March 31, 2005
Alignment Tip
Diagnosing a Rocking Soft Foot
When taking individual soft foot readings on a four-footed machine, one foot at a time, always with the other three feet tight, if the two highest values appear diagonally opposed to each other, you have “rocking” soft foot situation. There are three potentially correct shimming solutions to this problem, but only one best solution.
Here’s how to find it:
Loosen both diagonally opposed soft feet, leaving the two not soft feet tight. Feel the shim packs. If one is loose and one is snug, mike the air gap that appears under the loose one and shim that one by the amount of the air gap. If both shim packs are loose, shim both feet, by roughly half the soft foot value you got for each of them individually, or mike the airgaps with both of them loose and shim those amounts individually at each soft foot respectively. There are subtleties involved with this procedure that are best learned in an in-depth training course, but this will already go a long way toward solving these problems. Note: If your two largest soft foot values do not appear diagonally opposed, you do not have a rocking problem, and other causes and solutions must be explored, again best learned through specialized training.
Tip provided by LUDECA, INC.
ALIGNMENT * VIBRATION * BALANCING
http://www.ludeca.com
Tel: 305-591-8935
March 31, 2005
Maintenance and Reliability Technology Summit 2005 - May 23-26, 2005
The Maintenance & Reliability Technology Summit (MARTS) is the premier event for professionals and features technical and business sessions, workshops and technical exhibits.
The MARTS’ Mission: To provide a comprehensive training, educational and professional development opportunity for maintenance and reliability technicians, engineers, supervisors and managers in all industries and major facilities.
This year’s MARTS show is co-located with the LUBRICATION SUMMIT.
You will be able to choose workshops from either show area and attend all exhibits no matter for which show you register.
CERTIFICATION EXAMS and professional development courses will be offered by qualified representatives of STLE and SMRP.
The Maintenance & Reliability Technology Summit (MARTS) is produced by MAINTENANCE TECHNOLOGY and Reliabilityweb.com. The Lubrication Summit is produced by Lubrication & Fluid Power magazine. Each sponsor is a proven source of reliable information for today’s engineers, managers, and technician audiences. MARTS offers in-depth learning opportunities in the form of two days of workshops by recognized experts, along with two days of conferences and technical exhibits. You cannot afford to miss this opportunity to both learn and earn certification.
March 31, 2005
Maintenance Tip
When kitting and staging parts for jobs, it is very helpful to attach a tag with the work order number printed clearly on it to BOTH the equipment and the kit. This makes it easy for the craftspeople to match the parts with the job. Bright orange tags work especially well.
Tip provided by Dave Krings, CMRP
http://www.MasteringMaintenance.com
Tel: (888) 230-5280
Learn more at MasteringMaintenance.com
March 31, 2005
Vibration Monitoring Tip
A hazardous environment, as defined with regard to a combustible atmosphere, is one that could burn explosively with the addition of energy sufficient to cause ignition. Hazardous environments are broken down into categories by the National Electrical Code in order to define conditions that can cause ignition of the combustible atmosphere. These categories include combustible gases and suspended dust and particulate. Equipment can be evaluated and certified as Intrinsically safe for operation in various hazardous environments.
Some vibration monitoring applications require the transducer to be installed in a hazardous environment. In these applications, the transducer must be unable to ignite the surrounding atmosphere. A transducer that is intrinsically safe cannot develop enough energy – either through heat energy, or through spark energy – to ignite the hazardous environment, whether operating normally or under fault conditions. A transducer approved as Intrinsically Safe can be installed directly into the hazardous environment.
To learn more about hazardous environments, or Intrinsically Safe vibration monitoring, go to ...
March 24, 2005
Airborne Corona and Arcing Inspection Tips
To inspect insulators it is recommended to fly perpendicularly to the lines and be able to look at the insulators from the side rather then from above. This is true particularly if ceramic insulators are inspected because sometime the corona is just below the ceramic bell .
A distance of 40 meters from the lines at an angle of 30 degrees is recommended since you want to be able to see all three phases.
A speed of 30-40 km/h will let you see clearly corona sources. There is no need to stop at each pylon, unless you suspect something and wish to explore it while hovering. To hover you need a strong enough helicopter.
Tip provided by the DayCor camera technologies http://www.daycor.com
Tel: (866) 279-8672
March 24, 2005
Airborne Ultrasonics Tip
When performing an airborne scan of switchgear, substations or any electrical apparatus, be familiar with the what the sound of corona, arcing and tracking should sound like with your ultrasonic receiver. Acquire these sounds from a third party or use an audio tape recorder or the sound card of your laptop to record these sounds from a known source when available and start a library of these sounds to compare after repairs as well as for technicians to reference.
Tip provided by Ultra-Sound Technologies, LLC
http://www.ultra-soundtech.com
Tel: (770) 517-8747
March 24, 2005
Achieving Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) Distance Learning Course
Learn TPM without leaving home! Next course begins April 1!
TPM Expert Terry Wireman leads a coached 8-10 week course that includes:
• Narrated CD with detailed slides
• Hard Cover Text Book
• Weekly Assignments
• Weekly coaching with Terry Wireman
Learn how to put TPM to work for your company today!
Please call toll free (888) 230-5280 or…
March 24, 2005
Motor Testing Tip
PI >5000 Meg and Newer Insulation Systems
When performing a Polarization Index Test (PI) the 10-minute resistance-to-ground reading divided by the 1 minute resistance-to-ground reading should be between 2 and 5. A ratio below 2 indicates moist or dirty windings. A ratio above 5 may indicate brittle insulation. These numbers have been accepted for many years but recent changes to insulation designs require a re-evaluation of these numbers. Modern types of film-coated wire,
as well as epoxy and polyester-mica insulation systems routinely have a ratio of 1 to 2 for perfectly good windings. In response to these design changes, IEEE 43-2000 states that when “ 1 minute insulation resistance is over 5000 meg-ohms, the calculated PI may not be meaningful”. If equipped with test equipment able to measure very high insulation resistances, PI testing should continue for the normal ten minutes to support historical tracking of the PI Profile. However, the calculated PI, which will likely be less then 2, can be ignored.
Tip provided by PdMA
http://www.pdma.com
Tel: (813) 621-6463
Learn more about the 2005 Motor Reliability Technical Conference
March 24, 2005
Alignment Tip
I use the same device I use for balancing when doing vertical alignment without the aid of gravity assist (inclinometer). I measure the shaft and generate a 360 degree strip of paper that I tape to the pump shaft so that I can index the shaft against a stationary part of the machine.
The basic cad drawing is only done once. For subsequent applications, I change the scale of the drawing to match the circumference of the current project’s shaft. The drawing scale is divided into 10° marks.
The alignment program uses the pre-defined degree rotation I have asked for in the setup; I use 30° for a complete sweep. All I have to do is move the shaft to the corresponding mark and let the program know I am there. The alignment machine will then tell me the next angle to move the shaft to. This makes for quick measurements in some pretty awkward positions. It also gives me the flexibility to make less than 360° rotations easily. 90° is the minimum recommended by my equipment mfg. I just change the setup increments to 10° and take 9 readings.
Reader tip provided by Jon McFadden
Vibration Analyst
Kimberly-Clark Corp Conway Personal Care Facility
Conway Arkansas USA
Thanks Jon - your Maintenance-Tips hat is one the way!
March 24, 2005
Use of Active Balancing to Solve Serious Reliability
A Sponsored White Paper by LORD Corporation
This paper will discuss common vibration problems experienced on large centrifugal fans that lead to forced outages and unscheduled maintenance. This paper describes the use of an Active Fan Balancing System used to control unbalance related vibration levels in fans. The paper will also detail several active balancing installations and describe the benefits these users have experienced.
Request your Active Balancing White Paper now
