Predictive Maintenance and Condition Monitoring

Condition monitoring plays a key role in predictive maintenance by allowing users to identify critical changes in machine performance. One important condition to monitor is vibration. Machine vibration is often caused by imbalanced, misaligned, loose, or worn parts.

As vibration increases, so can damage to the machine. By monitoring motors, pumps, compressors, fans, blowers, and gearboxes for increases in vibration, problems can be detected before they become severe and result in unplanned downtime.

Vibration sensors typically measure RMS velocity, which provides the most uniform measurement of vibration over a wide range of machine frequencies and is indicative of overall machine health.  Another key data point is temperature change (i.e. overheating). 

When a vibration or temperature threhold has been exceeded, a smart condition monitoring system provides both local indication, such as sending a signal to a tower light in a central location, and remote alerts like emails or text messages. This ensures that warnings are addressed quickly. 

In addition, a condition monitoring solution that allows you to log the collected data over time enables even more optimization. With a wireless system, vibration and temperature data can be sent to a wireless controller or programmable logic controller (PLC) for in-depth, long-term analysis.