Condition Monitoring

UNIT 6 CONDITION MONITORING

Structure
6.1 Introduction
Objectives

6.2 Principles of Condition Based Maintenance

6.3 Four Pillars of Condition Monitoring
6.4 Setting Up a CM Activity
6.5 Implementation of CBM
6.6 Design of Maintenance Information System
6.7 Techniques of CM
6.8 Comparison between CM and FD
6.9 Advantages of CM Over other Philosophies
6.10 Summary
6.11 Key Words
6.12 Answers to SAQs

6.1 INTRODUCTION
Machines are one of the major resources of production process and play a vital role in
converting the inputs into desired outputs. Any failure of these machines would cause an
unpredictable losses or damages. Therefore, it is worthwhile to maintain these machines
so as not to fail. In this direction, there are several policies/methods developed and have
been used from years, yet felt insufficient. Moreover, the Condition Based Maintenance
(CBM) methods have gained importance in the recent past. In this unit we shall study the
concepts and methods of Condition Based Maintenance.

Objectives
After studying this unit, you should be able to
• define and explain various philosophies of maintenance,
• explain what CBM is,
• set a CBM activity and implement, if you are provided with the resources,
• understand the Diagnosing methods to find the fault in a machine, and
• know various Destructive and Non Destructive Tests to estimate the
machine condition.

6.2 PRINCIPLES OF CONDITION BASED

MAINTENANCE
The Condition Based Maintenance is carried out by monitoring the condition of the
machine regularly. Often Condition Monitoring is carried out in two fold principles
namely
(a) Condition Checking, and
(b) Trend Monitoring.
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Condition Based 6.2.1 Condition Checking
Maintenance
Condition checking principle involves in checking the condition of the equipment at
regular intervals. This is carried out by preparing a checklist of various points or
parameters of the machine by which the machine condition can be defined. Usually this
activity is assigned to the maintenance department or the operator who maintains or
repairs/restores the condition (in the event of failures) on the machine. The maintenance
operator is supposed to check the condition at the very beginning of working on the
machine or while handing over the equipment to the user department certifying about the
condition. The condition checking includes the trial runs and test runs (called dynamic
checking) also in addition to the regular check list tests (known as static checking). An
exemplary checklist is given in Table 6.1.
Table 6.1 : Checklist and Certificate of Condition Checking

N. V. S. and Co.
Department of Plant Engineering
Certificate of Condition Checking
Machine Code : L-02-003/04 Name of the Machine : Lathe
Machine Location : Machine shop Checked by : P. G. Prasad
Sl. No. Parameter or Check Point Condition
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
Level of Condition : Recommendation for Utilisation :
Normal/Alarm/shutdown/breakdown Recommended/Not Recommended
Certified by : N. V. S. Raju. Comments or Certifier (if any) :
Signature : @ ---
Checked Date and Time : Valid Up to :
nd
25.09.2006 – 2.00 pm (2 Shift) 26.09.2006 – 6.00 am (1st Shift)

6.2.2 Trend Monitoring

Trend monitoring is continuous or regular measurement and recording of data, collected
during operation, to indicate variations in the conditions of the machine or its
components, in the interests of safe and economical operation. This needs thorough
knowledge in the selection of suitable and measurable parameters to indicate the
deterioration of machine or component. The trend in this measurement that could happen
with running time when deterioration exceeds a critical stage and the way in which such
trend monitoring can give a lead time before the deterioration reaches a shutdown level
are interpreted in Figure 6.1
40
 Condition Monitoring

Failure Level

Shutdown Level

Alarm Level
Deterioration

Normal Level
Lead-time
Running Time

Figure 6.1 : Trend Monitoring

Various states the equipment expected to undergo before breaking down are shown in the
above Figure 6.1.
Normal Level
It is the state of the equipment in which it is running satisfactorily and production
is within the normal range.
Alarm Level
It is the state developed in the equipment due to early stage of occurrence of the
failure/fault and is noticed by some predetermined symptoms of the failure. For
example, we may most likely get sneeze or cough or head-ache, etc. before getting
fever. Low production, lower quality of the output, heavy noise, vibrations,
bad-smell, discoloration, etc. are some of the symptoms for noticing the alarm
level of the failure or fault of the equipment.
Shutdown Level
If neglected even after reaching the alarm level, the fault grows and reaches a state
at which the equipment will not co-operate or a considerable loss of output is
observed. This state is called shutdown level. This state is at threshold of the
breakdown level. The equipment should necessarily be closed or shutdown and
should not be run any longer in the interest of preventing the failure.
Breakdown Level
This is the ultimate and final failure state of the equipment at which stoppage of
production or catastrophe even with a possible damage can occur.
Lead Time
It is the duration between the points of start of failure to breakdown in process of
deterioration of the equipment. In other words, it is time gap between last point of
the normal level and breakdown level of the equipment. The lead-time is one of the
main merits of using trend monitoring rather than the simple alarms of automatic
shutdown devices used in permanent monitoring.
In most cases both methods, condition checking and trend monitoring, are used
together. With the use of sensors, automation of monitoring is possible. A
permanent monitoring by such sensors can prevent catastrophic failures by
alarming or stopping the machine automatically when the parameter (selected to
indicate the machine condition) exceeds a predetermined level. Of course, the pre-
selected warning/alarm levels, based on the experience of the users show a way to
optimize the life of wearing machine parts. Thus in condition monitoring, the
repairs are carried out only when the machine condition deteriorates to
predetermined level. In other words, the repairs or replacement of parts take place
41
Condition Based only when it has definitely been proved that a fault exists and left as ‘not-repaired’
Maintenance would result in unsatisfactory operation such as decrease of production or
catastrophic breakdown with possible damage to other machine parts and
disruption of production.
SAQ 1
(a) Discuss about condition Checking and Trend monitoring.
(b) Give brief notes on lead time in Trend monitoring.
(c) Explain the principles of CBM.

Activity 1
(a) Explain the Various states you observed in equipment expected to undergo
before breakdown in your organization.
………………………………………………………………………………..
………………………………………………………………………………..
………………………………………………………………………………..
(b) Give details of check list and certificate of condition checking which your
organization is using.
………………………………………………………………………………..
………………………………………………………………………………..
………………………………………………………………………………..

6.3 FOUR PILLARS OF CONDITION MONITORING

The condition monitoring also known as Dynamic Predictive Maintenance is composed
of several functional aspects on which the maintenance is carried out. However there are
four important schematic and functional steps observed in any implementation of
condition monitoring activity. These functional aspects are often called four pillars of
Condition Monitoring. These are :
(a) Detection,
(b) Diagnosis,
(c) Prognosis, and
(d) Programme
[A Dynamic Predictive Maintenance, the other name of CBM can be simplified by the
two letters twice viz. DDPP – Detection, Diagnosis, Prognosis and Programme. Refer
Figure 6.2].
These are explained in the paragraphs to follow :
Detection
This pillar of DPM details when of the developing fault has just arisen. This
focuses to answer the following ‘When’ questions.
(a) When might the fault have started?
42
 (b) When (or how early) is the fault noticed? Condition Monitoring

(c) When does this fault result in a disaster if left unattended?

Diagnosis
Diagnosis concentrates on knowing ‘what’ of the origin of the fault so that spares
parts can be ordered.
(a) What is origin of the fault?
(b) At what stage is the fault now?
(c) What is the growth rate of the fault?
(d) What are the components or parts that suffering from this fault?
Prognosis
This pinpoints what could happen if the fault is left unattended, i.e. the
FORECAST of after effects. It is to estimate the severity of the fault, possibility
and/or frequency recurrence of the fault and operational problems, etc. Subsequent
measurement will then establish the trend to indicate what may happen. This
function puts the effort to answer the following queries.
(a) What is the severity of the fault?
(b) What could be the results of the fault?
(c) What could be the production loss?
(d) What is cost of the fault in terms of hours of production and
maintenance or repair?
(e) What are the side effects?
(f) What is the trend of the failure? (progressive/constant/retrogressive)
(g) What is the lead time?
Programme
This function is concerned with preparation of SCHEDULE to enable the repair,
schedule to be planned. This function attempts to reply the following type of
questions :
(a) When should the equipment be taken for maintenance or repair?
(b) What maintenance policy should be adopted?
(c) When should the restoring action start and likely time when it can be
finished?
(d) Who will maintain or repair so as to restore the condition?
(e) What is the action plan?

DETECTION
D P
PROGNOSIS
DIAGNOSIS

DPM or
CBM P

PROGRAM
P

Figure 6.2 : The Four Pillars of Condition Based or Dynamic Predictive Maintenance
43
Condition Based Permanent monitoring is generally applied where the most important economic
Maintenance factor is damage to the machine while CM is most suitable where the loss in
production is the most important economic factor. Some situations may best be
served by both methods used in parallel.
Condition checking is employed where a check measurement is taken with the
machine running, using some suitable parameter again. And these are then used as
measures of the condition of machine at that particular instant. For effectiveness,
the measurement should be qualitative, accurate and quantifiable with known
limiting values. Fixing these values requires a large amount of recorded past
experience for the particular type of machine. This makes the method less flexible
than the trend monitoring, particularly if it is required to give lead time as well as
machine knowledge. However, it is preferable in case, there are several similar
machines operating together because comparative checking can be done between
the machines under monitoring and other new/good machines. These two methods
of condition monitoring are compared in Table 6.4. And the resulting advantages
in terms of the provision of lead-time and better machine knowledge are shown in
Table 6.5.
SAQ 2
Explain the four pillars of condition based/Dynamic predictive maintenance.

Activity 2
What do you understand by the terms with reference to CBM :
Trend Monitoring : ………………………………………………………………..
Permanent Monitoring : ………………………………………………………….
Condition Checking : ……………………………………………………………..
Detection : ………………………………………………………………………….
Diagnosis : ………………………………………………………………………….
Prognosis : …………………………………………………………………………
Programming : …………………………………………………………………….

6.4 SETTING UP A CM ACTIVITY

There are a number of aspects to be taken into account, if an industry is considering
whether to apply CM to its plant, machinery or equipment. The following suggested
procedure may be helpful.
(a) The management should become familiar with the principles of CM and its
benefits.
(b) Then they should consider various factors affecting the application of CM in
relevance to their situation and also the actual merits/benefits which they
intend to materialize.
(c) Then the possible financial savings are to be assessed based on the general
financial statistics of the organisation.
(d) While making a general financial assessment they also should identify what
general or organizational arrangements appear to be appropriate.
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 (e) After considering various aspects 1 to 4, the management should discuss Condition Monitoring
with their senior engineers concerned with the operation and maintenance of
their plant and equipment. The engineers should be asked to make a more
precise estimate of the likely savings and to recommend an appropriate level
of monitoring activity.
(f) If these more precise figures appear to be satisfactory, a decision should be
made to proceed.
(g) A senior engineer should then be asked to survey the plant and equipment,
to recommend which items should be monitored and by what methods and
then prepare cost estimates.
(h) A final decision should then be made on the actual expenditure and approval
is to be given to order the necessary equipment or services and to train the
required staff. CM can then be brought in complete package.
(i) The management support and administrative work for setting up befitting
procedures will be necessary during the first year of operation to ensure the
smooth integration of CM in existing operation and the most effective
utilisation of machine data that is collected.

6.5 IMPLEMENTATION OF CONDITION BASED

MAINTENANCE
The procedure for implementation of CBM is detailed in the following steps :
(a) Listing and numbering all machines, so as to have their identification and
location.
(b) Selecting critical machines. A critical machine is that whose shutdown
would cause production losses or dangerous to personnel. This distinction
does not depend only on quantity but also on product quality. The degree of
criticality of the machine is one of the factors influencing examination
frequency.
(c) Establishing program and methods specifying the parts to be examined.
Reliability of CBM depends not only on instrument but also mostly on the
skill and sense of responsibility of the examiner who is entrusted with a
group of machines.
(d) Establishing for each part of the machine the severity limits of the machine
condition parameter (vibration, sound, temperature, contamination, etc.) to
be measured.
(e) Selecting proper examination frequencies. To arrive at the best frequency of
examination, we must consider for each machine.
(i) Its criticality in the process flow chart.
(ii) The availability of the standby machines.
(iii) The standardisation of items.
(iv) The operating conditions.
(v) The failure statistics (MTBF-MTTR).
(vi) The cost of examination.
(vii) The overall cost of failure.
(viii) The cost of maintenance.
The following formula has been suggested in order to optimize examination frequency.
⎛C ⎞
e− λ t − λ t = 1 + λ ⎜ 1 ⎟
⎝ C2 ⎠
45
Condition Based where λ = failure rate,
Maintenance
t = examination interval,
C1 = examination cost, and
C2 = unitary down time (maintenance cost + production losses).
This formula is valid only in the cases of constant failure rate (FR), while in
the case of a variable FR the formula is more complicate, therefore the
empirical methods are applied.
(f) Recording data.
(g) Training examiners.
The examiners should have a high standard of experience, a thorough
knowledge of machinery and particularly endowed with analytical skill.
However it is necessary to train the personnel for this job by :
(i) Making clear the objectives of CBM
(ii) Illustrating the principle and working of the instruments.
(iii) Going through essential mathematics and principles of physics to
perform the job.
(iv) Attending refresher courses on professional matters, like lubrication,
ball bearing assembly, vibration analysis, etc.
SAQ 3
(a) What are the different aspects to be taken into account, if an industry is
considering whether to apply CM to its plant, machinery, or equipment.
(b) Explain the different steps followed to implement condition based
maintenance.
(c) Explain the procedural steps in setting up a CBM activity.
(d) What are the forces and factors to be considered when a CBM activity is set
up in an industry? How do they influence the implementation plan?
(e) What are the roadblocks in setting up the CBM activity? How do you
encounter them?
(f) Explain the role of Maintenance Manager in an industry which (A) wants to
adopt CBM, (B) just implemented CBM.
(g) What consequences do you expect with implementation of CBM?

Activity 3
Prepare an implementation plan of CBM for your organisation.
………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………

6.6 DESIGN OF MAINTENANCE INFORMATION

SYSTEM (MIS)
The Maintenance Information System gains a significant role when CBM is introduced in
an industry in two important aspects. The first aspect is collecting and processing of great
quality of information that is never available before, regarding the condition of each part
of a machine. This information is used to detect the faults or tendency of deterioration or
probable time that a machine is expected to fail. Obviously, this simplifies the
Maintenance Manager’s job in optimizing the frequency of examination or inspection on
46
the machine. The second aspect of the information system stresses on the necessity to Condition Monitoring
provide information so as to carryout maintenance works within lead-time, i.e. in a period
of time, which may be very short elapsing between the alarm and emergency shutdown.
This becomes a tool for the Maintenance Manager to schedule or programme the
maintenance works within the lead-time effectively by reducing the waiting costs,
shortage costs, logistic costs, etc. This is clearly interpreted in the
Figure 6.3.

Examination Schedule Lubrication Schedule

Oil Changing

Programmer
Programme

Work Order Record

Work Order Record

Daily Work Order Daily Work Order

Emergency Defect Machine to

Works works Lubricate
Defect Job Report
Machine

Vibro Critical Machine Up-

meter Recording dating

Vibration Analyser

Record
Comparison
Vibration Analysis
Record
Diagnosis

Maintenance Chief

Maintenance Worker
Vibration
Workshop Analyzer

Figure 6.3 : Maintenance Information System for CBM

Thus a good Maintenance Information System puts the Maintenance Manager in very
comfortable position to take the decision in following two conditions.
(a) The condition of the machine is near to the lead time; procedure will be
followed through planning office (work requisition – work order with
specification programming-carried out work).
(b) The condition of machine is already within lead-time (next to the
shutdown); the information will be directly passed to the foreman for
emergency maintenance.
To implement the CBM effectively, efficiently and to operate correctly the information
should be very transparent. In other words, the information, which the Maintenance
Manager gets from the inspection/examination team, should flow essentially from the
maintenance manager also to the maintenance foremen as well as the shop floor foremen
and everybody concerned in the following aspects :
(a) Condition of machine
47
Condition Based (b) Probable part of defective machine
Maintenance
(c) Probable defect
(d) Time during which the fault has to be repaired.
This can be better achieved by job report, which is another very important and
fundamental feature in order to assure the success of the new philosophy. Perhaps, this
could be made possible through the security and correction of diagnosis versus actual
work.
CBM uses the lubrication team as the major source of information as this team
systematically controls the machinery. Examination and lubrication therefore must be
strictly connected as they may transfer each other information on the conditions of the
machine. Flow of information under CBM is illustrated in the upper side of Figure 6.5.
Hence, the organization of maintenance becomes more flexible as it is based on a daily
input of data while the short-term programming becomes more important than the long
term one. As a result of this, the estimation of maintenance budget becomes somewhat
difficult, since most of the work will be done only after an examination instead of basing
it on a rigid PM schedule. Therefore the budget can be based only on statistical data and
probabilistic.
The role of the Maintenance Manager becomes very crucial from the moment the CBM is
adopted. Hitherto, his main duties were the coordination and technical aid to his
assistants in maintenance planning through a guesswork but now he becomes really the
‘manager’ of the service. However, three important functions are required to be
performed by the chief of the maintenance, listed below.
(a) To control the examiners’ training or his eventual deviations from
instructions.
(b) To improve the correlation between parameters chosen and real defects.
(c) To get severity curves specific for each machine.
Application of Computers in Maintenance Information System
The use of computer has become very essential today. The computer systems are
used in plant engineering to provide the information listed below to the
maintenance-in-charge and from plant engineering department to other
departments.
(a) Maintenance Master Schedules.
(b) Failure Analysis report.
(c) Cost Analysis report.
(d) Budget report.
(e) Status of PM.
(f) Materials Stock report.
(g) Materials (Urgent) requirement report.
(h) Work-order status report.
(i) Pending maintenance work report.
(j) Work-in-Progress (WIP) report.
(k) Delay in execution (reasons) report.
(l) Equipment-wise repair cost analysis report.
(m) Equipment-wise down time or availability report.
(n) Ratio of emergency work to planned work report.
(o) Emergency work report.
(p) Man-hours spent on maintenance work v. planned man-hours.
(q) Details of information of experts in maintenance management.
(r) Capacity Planning (CRP)/Man-Power Planning (HRP)/Material
Planning (MRP) reports.
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SAQ 4 Condition Monitoring

(a) Explain the significance of Maintenance Information System with reference

to the implementation of CBM?
(b) What is Maintenance Information System? How do you design it?

Activity 4
(a) Prepare a flow chart of maintenance information system in your organisation
with the existing systems and procedures:
………………………………………………………………………………..
………………………………………………………………………………..
………………………………………………………………………………..
(b) Suppose, there are two similar machines in your industry say X, the
imported one and say Y, the in-house manufactured. In certain urgency you
have used the spares of the imported machine X to the machine Y. Now,
there is a breakdown of X and is for the want of the same spares. There is a
chance of damage if the replaced part is removed and the in-house made
spares are not suiting to the imported machine. What will you do in such a
situation? Is the fault lying with design or manufacture or maintenance?
Design an Information system for resolving such situations considering
design to discard stages.
………………………………………………………………………………..
………………………………………………………………………………..
………………………………………………………………………………..
(c) Prepare an Information system considering the production department, plant
engineering department, planning department, materials department,
purchase department, accounts and finance departments.
………………………………………………………………………………..
………………………………………………………………………………..
………………………………………………………………………………..

6.7 TECHNIQUES OF CONDITION MONITORING

In fact there are several techniques available to monitor the machine condition. But for
the ease of understanding and implementing, all these could be studied under five main
heads and these are :
Visual Monitoring
It is the monitoring technique, which involves inspection and recording of surface
appearance. Normally, the monitoring is done by naked eyes, but may require the
use of telescopes, microscopes and various other optical equipment if necessary.
Sometimes it may even involve the use of boroscopes to see inaccessible places, or
the use of photography or surface imprinting for record purpose.
Vibration Monitoring
The noise and vibration are the most important parameters to monitor a machine,
particularly in the moving parts such as shafts, rotors, cutting tools, gears, etc. The
vibration level is recorded by attachment of a transducer like velocity probe,
accelerometer or proximity probe to the machine. Special equipment is also
available for using the output from the sensor to indicate the nature of the vibration
problem and even its precise cause. In some cases it may become necessary to use
the principles of Sonics and acoustics.
49
Condition Based Wear Debris Monitoring
Maintenance
This works on the principle that the working surfaces of a machine are washed by
their lubricating oil, and any damage to them should be detectable from particles of
wear debris in the oil. If the debris consists of relatively large ferrous lumps such
as those generated by the fatigue of rolling element bearings and gears or the
pitting of cams and taproots, these can be picked up by removable magnetic plugs
inserted in the oil return lines. For small debris particle, spectrographic analysis or
microscopic examination of oil samples after magnetic separation are commonly
used techniques. Another popular technique is SOAP Analysis for debris
monitoring.
Performance and Behaviour Monitoring
Here we check the performance of a machine or component to see whether it is
behaving correctly. This may, for example, involve monitoring the performance of
a bearing by measuring its temperature to see whether it is carrying out its function
of transmitting load between moving surfaces with the minimum of friction.
Corrosion Monitoring
This is usually applied to fixed plant containing aggressive materials and is
intended to monitor the rates of internal corrosion of the walls of the plant. This
may be done by drilling sentinel holes part away, through the wall, which can be
plugged when they leak or by inserting readily removable coupons of material of
which the corrosion rate is assumed to relate to that of plant.
In the case of the first four techniques of monitoring which are applied primarily to
various forms of rotating plant, the way in which they are used is that the existence
of a problem is usually detected from the general level of the measurement, and its
rate of change, while the nature of the problem can generally be determined from a
more detailed analysis of the measurements obtained. This is outlined in Table 6.2.
Table 6.2 : Application of Monitoring Methods
(For Detection and Analysis of Problem)

Sl. Monitoring Direction of Determination of Nature of

No. Methods Problem by Problem by Analysis of
Measurement
1. visual overall appearance colouring/shape/texture
monitoring
2. performance rate of output uniform quality level/rate of
monitoring output/uniformity
3. vibration/noise overall noise/ frequency of noise level/signal
level monitoring vibration level waveform/signal statistics.
4. wear monitoring amount of shape/size/size distribution of
debris/friction debris/chemical composition
5. corrsion colour/chemical variation in coating thickness/
monitoring analysis chemical composition

The techniques/methods of monitoring described in Table 6.2 are in fact a

mechanism of communication between a machine and a monitoring engineer. It
will be observed that the visual method of monitoring in relation to the others
requires negligible technological backup. This is because the necessary analytical
facilities already exist with the human observer. The lack of these natural
analytical facilities in the other three methods of monitoring is the main reason
why more complex technological facilities and methods need to be applied. The
different techniques within the main categories of monitoring methods are listed in
Table 6.3 as a guide to their general selection for various parts of the machine
50 parts.
 Table 6.3 : Selecting Methods of Monitoring Condition Monitoring

Possible General Monitoring Method

Component to be Monitored
Visual Behaviour Vibration Wear Debris
Castings Š Š
Mountings and foundations Š Š
STATIONARY

Tanks and containers Š Š

Pressure vessels Š Š
Pipes Š Š
Heat exchanges Š Š
Screens and separators Š Š
Stator blades Š
Machine rotors Š Š
Turbine blades Š Š Š
Impellers and propellers Š Š Š
ROTATING

Wheels Š Š
Gears Š Š Š
Chain drives Š Š
Flexible couplings Š Š Š
Pulleys and belts Š Š
Governors Š Š
Pistons Š
Linkage and levers Š Š
Š Š
RECIPROCATING

Cams and tappets

Valves Š Š Š
Cables and chains Š Š
Bellows Š Š
Diaphragms Š Š
Springs Š Š Š
Guides and slides Š Š Š
Splines Š Š
Brakes Š Š
Clutches Š Š Š
Vibration dampers Š Š Š Š
Plain Bearings Š Š Š
FRICTION COMPONENTS

Rolling Bearings Š Š
Flexure Š Š
Seals
Lip Š
Mechanical Š
Packed glands Š
Wingback Š Š
Labyrinth Š Š Š
Piston rings Š Š
Hard wear Š
Elastic Š
Cutting tools Š Š
TOOLS

Metal working tools Š Š

Casting and Š Š
Moulding tools
Hydraulic Š
FLUIDS

Cooling and Š Š
heat transfer
Lubricants Š

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Condition Based SAQ 5
Maintenance
(a) Discuss various techniques employed for monitoring the condition of the
equipment?
(b) Give brief notes on wear debris monitoring, corrosion monitoring.

Activity 5
What monitoring methods of the above do you recommend to the plant
items/machine parts of your organisation if condition monitoring is going to be
implemented? What instrumentation and tooling do you require for this? Design a
system.
………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………

6.8 COMPARISON BETWEEN CM AND FD

Though these two have close relation and look like same, some differences exist between
them. These differences are interpreted through the following table:
Table 6.4 : Comparison between Condition Monitoring and Fault Diagnosis
Measurement Trend Monitoring Condition Checking Diagnostic Maintenance
Frequency Readings are taken at Readings taken at one When the problem has
regular time intervals time while the machine become manifest or after
while the machine is is running. failure has occurred.
running.
Qualitative Skilled operators can Typical activity of an When machine is stopped,
do subjective trend engineer when inspection of components
monitoring if they are checking a machine can indicate the cause of
close enough to their during operation. the problem.
machines.
Quantitative The taking of regular Numerical values allow Measurements may be
measurements and their comparison with analyzed in considerable
recording and analysis established standards or detail to provide guidance
gives a lead-time on other similar machines on possible causes of the
machine problem. to give knowledge of problem.
machine condition.
Condition Monitoring
52
 Condition Monitoring
6.9 ADVANTAGES OF CM OVER OTHER
PHILOSOPHIES
The advantages of the condition monitoring are simplified and shown in a tabular form
given below :
Table 6.5 : Advantages of Condition Based Monitoring

Advantages Obtained Methods by which CBM gives these Advantages

Lead Time Better Machine Knowledge

Reduced injuries and Fatal Enables plant to be stopped Machine condition, as
SAFETY

Accidents to Personnel safely when instant shut indicated by an alarm is

caused by Machinery. down is not permissible. adequate if instant shut down
is permitted.

More Enables machine shut down Allows time interval between

Running for maintenance and reduces planned machine overhauls to
time various consequential losses be maximised.
by avoiding from unexpected
shut down.
Increased
machine Less Enables machine to be shut Reduces Inspection time after
availability maintenance down without destruction or shut down and speeds up the
time major damage. Enables start of correct remedial
maintenance crew to be action.
ready with spare parts, to
start work as soon as
OUTPUT

machine is shut down.

As the shutdown time is Allows some types of machine

warned well in advance the to be run at Increased load
Increased rate of net output plan can be revised or and/or speed. Can detect loss
enables aggregate planning. in machine efficiency or
increased energy
consumption.

Improved quality of product Allows advanced planning to Can be used to reduce the
or service. reduce the effect of amount of product or service
impending breakdowns on produced at sub-standard
the customer for the product quality levels.
or service, and thereby
enhances company
reputation.

SAQ 5
(a) Explain the significance of Condition Based Maintenance. How is it more
meritorious over other maintenance philosophies?
(b) Distinguish between the fault diagnosis and condition monitoring?
(c) What are the factors that are to be considered to decide the optimum
frequency of examination in condition monitoring? How do they influence
the frequency?

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Condition Based
Maintenance 6.10 SUMMARY
The importance of Condition Based Maintenance is greatly realized by the industries in
India. Many organisations have already adopted and are success fully implementing
while some other are in the direction of adopting it. Though all the techniques of
monitoring such as visual, vibration, noise, performance, corrosion monitoring are not
useful in all the organisations, the organisation may select a few of these and can mould
and design them according to its suitability and requirement.
Various philosophies of the maintenance management, their central themes, principles
and their evolution are extensively discussed. The significance of condition monitoring is
illustrated. The principles, the method and the techniques of CBM are then detailed with
appropriate supports. For the ease of maintenance managers who wish to adopt this
policy, the procedure of adoption and the implementation plans are laid down. A clear
distinction is made between diagnostic maintenance and CBM to remove the confusion.

6.11 KEY WORDS

Dynamic Predictive : Prediction of possibility of occurrence of a failure
Maintenance by regular monitoring dynamically and attending
immediately after the fault occurred and much
before possibility of breakdown. This is also
called as condition based monitoring.
Diagnostic Maintenance : Maintenance by finding the root causes and
analysing the faults occurred.
Detection : Finding the faults in the machines or any other
parts of the machine.
Diagnosis : Analysing the faults before planning for
maintenance of the machine.
Prognosis : Forecasting of the possible causes of faults and
maintenance of the equipment before undertaking
for maintenance.
Programme : Preparation of the planning and scheduling for
maintenance activities.
Maintenance Information : The system of collecting the information about
System (MIS) the various stages of maintenance activities in the
plant.
Lead-time : The period of time elapsed between the alarm and
emergency shutdown of the machine.
Visual Monitoring : The technique involved in inspecting and
recording of surface appearance of the parts or
equipment.
Wear Debris Monitoring : The technique involved in testing the weariness in
machine parts by using the magnetic debris and
lubricating oil or soap water.
Performance and Behaviour : The method used to check the functional
Monitoring behaviour of the machine parts.

6.12 ANSWERS TO SAQs

Please refer the preceding text for all the Answers to SAQs.

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