Enwatch™ Wireless Installation and Application Experience

Tim Robertson
Predictive Maintenance Coordinator
Cedar River Paper Company

P.G. Madhavan
Engineering Quality Manager
Advanced Technology Specialist
EntekIRD International Corporation

Abstract: We discuss our application experiences with the Entek’s Enwatch™, the Ethernet-based online
surveillance system, after over three months of continuous operation. Enwatch’s ease of installation, software set
up and live monitoring features are explained. Our installation uses a wireless Ethernet link, which provides
flexibility of deployment in a plant environment. The EMONITOR Odyssey® software that Enwatch integrates
with has special software capabilities particularly suited for monitoring machines (such as paper machines) where
speed, load and the product features are variable. We discuss the use of multi-dimensional or State-dependent
alarms and examples of their application below.

Introduction

Analyzing vibration data from a machine that is running at a constant speed with small process variation can be
somewhat challenging for well-trained vibration analysts. However, if the machine speed, machine load, and
product are changing every time vibration data is taken, the analyst is faced with having to gather data history of
similar operating conditions (or operating states) and then analyze the data. The more data the analyst have of the
machine operating under the same operating states, the more likely proper diagnoses will be made. When taking
vibration data with a portable data collector you are limited by your resources. If route data is taken on a regular
basis such as weekly or monthly, you will probably establish a good pattern of machine operation over a period of
a few months. And then only if you take data only when the machine is running in a predetermined operating state
each time you take your data. If the machine conditions are changing very often and the machines operating state
is different each time you take your data, you may not obtain enough data for statistical analysis. This is the case
for a paper machine; for example there are operation parameters such as paper speed in feet per minute and paper
basis weight that must be recorded at the same time as the vibration data is taken. To effectively obtain enough
data for analysis, in this particular situation as with many other similar situations, it is necessary to implement an
online surveillance system. This will allow the analysts to obtain all of the data on an as needed basis without
having to manually collect data. Since the analyst does not have to spend extra time collecting the data, more time
can be spent analyzing the data. The problem with a surveillance system is the implementation cost is high and
you must determine if it is more cost effective to manually collect the data or implement the surveillance system.

1.0 The Analysis Challenge

Another challenging problem that analysts are faced with is that once all of the data has been collected, the
analysts must somehow organize the data for analysis. In order to setup meaningful alarms the analysts must
review all of the data, then determine how many operating states the machine exhibits. Once the operating states
have been established, the data can then be grouped together for analysis. Next the data needs to be statistically
analyzed to determine what the alarm limits should be. Illustrated in Figure 1.1, Figure 1.2, and Figure 1.3 are
examples of data taken on a paper machine. The data in the illustrations show that each time the data was taken
the operating parameters were different. It is very time consuming to try to establish all of the operating states for
this machine for just one point. Just imagine trying to do this for a single paper machine that has 220 rolls each
with at least two bearings, each operating at different speeds, and each having multiple directions (Axial,
Horizontal, and Vertical). To see the difficulty you should try this for just one point; for example, the data
illustrated in Figure 1.1, Figure 1.2, and Figure 1.3 is for a six-month period. The data represents the necessary

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 information to calculate alarm limits for overall velocity data only, for the front side vertical bearing on the
number one paper machine.

Date Time Amplitude Date Time Amplitude Date Time Amplitude

06/11/1999 7:27:40 AM 26 06/11/1999 7:28:30 AM 2555 06/11/1999 7:47:03 AM 0.1228828

06/03/1999 2:28:22 PM 36 06/03/1999 2:28:45 PM 1904 06/03/1999 2:41:46 PM 0.1099399
05/28/1999 2:11:43 PM 33 05/28/1999 2:11:55 PM 2155 05/28/1999 2:14:52 PM 0.2051302
05/21/1999 11:07:17 AM 26 05/21/1999 11:07:35 AM 2117 05/21/1999 11:12:52 AM 0.3208106
05/19/1999 6:44:58 AM 26 05/19/1999 6:45:12 AM 2456 05/19/1999 6:48:37 AM 0.5585803
05/14/1999 11:22:06 AM 26 05/14/1999 11:22:23 AM 2667 05/14/1999 11:55:07 AM 0.4380322
05/07/1999 1:13:11 PM 26 05/07/1999 1:13:35 PM 2611 05/07/1999 1:16:44 PM 0.4565569
05/05/1999 4:54:21 AM 26 05/05/1999 4:54:41 AM 2617 05/05/1999 5:06:07 AM 0.3577685
04/30/1999 2:41:59 PM 26 04/30/1999 2:42:15 PM 2560 04/30/1999 2:52:04 PM 0.427015
04/26/1999 3:24:18 PM 26 04/26/1999 3:24:33 PM 2840 04/26/1999 3:07:26 PM 0.2450331
03/28/1999 9:07:57 AM 26 03/28/1999 9:08:27 AM 2651 03/28/1999 9:39:41 AM 0.1867275
03/26/1999 11:52:32 AM 26 03/26/1999 11:53:15 AM 2654 03/26/1999 12:07:24 PM 0.153148
03/17/1999 7:28:22 AM 23 03/17/1999 7:28:35 AM 2674 03/17/1999 7:48:30 AM 0.470748
03/09/1999 11:49:01 AM 23 03/09/1999 11:47:42 AM 2805 03/09/1999 12:02:51 PM 0.4348582
03/04/1999 10:30:30 AM 26 03/04/1999 10:28:25 AM 2536 03/04/1999 10:47:54 AM 0.6870937
02/25/1999 8:40:02 AM 33 02/25/1999 8:40:24 AM 1882 02/25/1999 8:56:57 AM 0.2844783
02/19/1999 1:45:34 PM 30 02/19/1999 1:44:53 PM 2003 02/19/1999 1:52:08 PM 0.3552202
02/11/1999 2:02:54 PM 33 02/11/1999 2:03:13 PM 2170 02/11/1999 2:18:02 PM 0.3764458
02/06/1999 9:13:05 AM 36 02/06/1999 9:13:54 AM 1753 02/06/1999 9:30:42 AM 0.2944579
01/27/1999 8:38:17 AM 23 01/27/1999 8:36:22 AM 2553 01/27/1999 8:48:41 AM 0.5603809
01/21/1999 8:49:19 AM 33 01/21/1999 8:49:30 AM 1902 01/21/1999 8:51:12 AM 0.2962126
01/12/1999 9:00:59 AM 26 01/12/1999 8:47:08 AM 2355 01/12/1999 9:16:13 AM 0.3645894

Figure 1.1 Figure 1.2 Figure 1.3

2.0 Bringing it all together

Enwatch™
With the development of Entek’s Enwatch™, Ethernet-based online surveillance system we are now able to
implement a relatively inexpensive system to obtain the process and vibration data necessary for machinery health
monitoring. The Enwatch™ Online Surveillance system integrates seamlessly with the EMONITOR Odyssey®
machinery information system to fully automate any condition-monitoring program. The Enwatch™ unit provides
powerful data acquisition capabilities and transfers information over existing Ethernet local area network (LAN) for
sequential monitoring of machines distributed throughout the plant. It is a powerful interface for vibration and
process parameter monitoring applications. Its compact size allows it to be installed close to the machine under
surveillance and enables data to be acquired from inaccessible and dangerous locations. Information can be acquired
from important machinery in your plant more frequently than is cost-effective using portable instrumentation.
Information gathered by the Enwatch™ unit is transferred over Ethernet LAN at regular intervals for processing,
storage, trend analysis and integration with other plant data. The configuration screens for the Enwatch™ unit are
illustrated below.

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 Figure 2.1
The hardware setup screen for the Enwatch™ unit is illustrated in figure 2.1

Figure 2.2
The Enwatch™ Unload Station setup screen is illustrated in figure 2.2

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 Figure 2.3
The Enwatch™ Properties General setup screen is illustrated in figure 2.3

Figure 2.4
The Enwatch™ Properties Channel setup screen and the location browser is illustrated in figure 2.4. This is where
you select the Machine, Location, and Measurements to be collected by the Enwatch™ unit based on the frequency,
which setup in the Schedule screen.

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 Figure 2.5
The Enwatch™ Properties Channel setup screen is illustrated in figure 2.5

Figure 2.6
The Enwatch™ Properties Trigger Channel setup screen is illustrated in figure 2.6

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 Figure 2.7
The Enwatch™ Properties Schedule setup screen is illustrated in figure 2.7.

Using the configurations illustrated above actual data has been taken on our number one paper machine. We have
been successfully monitoring this machine for the last 93 days (at the time this paper was written) while performing
beta testing of an Enwatch™ system via wireless Ethernet link.

Figure 2.8
The data in figure 2.8 is a velocity trend plot of data that has been taken every hour and illustrates the process
variation on the #11 dryer, front side bearing, axial direction, in the second dryer section of our number one paper
machine.

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 Figure 2.9
The data in figure 2.9 is a velocity waterfall plot of data that has been taken every hour over a ten-day period.
Although it is somewhat, hard to read the data still illustrates the process variation on the #11 dryer, front side
bearing, axial direction, in the second dryer section of our number one paper machine.

Figure 2.10
The data in figure 2.10 is the same as in figure 2.9 except we have changed the view on the waterfall plot to display
the data from the side view. By viewing the data at a different angle, we can see the process variation more clearly.

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 Figure 2.11
The data in figure 2.11 is a velocity spectrum plot of data taken on the #11 dryer, front side bearing, axial direction,
in the second dryer section of our number one paper machine.

enLIVE software
In addition to scheduled vibration routes, the Enwatch™ system can operate in a live mode using the enLIVE
software. From any Odyssey station running enLIVE, an operator can observe the data from a specific transducer
attached to a certain Enwatch unit. This mode will be invoked typically when a machine is indicated to be in alarm.
In the live mode, data is continuously uploaded from the transducer. Time data, spectrum, overall trend, and
waterfall spectral map can be observed continuously to perform a quick, remote, initial diagnosis of the problem.

Since time data alone is uploaded from the Enwatch unit (2Kbytes for a 400-line 500Hz Fmax spectrum), the refresh
rate is potentially quite fast (for this example, approximately 0.5 seconds in addition to the data collection duration
for a total of 1.5 to 2 seconds).

Wireless Ethernet Link

The Enwatch unit can communicate with an Odyssey Unload Station via wireless Ethernet link. The link uses the
frequency hop spread spectrum technology, can transmit up to 15 miles with line-of-sight (or farther with repeaters),
and has excellent noise immunity.

The Enwatch™ system and wireless Ethernet communication unit can be placed on a portable cart. The analysts can
quickly roll the cart out to a problem machine and begin monitoring. This can be very useful on a problem machine
that might present a hazard to the analysts while collecting vibration data. This keeps the analysts from having to
continually go back and manually collect data. Alarms limits can be set up for the machine and the analysts can
continue to analyze other machinery while the Enwatch™ system collects the data on the problem machine.
Examples of the potential wireless applications are:

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 • Monitoring of equipment, which is in inaccessible locations.
• Monitoring of equipment that is dangerous or in any way presents a high potential for injury to personnel.
• Monitoring of mobile equipment such as bridge cranes, and mining equipment.
• Monitoring of equipment over long distances where Ethernet connections are not currently available (this
system can provide a relatively low cost alternative to running new cable).

Illustrated below is actual data taken with the Enwatch™ system via wireless Ethernet link.

Figure 2.12
The data illustrated in figure 2.12 was obtained using the Enwatch™ system via wireless Ethernet link using
enLIVE software

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 Figure 2.13
The data illustrated in figure 2.13 is a ten minute trend plot of overall velocity vibration data which was obtained
using the Enwatch™ system via wireless Ethernet link using enLIVE software. The Enwatch™ unit was set up
temporarily for diagnostics, the power was supplied by a drop cord, and the transducer was installed using magnetic
mount. It is interesting to see how much variation is in the data in such a small span of time. This type of data can be
very useful when trying to diagnose a machine problem and illustrates the versatility of the Enwatch™ system.

In addition to these basic operation steps, the Enwatch system can operate over the Internet since the Enwatch unit is
an IP-enabled device.

EMONITOR Odyssey®
Entek has developed new alarm capabilities, which incorporate multiple states of machine operation so that the
analysts can now automate the generation of alarm limits. The Odyssey software features are well documented in
various product literature and other sources. The state-dependent alarm features are a powerful method of setting up
statistical alarms in Odyssey (see references: Dentino, 1999). Based on position, direction and 4 other parameters
defined by the user, historical data can be sorted into groups, statistics for each group calculated and alarm
thresholds for each group defined based on the statistics for that group. The power of this method is best exploited
for the monitoring of machinery whose load, speed or other states change (such as paper converter lines). Statistical
tiered storage is an archiving methodology where averages of past measurements over a specified time are stored. If
an exceptional condition such as an alarm has occurred during a specified time, the measurement in alarm is stored
separately and excluded from the average.

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 Figure 2.14
Figure 2.14 illustrates data that was taken on the; Top Roll Front Side bearing; vertical direction, on the first press
section of the number one paper machine, The machine was running at 1862 FPM (Feet Per Minute), and the
product being manufactured was 26lb (Basis Weight of Paper in lbs/1000 Square Feet) paper.

Figure 2.15
Figure 2.15 illustrates data that was taken on the; Top Roll Front Side bearing; vertical direction, on the first press
section of the number one paper machine, The machine was running at 1902 FPM (Feet Per Minute), and the
product being manufactured was 33lb (Basis Weight of Paper in lbs/1000 Square Feet) paper.

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 Figure 2.16
Figure 2.16 illustrates data that was taken on the; Top Roll Front Side bearing; vertical direction, on the first press
section of the number one paper machine, The machine was running at 2553 FPM (Feet Per Minute), and the
product being manufactured was 23lb (Basis Weight of Paper in lbs/1000 Square Feet) paper.

Figure 2.17
Figure 2.17 illustrates data that was taken on the; Top Roll Front Side bearing; vertical direction, on the first press
section of the number one paper machine, The machine was running at 1753 FPM (Feet Per Minute), and the
product being manufactured was 36lb (Basis Weight of Paper in lbs/1000 Square Feet) paper.

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 Figure 2.18
Figure 2.18 illustrates data that was taken on the; Top Roll Front Side bearing; vertical direction, on the first press
section of the number one paper machine, The machine was running at 2536FPM (Feet Per Minute), and the product
being manufactured was 26lb (Basis Weight of Paper in lbs/1000 Square Feet) paper.

Figure 2.19
Figure 2.19 illustrates data that was taken on the; Top Roll Front Side bearing; vertical direction, on the first press
section of the number one paper machine, The machine was running at 2674 FPM (Feet Per Minute), and the
product being manufactured was 23lb (Basis Weight of Paper in lbs/1000 Square Feet) paper.

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 If you observe the data illustrated in figures 2.14 through 2.19, you will notice that although the data was taken on
the same machine, the vibration data is very different in each plot. This is because each time the data was taken the
machine was at a different operating state, that is the machine speed and paper basis weight was different. In
addition, you will notice that the alarm parameter for each plot illustrated in figures 2.14 through 2.19 is different.
The alarm parameters that are used in each case were automatically generated by EMONITOR Odyssey using the
state based (multiple dimensional) alarm capabilities. The setup screens for configuring the multi-state alarms are
illustrated below.

Figure 2.20
Figure 2.20 illustrates the location and the measurement definition for the two process variables. These process
variables are taken at the same time as the vibration data. The software uses the two process variables and the to
determine the operating state of the machine.

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 Figure 2.21
Figure 2.21 illustrates the location and the measurement definition for the vibration data.

Figure 2.22
Figure 2.22 illustrates the alarm configuration for the statistical alarm for the location and measurement definition.

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 Figure 2.23 Figure 2.24
Figure 2.23 illustrates the alarm definition for the warning statistical alarm and figure 2.24 illustrates the alarm
definition for the critical statistical alarm.

Figure 2.25
Figure 2.25 illustrates the category configuration for the alarm configuration for the statistical alarm. The process
variables can be entered for the paper speed in FPM (Feet Per Minute) and the basis weight in lbs/1000 Square Feet,
which are entered by clicking on the Secondary Sorting tab. Each of these parameters has a starting value and a bin
width that the user can define for the known operating states. We also place a check in the boxes for Position and
Direction. With all of this data entered, we then generate our alarm statistics. The alarms limits will be calculated for
each operating state (for each bin width) using the following variables:

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 • Category
• Position
• Direction
• Process unit of paper machine speed in Feet Per Minute
• Process unit of paper basis weight in lbs/1000 Square Feet.

3.0 Implementation

Implementation plan of Enwatch™, Ethernet-based online surveillance system at Cedar River Paper Company
includes the purchase of two systems that will be hard-wired to the plants Ethernet system. These units will monitor
process parameters (i.e., paper speed, paper basis weight, etc.,). A third Enwatch™ unit and the two spread spectrum
radio modems (for wireless Ethernet link) will be purchased for diagnostics. The wireless unit will be placed on a
portable cart and will be used to troubleshoot and diagnose machinery problems as they occur in either of our two
paper mills. By using the wireless Ethernet link and the Enwatch™ unit, we will be able to roll the portable cart to a
problem machine, connect magnetic mounted vibration transducers, connect 110 volt power to the Enwatch™ unit
(using a roll-up cord and plant receptacles) and then continuously monitor the machine until either a diagnosis is
made or repairs are made to the machine.

Figure 3.1
Figure 3.1 illustrates the system configuration for the implementation of the Enwatch™, Ethernet-based online
surveillance system at Cedar River Paper Company. The existing configuration consists of one server station and
database, three Emonitor Odyssey unload stations, and two Emonitor Odyssey analysis stations. In addition to the
three new Enwatch™ systems, we will be installing one new Unload Station/Analysis Station which has two
Ethernet cards installed, one for the mills network system and one for dedicated communication with the wireless
Ethernet link.

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 Conclusions

A new generation of low-cost Ethernet-based online surveillance system for machinery condition monitoring is
introduced. The Enwatch system can accept vibration, high-frequency bearing and process data, and then transmit
them over twisted-pair or over a wireless Ethernet to an Unload Station where the desired measurements are
computed. The Odyssey client-server software imports these measurements into the machinery information database
for analysis, severity checks and notification.

The open architecture of the Entek Enwatch Online Surveillance system (Ethernet LAN and software) is a very
attractive feature of this system. Upgrading from existing Entek products and incorporating systems from other
vendors are possible. The PlantLink presentation tool makes the interaction with the database intuitive and easy. The
ability to monitor and analyze live data from machines in alarm using the enLIVE software facilitates remote
diagnosis of machinery problems. The live monitoring feature, combined with the ability to operate over the
Internet, should lead to very interesting remote condition monitoring applications.

With the new technologies, which are available with Enwatch™ and EMONITOR Odyssey® 2.0, the analysts can
collect large amounts of data over a very short period and then statistically analyze the data creating meaningful
alarm parameters.

With the use of the Enwatch™ system and wireless Ethernet communication, the analysts can easily perform task,
which until now were not possible.

References:

• Arnett, M., et al., “Inside TCP/IP”, New Riders Publishing, 1994.

• Dentino, M., “Creating Multidimensional Alarms in EMONITOR Odyssey”, Proceedings of the ENTERACT
Conference, May 1999.
• Haykin, S., “Digital Communications”, John Wiley & Sons, 1988.
• Madhavan, P.G. “Enwatch™: An Ethernet-based Online Surveillance System” ENTERACT Conference,
November 1999.

About the Authors:

Tim Robertson has worked in the Chemical, Containerboard and Automotive industries prior to joining Cedar River
Paper Company as the Preventive Maintenance Coordinator. He holds various certificates and certifications from
Technical Associates of Charlotte, Entek IRD and Spectral Institute and the Vibration Institute. He wrote BandAID
and BandAID for Windows for Technical Associates of Charlotte Inc. and performs product beta testing for Entek
IRD. He is knowledgeable in all aspects of Preventive, Predictive, and Proactive Maintenance, has written several
technical papers, and has spoken about his experiences at Vibration Institute meetings, ENTERACT and has served
as panel member for AMCA and P/PM conferences.

P.G. Madhavan is the Engineering Quality Manager and Advanced Technology Specialist at Entek IRD
International. He holds a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from McMaster University, Canada. He
has published several papers and holds two U.S. patents in the area of signal processing for machine tool chatter
prediction.

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