce your unscheduled downtime

Overconfidence is one of the top 10 traps resulting in human error. This is consistent with complacency where we have successfully performed a certain task a thousand times over the years and begin to get a sense of security from this track record. This can result in our overlooking some of the details of the tasks resulting in a human error. Pilots fly the same types of planes day after day but they always go through their checklist each flight to make sure they have not overlooked anything.

Tip provided by the Reliability Center Inc.
Tel: 804-458-0645
http://www.reliability.com

Glossary of Error-Proofing Terms