June 30, 2005
5th EPRI Conference on International Maintenance - Hosted by PSE&G
August 8 - 10, 2005
Jersey City, NJ, USA
The electricity generation industry is continuing the rapid changes of the last five or more years from a stable, predictable past, to a future of competition, changing ownership, and dynamic new business goals. Adding to this new challenge, we are faced with the loss of long-term employees along with their knowledge. Many companies have mortgaged their human assets hoping to succeed in bridging the gap in knowledge and training without having developed a contingency plan.
The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) has structured this conference to provide some of the latest work being accomplished in the area of business evolutionary ideas, technology updates to forge ahead with more effective and efficient methods of completing maintenance work, as well as the ability to more accurately project what work has to be accomplished and when. This conference is structured for both the tactical maintenance needs as well as strategic ideas for focusing the future changes to be more successful.
June 30, 2005
Hydraulic Tip
Hydraulic System Preventive Maintenance Process that Works - “Maximize the Reliability of your Hydraulic System”
Preventive maintenance (PM) of a hydraulic system is basic and simple and, if followed properly, can eliminate most hydraulic component failure. PM is a discipline and must be followed as such in order to obtain results (A PM program should managed as a “controlled experiment”). We must view a PM program as performance oriented rather than activity oriented. Many organizations have good PM procedures, but do not require maintenance personnel to follow them or hold the personnel accountable for the proper execution of these procedures.
As in all PM programs, we must write procedures required for each PM task. These steps or procedures must be accurate and understandable by all maintenance personnel from entry level to master level.
PM procedures must be part of the PM job plan that includes tools or special equipment required to perform the task, parts or material required to perform the procedure with store room number, safety precautions for this procedure, and environmental concerns or potential hazards.
Preventive maintenance tasks for a hydraulic system could include the following:
– Change the return or pressure hydraulic filter
– Obtain a hydraulic fluid sample
– Filter hydraulic fluid
– Check hydraulic actuators
– Clean the inside of a hydraulic reservoir
– Clean the outside of a hydraulic reservoir
– Check and record hydraulic pressures
– Check and record pump flow
– Check hydraulic hoses, tubing, and fittings
– Check and record voltage reading to proportional or servo valves
– Check and record vacuum on the suction side of the pump
– Check and record amperage on the main pump motor
– Check machine cycle time and record.
Preventive maintenance is the core support that a hydraulic system must have in order to maximize component and life and reduce system failure. PM procedures that are written properly and followed properly will allow equipment to operate to its full potential and life cycle. The process allows a maintenance department to control a hydraulic system rather than the system controlling the maintenance department. We exercise control by deciding when we will perform maintenance and how much money we will spend.
The alternative is breakdown maintenance at a much higher cost.
Tip provided by Ricky Smith CMRP
MAXZOR
843-762-3168
http://www.success-in-training.com
June 30, 2005
Des-Case launches DoublePlay™ & TriplePlay™ breathers
Keeping contamination under control.
At Des-Case, we understand the importance of fluid cleanliness and the role it plays in reliability optimization. That’s why we have pioneered breather solutions specific to your industry applications that help maintain oil quality and maximize your equipment reliability.
The Des-Case DoublePlay and TriplePlay breathers are designed to filter out particles and block water in its liquid state from entering fluid containing reservoirs. The TriplePlay offers the added feature of an oil coalescing layer to prevent oil mist from entering the work environment.
Provides the ideal solution for low humidity applications; continuous operations with frequent washdowns; and arid, high dust environments.
Also offers excellent protection for water-based fluids.
Features/Benefits:
• Creates an impenetrable barrier against water droplets
• Pleated element provides a large surface area and is 99.5% efficient in blocking particles 1µ and larger
• Coalesces oil mist, preventing contamination of working environment (TriplePlay only)
• Visual vacuum indicator option actuates when maximum restriction has been reached
• Rugged ABS plastic housing
• Easy installation requires hand tighten only
To learn more please call Des-Case Technical Support 615.672.8800 or…
June 30, 2005
Vibration Analysis Tip
Remember to adjust the window factor on your analyzer. Different window factors work better for different tests. For instance, if you’re going to conduct an impact test, switch to a uniform window. This offers good frequency certainty and is ideal for transient equipment.
Tip provided by LUDECA, INC.
ALIGNMENT * VIBRATION * BALANCING
http://www.ludeca.com
Tel: 305-591-8935
June 30, 2005
EnterpriseOne Condition-Based Maintenance
Oracle’s JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Condition-Based Maintenance (CBM) enables you to make maintenance decisions based on actual equipment condition, rather than time or usage interval. You can identify equipment problems early, when they are less costly to correct, and perform maintenance only when needed, thereby increasing asset utilization, extending equipment life, and reducing maintenance costs.
JD Edwards Condition-Based Maintenance is part of Oracle’s JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Asset Lifecycle Management family of applications.
June 30, 2005
Ultrasonic Tip
Arcing inside switch gear
Corona, arcing, and tracking are ultrasound-producing phenomena that can be heard directly through the panels without opening the doors and exposing the operator to high voltage. Panels are typically NOT hermetically sealed meaning that ultrasound will pass through the edges of the panel where air gaps exist. Ultrasound, like audible sound, needs any medium to transport itself. That medium can be air, steel, or both. Arcing produces a high frequency ultrasonic signal that is airborne, but when it comes in contact with the metallic surface of the switch gear a portion of that signal is refracted through to the other side. Detecting that signal can be done with an airborne sensor or with a contact magnetic sensor placed directly on the panel. A quiet panel will read 0-5 dBuV while a fault will register 10+dBuV. Listen for sharp buzzing sounds that start and stop, grow loud and then stop.
Tip provided by SDT North America
(905) 349-2020 Tel
http://www.sdtnorthamerica.com
June 30, 2005
Maintenance Tip
Problems Found During Preventive Maintenance
The goal of Preventive Maintenance (PM) is to find failures while they are in the act of failing not after they have failed. However, if during the performance of the PM, you find a significant problem, it’s important to make sure the problem gets noted within your records (typically a Work Order).
For example, if you were performing a routine inspection on a large induction fan and find a broken support. The typical maintenance response is to repair it as part of the inspection, valuable information has been lost. That information is useful in evaluating your inspection procedures and identifying the correct time to perform the inspection.
These situations are common: you’re performing a PM inspection, and you notice something else that was not part of the inspection, and the appropriate repair is made. What was identified, as a one-hour inspection is now a five-hour repair job. Some situations warrant the repair to be immediately accomplished, but not all. It’s important that this repair information is documented. Additional inspection criteria may have been identified that should be included in future inspections.
Regardless of your system a process must be developed to ensure this valuable information is captured. A separate work order to cover the additional repairs is necessary to ensure proper time and costs are captured. This additional work order ensures that correct labor time and associated and material costs get tracked as repair costs and NOT Preventive Maintenance costs.
System coding of the new work order must reflect that the repair was identified during the performance of PM inspection. This provides the necessary information to perform analysis that the PM program is obtaining the desired results.
Identifying work properly puts the critical information into your system to perform analysis. Look at your maintenance budget and see if your PM costs seem reasonable to you.
Maintenance tip provided by Michael Bolig
Ashcom Technologies, Inc.
http://www.ashcomtech.com
June 23, 2005
Industrial Lubrication and CMMS by Eric Bevevino
CMMS-2005 Learning Zone Session
Computerized Maintenance Management Summit
July 26-29, 2005
Indianapolis Indiana
Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS) traditionally concentrate on monitoring machinery and parts statistics; unfortunately these systems often overlook lubricants, a critical part of the maintenance reality. Even though money spent on lubricants is a small portion of most industrial facilities’ operational budgets, the impact of a poorly maintained lubrication program can be financially devastating. It’s estimated that downtime related to preventable lubricant related failures costs as much as $4 billion each year in North America alone. Given this reality and the ever increasing need to boost productivity, there needs to be a way to integrate lubricant related maintenance data into existing or new CMMS systems. In this session, we will discuss the options, need, benefits and logistics associated with integrating lubrication data into a CMMS as well as the potential consequences of not doing so.
Join Eric plus more than 35 other presenters, workshop leaders and learning labs directors at CMMS-2005.
To learn more please call toll free 888-575-1245 or…
June 23, 2005
Welding Tip
Welding Impacts Reliability – Part 2
Last time we discussed numerous reliability issues created by welders, whether in maintenance or not. As pointed about by a Maintenance-Tips reader, the number 1 cause of reliability issues involves the improper grounding of the welding process. Many times a person welding in a facility will ground the welder to the closer location to the welding machine and not at the location of the welding. By installing your ground clamp any distance from the welded area causes the electrical current to flow to the path of least resistance. This path of least resistance can be through electrical controls (via aluminum conduit), motors, bearings, etc. The destruction is typically not instantaneous but causes the electrical or mechanical device to begin its premature failure journey.
A number of years ago I was asked to visit a plant by a large corporation that had a high level of bearing failures on one piece of equipment (so they stated). When I visited the plant I found that numerous pieces of equipment had premature bearing failures. What I found as the problem was that the ground clamp from the welder was attached to a steel column in the building (this welding machine was permanently mounted). After a correction was made the plant ran many years with minimal bearing problems.
As a “rule of thumb”, the welding lead (stinger or electrode holder) and grounding lead should be the same length. The ground clamp should be placed as close to the welded area as possible (within 6 inches was always my rule as a maintenance supervisor). Be sure contractors follow this rule also.
Tip provided by Ricky Smith, CMRP
MAXZOR
Tel: 843-762-3168
http://www.success-in-training.com
June 23, 2005
Reliability Tip
When maintenance has to use a come-a-long (lever hoist) to line up pipe flanges for bolting the supervision should check historical downtime data for failures that have shown cracks as the results of a repair. This could manifest itself in the housing, piping, bearings, etc. When there is significant misalignment of piping to equipment the results is usually the equipment components are in a stressed state.
Tip provided by the Reliability Center
http://www.reliability.com
Tel: 804-458-0645
