Predictive Maintenance

Dr. Attia Hussien Gomaa

Maintenance Engineering Consultant
Engineering service
American University in Cairo (AUC)

2007
PdM
Predictive Maintenance:

Vibration
Visual analysis Oil
Inspection analysis

Efficiency Condition based Temperature

analysis management analysis

Wear Pressure
analysis analysis
Ultrasonic

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Atypical machine condition-vibration trend

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 Predictive Maintenance Technologies

• Oil Analysis
• Vibration Analysis
• Laser Alignment & Shaft Balancing
• Thermography (Infrared Camera)
• Ultrasonic Evaluation
• Electronic Signature Analysis
(Motor Current Analysis)

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Oil Analysis

• Take periodic samples of oil from equipment and send out for
laboratory analysis
• Tests condition and wear of components
• Will warn of impending problems and reduce chance of
premature failures
• Will possibly point out root causes of failure
• Costs

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 Vibration Analysis

• Vibration is measurement of the periodic motion of equipment

(I.e. the ‘shaking’). Vibration is measured in units of
inches/second (in/sec, IPS).
• All equipment vibrates, but if this vibration becomes too severe,
it indicates problems. Use vibration levels to prioritize repairs.

• Some Rules of Thumb to judge the condition of your equipment:

– less than 0.050 IPS Excellent
– 0.050 - 0.100 IPS Good
– 0.100 - 0.200 IPS Acceptable
– 0.200 - 0.400 IPS Unacceptable
– greater than 0.400 IPS Failure Likely

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 Vibration Analysis

• The technician takes a simple hand held instrument

out each piece of equipment to be tested.
• He then attaches a magnetic accelerometer to
several specific places and records readings
electronically.
• These readings are then downloaded to a computer
and analyzed with a software program purchased
with the hand held instrument.

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 Vibration Analysis
Two Options

• Costs to set up your own on-site program

– Approximately $40,000 for software and hardware
– One week training for your technician
– Your technician must work on vibration monitoring at least 3
days/month to stay fluent in the technology and analysis

• Costs to contract out

– Approximately $7,000 per year (depends on number of pieces of
equipment and accessibility)

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 Laser Alignment

• Provides quicker and more accurate means of shaft alignment

than dial gauges.
• There are many sources of error in dial gauge readings:
– sagging indicator brackets
– sticking/jumping dial hands
– low resolution means rounding losses
– play in mechanical linkages
– tilted dial indicator leads to offset errors
– axial shaft play leads to gap error

• Laser alignment tool costs $13,000 - $15,000.

• Technician requires one day training about how to use the tool.

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 Infrared Imaging

• A handheld camera is used in a way that enables you to ‘see’

temperature differences. The camera is a lot like a video
camera in size and weight.
• The hotter the temperature, the more yellow the equipment
• Not all temperature differences are indicative of problems
• You must be trained to recognize those temperature differences
that are significant
• Some Infrared Imaging Costs:
– Thermal imaging system ~$30,000
– Technician training & fluency education

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 Infrared Imaging

• Here is a transformer as
seen through a short wave
infrared camera.
• The yellow coloring does not
indicate a problem. It is the
reflection of sunlight.
• The maintenance technician
must be trained to recognize
this. Otherwise he will
report ‘false’ hot spots that
will lead to wasted corrective
action.

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 Infrared Imaging

• Here, the same transformer

is seen through a long wave
infrared camera.
• The ‘false’ hot spots seen
through the short wave
camera do not show up here
but maintenance technician
must be trained to recognize
significant yellow areas.
• Maintenance programs that
require outdoor surveys are
best served by long wave
cameras.

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 Ultrasonic Evaluation

• Ultrasonic testing is used to check for: arcing, tracking, corona

discharge and vibration.
• In certain instances it is easier to ‘listen’ for problems from a
distance when it is difficult to get right next to the equipment in
question.
• Ultrasound is an effective, low cost means of evaluating the
condition of insulation components on high-voltage
transmission and distribution equipment.
• Initial Equipment Cost: $4300
• Training Costs:
– Initial Training = 40 hours offsite, fee= $1,500
– Recertification = 8 hours, twice per year, offsite

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 Ultrasonic Evaluation

• Ultrasound should be used in conjunction with Infrared Imaging

when Infrared Imaging is not practical.
• Ultrasound can often detect potential insulation faults that do
not show up in an infrared survey.
• A combination of infrared and ultrasound is often used on high-
voltage electrical equipment, particularly enclosed switchgear.
– Infrared locates resistive faults (e.g. dirty switch contacts or loose
joints)
– Ultrasound locates developing insulation faults
– Ultrasound instrument can be used on enclosed switchgear that
cannot be ‘viewed’ with an infrared instrument. Removing a few
bolts allows ultrasound to penetrate into the inside of the gear.

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 Ultrasonic Evaluation

Ultrasound used here to

test for vibration problems
in hard-to-reach bearing.

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 Electronic Signature Analysis

• Electronic signature analysis (ESA) is a developing predictive

maintenance technology that can supplement other
technologies.
• ESA instrument acquires voltage and current supplied to an
electric motor. Associated software helps maintenance
technician analyze that data and determine the ‘health’ of the
motor, distortion of the incoming power, and vibration
characteristics of the driven equipment.
• Initial & training costs.

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