Importance of Adding Value
Keys to a Successful Machinery Assessment Program
Ethics and Intellectual Dishonesty
Go Forth and Analyze
Appendix A: Glossary of Machinery Assessment Terms
Appendix B: Useful Conversions and Equations
Index
The authors would like to thank the many people involved in the preparation and review of this book. Specifically, we would like to recognize Ken Atkins of Engineering Dynamics for his help with the material on piping, reciprocating compressor vibration, and pressure pulsation guidelines; Jim Fitch and Mike Ramsey of Noria Corporation for their assistance with the lubrication chapter and the use of artwork; and John W. Davis for his help with the chapter on lean equipment compliance. The full potential of this field guide would never have been realized without assistance from the Industrial Press editors and reviewers.
Your phone rings on the weekend at the most inopportune time. After fumbling around for your cell phone you scan the number on the caller ID and quickly realize: it’s the plant! Your internal stress meter jumps from “relaxed” to “alert.” The unfamiliar voice on the other end of the phone informs you that a critical machine at the plant is acting up and could lead to the shutdown of a major portion the plant. Your meter jumps up another notch to “high alert.” You are vaguely familiar with the piece of equipment that the caller is talking about, but you are unsure of its construction details. You know everyone is depending on you for guidance on what to do next. Now what? Where do you begin?
The purpose of this guide is to provide those who deal with industrial process machines a handy resource for assessing the potential risk of failure. It also provides a solid basis for reliable and safe machinery operation. It was developed to be taken into the field by plant supervisors, maintenance personnel, and reliability professionals so that informed decisions about their equipment can be made.
This book is made up of four sections: 1) Evaluating Process Machines, which contains basic instruction and practical advice on evaluating the condition of machines, 2) Equipment Specific Assessments, which covers the evaluation of centrifugal pumps, steam turbines, electric motors, and piping, 3) General Assessment Guidelines, which contains field assessment methods, limits, and advice commonly employed to evaluate process machinery and 4) Improvement Ideas. We have provided relevant examples throughout the book to help readers understand the proper application of the various assessment methodologies presented.
Figure 1.1 Assessing a process machine
The idea for this reference book evolved from the fact that, at the time of inception, we were not aware of a single reference that combined machinery assessment advice with established guidelines for the most commonly used machinery condition parameters, such as vibration, pulsations, temperature limits, and lubrication. Up until this guide was developed, machinery users had to identify, purchase, and maintain an expansive, as well as expensive, library of machinery books and standards to assemble a body of sound evaluation practices. For these reasons, we have endeavored to combine the assessment advice, the most commonly used assessment tools, and helpful references into one compact volume.
The reader must remember that these guidelines should not be considered absolute. Instead, they are relative starting points for machinery assessments. Criticality, machine construction, local standards, and manufacturer’s recommendations should all be factored into your final decisions and actions. By combining various guidelines into one reference, machinery owners can take a more holistic approach to machine evaluations.
We hope you find this resource a useful addition to your machinery reliability library and that it makes your job a little easier.
Robert X. Perez and Andrew P. Conkey
A Brief Introduction to Machinery Monitoring
To survive, a processing facility must be profitable. To thrive, a processing facility must incessantly strive to become more and more profitable in order to sell products for a lower price than their competitors. To maintain a sustainable competitive edge, process owners must always be on the lookout for smarter ways to increase yields while reducing raw material costs, energy needs, maintenance costs, etc. This book is written for those working in organizations that wish to thrive and become industry leaders.
Because maintenance costs represent a significant portion of an organization’s expenses, maintenance budgets are constantly under scrutiny during budget review times. Everyone knows that lowering maintenance costs can have a major effect on the bottom line. However, blindly cutting maintenance efforts without carefully weighing the potential effects can be costly to the overall bottom line and drastically affect the site’s risk profile. Every organization must choose whether they will maintain their process facility proactively or reactively.
Rotating machinery represents a major source of expense to a maintenance organization due to both their complexity and their labor-intensive nature. The machinery maintenance budgets are often seen as having “low hanging fruit” opportunities; therefore, they are targeted for review. Any modifications to a machinery maintenance program must be carefully evaluated and approved by machinery professionals. Poorly managed rotating machinery can devastate a process organization by adversely affecting process availability, safety, and efficiency.
A powerful methodology called Reliability Centered Maintenance, RCM, is aimed at establishing a safe minimum level of maintenance and focusing key maintenance resources specifically toward mission critical equipment, such as process machinery. Reliability centered maintenance is an engineering framework that helps establish a complete maintenance philosophy and organization. It employs a structured framework for analyzing the functions and potential failures for a physical asset (such as a pump, compressor, or gas turbine). Its primary focus is preserving system functions rather than preserving equipment. The promise of RCM is reduced maintenance costs and improved equipment availability.
Some key steps of RCM include:
1.Identifying key machine functions
2.Determining machine criticality
3.Identifying functional failure modes and effects
4.Identifying failure consequences
5.Identifying how failures can be prevented and predicted
6.Identify the causes of failure
7.Selecting
