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Revolutionary Predictive Maintenance

As consultants and trainers we tend to remain "vendor neutral" so that we can provide unbiased advice to our clients.  But every once in a while we  discover something truly remarkable, something that delivers so much benefit so easily in comparison with old methods that we just have to say something about it.  NASA had a need to monitor it's space shuttle launch rockets.  After repeat aborted launch attempts due to faulty sensors they had to find a better way to monitor condition.  A "model-based fault detection" approach was born.  The equipment could be modeled mathematically using "transfer functions." If a signal from the rocket motors was inconsistent with the model's predicted performance it meant that something was wrong.  The remarkable thing about this approach was that it did not require the same sort of sensors mounted in harsh operating conditions to work.

That technology was carefully protected by patents and is now being commercialized for the industrial world to use in the realm of condition monitoring.  Imagine monitoring a cooling tower fan, gearbox and motor without any sensors mounted at the top of the cooling tower.  Imagine monitoring water pumps in deep wells, mast mounted radar drive motors and gearboxes, shipboard tank pumps and their drive motors, cooling fans in hazardous area, diesel engines or gas turbines and the generators they drive.  And much, much, more.  You no longer need to expense of field mounted vibration sensors, cabling, conduit and all the signal transmission devices and monitoring equipment that is associated with them.  You don't even need an expert in Predictive Maintenance!  This technology gives you the answers and replaces the need for a highly skilled and expensive to train specialist.

The Artesis MCM is mounted in the motor control center where it can tap into voltage and current readings.  That's all it needs for inputs.  It goes through a short learning period where it creates its reference model and then monitors your equipment. It produces alarm, warning, shutdown signals and triggers work orders.  It's output signals can be used for diagnostics either alone or in conjunction with your other diagnostic techniques.

Even right at startup, if your equipment has a problem MCM can tell.  The learning period creates a unique reference model for the equipment being monitored, but even right at the start, any non-linear signal output is an indication of a potential problem. 

Why not replace your vibration analysis routes and other manual predictive checks?  Why not begin monitoring that equipment that was previously too remote or located where traditional monitoring techniques were useless? 

It's not even expensive.  The monitor devices are priced around $3,000.  The software is similar in price, much less if you use a lot of them.  Installation is a snap for any qualified electrician.  You can't afford not to look at this more closely!

This technology is worth looking at.  Check it out here.