PREDICTING MACHINE FAILURE WITH CONDITION MONITORING

Real Experiences in Reliability-Centered Maintenance Savings
Lubrication Technologies provides solutions for all lubricant conditioning monitoring. As an integral part of a World Class Lubrication Reliability Program, we help our customers increase operational efficiency while reducing the costs associated with lubricant contamination, misapplication and waste.

It's been widely reported that 80% (or more!) of wear and tear on your expensive machinery is due entirely to the presence of microscopic particulates in the lubricants that enable operation. And the damage, once done, is irreversible.

These microscopic particulates can be as small as 0.0001 micron (one example is smog) and range up to 10,000 microns (examples include rain, gravel and beach sand).

The human eye is capable of seeing only those particulates over 10-20 microns in size and when you consider that a human hair is difficult to see at 40 - 100 microns in size, you're left to conclude that there is a lot of damage going on that you cannot even see with the naked eye.

In fact, compare the size of those microscopic particulates with the clearances between the components in the servo valves, bearings, vane pumps and gear pumps. If a mere 0.5 to 5 micron clearance exists for the lubricant film thickness to protect those components from wear and tear, then even the smallest of microscopic particulates becomes an obvious threat to the performance of your expensive machinery.

If you can't see it, how can you predict imminent machine failure? The foundation of any successful lubricant reliability program is laid with a comprehensive condition monitoring program. A combination of regular fluid analysis combined with additional monitoring tools including sight glasses, dessicant breathers and specialized monitoring equipment like Fluitec's Ruler can bring those otherwise invisible particulates into stark focus, arming you with the information you need to keep lubricants clean, cool and dry and your expensive equipment up and running.

With consistent, accurate monitoring of the condition of your oil – whether in an engine, gearbox, circulating system or mainline power generation turbine – implementation of a condition monitoring program will help you improve your bottom line with less lubricant to purchase, fewer parts to keep in inventory, less used lubricant to dispose of, less labor required for repairs and signifcantly reduce equipment downtime.