TWI is involved in two broad monitoring fields. Structural Health Monitoring and Condition Monitoring. For ease of distinction and for TWI purposes, Structural Health Monitoring is concerned, as its name implies, with the structure, whilst Condition Monitoring deals with machinery, mainly moving components (gears, bearings, shafts, rotor and the like), but including boilers and heat exchangers.
Condition monitoring is the process of monitoring a parameter of condition in machinery, such that a significant change is indicative of a developing failure. It is a major component of predictive maintenance. The use of conditional monitoring allows maintenance to be scheduled, or other actions to be taken to avoid the consequences of failure, before the failure occurs. Nevertheless, a deviation from a reference value (e.g. temperature or vibration behavior) must occur to identify impeding damages. Predictive Maintenance does not predict failure. Machines with defects are more at risk of failure than defect free machines. Once a defect has been identified, the failure process has already commenced and CM systems can only measure the deterioration of the condition.
Benefits
Condition Monitoring facilitates intervention in the early stages of deterioration, which is usually much more cost effective than allowing the machinery to fail. Condition monitoring has a unique benefit in that the actual load that represents normal service can be seen and conditions that would shorten normal lifespan can be addressed before repeated failures occur.
Available technologies
Technologies that can be used for condition monitoring are:
- Visual inspection
- Vibration analysis
- Temperature monitoring
- Acoustic emission
- Oil analysis including debris analysis
- Performance analysis
TWI's Condition Monitoring Projects
TWI is currently involved in two Condition Monitoring projects, both concerned with Wind turbines and Construction Cranes.
The CMSWind project will develop a comprehensive integrated system for monitoring the gearbox and bearings of a wind turbine using a combination of:
- Vibration monitoring
- Acoustic emission
- Torque
- Air gap monitoring
- Oil temperature monitoring
- Oil particle analysis
The Bearinspect project will combine the use of:
- Acoustic emission and
- Vibration control
In conjunction with:
- Temperature monitoring
- Eddy current and
- Bolt sensing technology (Rotabolt)
To evaluate the overall operational condition of the turbine's:
- Generator
- Gearbox bearings
- Main shaft bearings and
- Yaw bearings
The CraneInspect project will combine the use of:
- Acoustic emission and
- Vibration control
For more information, contact us.
