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Ensures Proactive Process Control
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Check the health and cleanliness of lubricants as they arrive at the
door.
It is
a common assumption that new oil is clean, healthy oil. This is a
dangerous assumption. On-site particle counting, moisture monitoring and
viscosity measurements enable you to confirm that your fluids arrive in
proper condition.
·
Check the health and cleanliness of lubricants as stored at the
facility.
Lubricants are apt to ingest contamination on-site even if they are in
unopened drums. And they are prone to tank degradation. On-site
monitoring of particles, moisture and viscosity again ensures that they
are stored in proper condition. Also, the condition of the lubricant as
it is added to the system is critical. On-site analysis ensures that the
oils you add to your machines are in the proper condition.
·
Quickly identify failed filters. Nothing
compares to a particle counter for identifying failed filters. A
pressure differential gauge is a late indicator of when good filters are
expired, and offer no value when the filter is damaged.
·
Confirm that seals and breathers are keeping contaminants out. It
costs about 10 times as much to remove contamination once it is in the
oil as it does to keep it out in the first place. Moisture and particle
monitoring alerts you when seals and breathers are failing to perform so
you can schedule those activities for correction.
·
Confirm that oils are healthy. Any
degradation of an industrial lubricant can be detected by a change in
viscosity. Monitoring viscosity on-site alerts you of any change so you
can schedule action to identify the root cause of the degradation and
rectify the situation.
·
Make sure the right oil goes into the right machine. Routine
viscosity measurement quickly reveals situations where the wrong oil has
been accidentally added to a system.
·
Confirm that systems are properly cleaned and flushed after repair
before being returned to service.
Confirming roll-off cleanliness of new and repaired systems with a
particle counter confirms that the systems are fit for use, minimizes
early wear and premature failures, and reveals wear being generated by
any abnormal loading or operating conditions.
2.
Develops Effective Predictive Maintenance and Troubleshooting
Techniques.
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Identify wearing components very early stage.
Any
wearing mechanism leads to an increase in particle count. Performing
routine particle counts ensures awareness of machine problems and
maximizes available time to make good decisions, schedule corrective
action and minimize chain reaction type failures.
·
Confirm results immediately, avoiding decisions with uncertain
information and long delays waiting for lab analysis. When
lab results indicate a problem, there are always questions regarding
sample quality and the reliability of the analysis. With on-site
monitoring, you can quickly verify your results to ensure that you don’t
act upon bad information.
·
Determine immediately if debris detected is wear or ingested dirt.
With a
ferrous particle counter attachment, you can quickly determine if debris
is wear. The manner in which you respond to wear is quite different than
the manner in which you respond to dirt ingestion due to a seal failure,
breather failure, etc. Determining the nature of the problem quickly
makes all the difference in making the right decision.
·
On complex hydraulic and lubricating systems, localize the source of the
debris quickly with secondary sample points.
Contamination can come from a number of different areas in the system.
By testing before and after components, filters, etc., you can quickly
identify the bad actor so that diagnostic work is focused on the area of
concern.
·
Use common sense deductions to quickly determine the root cause
problems. One
can usually figure out what is wrong with a system when samples from
several points are taken over a short period of time and tested for
particle count, wear level, moisture and viscosity. For instance, if all
components in a hydraulic system show an increase in wear but the
non-ferrous particle count remains low, the wear mode is probably
lubricant related (wrong, degraded, water contaminated, etc.).
Technicians who review the on-site data regularly begin to get a feel
for the meaning of the data relative to other observations.
·
Seek lab analysis on condition, only when required.
Laboratories are invaluable when diagnostic information is required to
identify and understand a failure root cause. Let routine on-site
monitoring prompt you to submit a sample to a laboratory for extensive
oil or wear debris analysis to ensure you have diagnostic information
when and where you need it. By localizing problem components before
sampling, you improve the accuracy and validity of wear debris analysis.
·
Verify the effectiveness of corrective maintenance actions. After
repairing a system or component, particle count will confirm the success
of the corrective action. For instance, replacing a defective filter
should result in an immediate reduction in particle count. Or,
eliminating an eccentric load should eliminate wear generation.
3.
Improves the Effectiveness of the Organization
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Employees have ownership in the program.
When
employees are making measurements themselves, the results are more than
just numbers on a paper. They see immediate feedback associated with a
machine or lubricant specific condition. They also see the feedback
associated with correcting the condition.
·
Oil analysis data is no longer ignored then filed.
Too
often, oil analysis results are just filed away, never to be seen again.
Electronically collecting and organizing lubricant condition data
ensures that the information is available to all to review and trend. It
is a shame to have a problem arise which has been solved before but the
knowledge was lost because the person who solved the problem resigned or
retired.
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Data is easily understood and relevant to today’s decisions.
On-site analysis is timely and relevant. It ensures that operations and
maintenance make asset management decisions which are informed and
confident.
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Individuals at all levels become conscious of the importance of clean,
dry, healthy lubrication. It
affects the way in which they conduct their day-to-day business. When an
individual is aware that an oil can used to top-off machine sumps is
full of dirt and water which degrades the machine, they act responsibly.
On-site analysis empowers people with knowledge and data to act in the
best interest of the organization
Link to Oil Analysis Index:
http://www.reliabilitydirect.com/oilanalysisproducts/oilanalysisindex.htm.
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