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Agenda – Condition Monitoring Case Studies
➢ Case Study 1 – Power Generation: Rotor Rub
➢ Case Study 2 – Petrochemical: Steam Turbine Seal Rub
➢ Case Study 3– Automotive: Gearbox Failure
➢ Case Study 4 – Forging: Motor Pulley System
➢ Case study 5 – Steel Plant: Hammer Mill Crusher

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Case Study 1: Rotor – Rub & Broken Blades
Problem Statement:
➢ Coal-fired power plant operating under availability-based tariff
➢ Machine reliability and availability critical to plant profitability
➢ Aging instrumentation system needed to be upgraded to meet reliability/availability goals

Solution:
➢ Plant upgraded the instrumentation from casing mounted seismic transducers to X-Y proximity
probes
➢ Bently Nevada 3500 series
➢ System 1 Software
➢ Remote Monitoring Service

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Case Study 1: Rotor – Rub & Broken Blades
Payback:
➢ Within first several months, the system proved its worth
➢ A rub on the IP rotor and suspected broken blades on the LP rotor detected
➢ OEM recommended that if the machine is stopped in this condition, restart may not be possible
➢ Plant decided to continue operations until spare parts were obtained
➢ System 1 Software used to carefully monitor the machine for any further degradation
➢ When the machine was opened six months later as part of planned outage, both diagnosis
were confirmed and damaged parts were replaced
➢ By avoiding 250 days of downtime, plant saved excess of 10 million USD

Benefits:
➢ Actionable information for informed decisions
➢ Increased availability of the machine
➢ Shortened outages

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Case Study 2: Steam Turbine – Seal Rub
Background:
➢ Petrochemical plant in India enters into a services agreement for machinery diagnostics on
routine monthly visits
➢ Machine being monitored is a centrifugal compressor
➢ Machine is coupled and driven by a 14 stage 30 MW steam turbine
➢ Rated speed of 4068 rpm
➢ Turbine and compressor both have fluid film bearings

System Components:
➢ Both Turbine and compressor are instrumented with XY proximity probes for radial vibration monitoring
➢ Axial probes for thrust monitoring
➢ Keyphasor transducer for speed and phase measurements
➢ Machine train protected by Bently Nevada 3300 system
➢ DM2000 and System 1 software deployed for machinery management: condition monitoring and
diagnostics

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 Case Study 2: Steam Turbine – Seal Rub

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 Case Study 2: Steam Turbine – Seal Rub
Event History:

➢ Steam Turbine NDE bearing started showing high vibration excursions on both probes
➢ Although vibrations were less than alert, they started increasing in value in the next month
➢ Frequency domain analysis (spectrum) showed that vibration was due to synchronous excitation

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 Case Study 2: Steam Turbine – Seal Rub

August-September 2007 waterfall plot showing spectral components of the vibration excursions on
turbine NDE bearing during August and September. Note: The ~69 Hz peak corresponds to the machine
running speed, which validates that it is 1X vibration.

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 Case Study 2: Steam Turbine – Seal Rub

September 2007: ADRE plots show changes in orbit size and vibration phase
(Keyphasor dot) indicating intermittent rotor bow symptoms.

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 Case Study 2: Steam Turbine – Seal Rub
Shutdown:

➢ Plant engineers knew they needed to perform an internal inspection of the steam turbine
➢ But were able to avoid shutdown of refrigeration for more than 32 months after first occurrence of rub
➢ Mitigated the risk of operation and built confidence in managing by close monitoring and observation
of vibration of condition monitoring data

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 Case Study 3: Gear Box Failure
Background:
➢ A global leading Indian paper manufacturing company specializes in technologically advanced
and most eco-friendly paper and paperboards business.
➢ The calendar machine run by a motor has a shaft mounted gearbox connected to the roller.
➢ This gearbox allows maximum paper load and feeds the paper with reduced speed to the
roller.
➢ In spite of scheduled preventive maintenance, it was observed that gearbox used to fail
frequently.

Solution:
➢ IDE was installed at the bearing location supporting the output shaft of the gearbox to capture
tri-axial vibrations and acoustic signals in real time.
➢ After 3 months of deployment, IDE detected a steady rise in the vibrations.
➢ A rise in corresponding noise levels was also recorded. Alert notifications were sent via SMS
and emails to the registered local as well as remote authorities.
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 Case Study 3: Gear Box Failure

➢ Spectral analysis of the captured data over the dashboard revealed shaft misalignment
resulting in increased gear mesh vibrations.
➢ Also, the surface wearing of gear teeth showed variation in noise level.
➢ Acting upon the diagnostics given by the IDE, customer performed shaft alignment and gear
oil change.
➢ As a result, vibrations and noise levels were significantly reduced and paper surface quality
was noticeably improved.
➢ Had the corrective measures not been taken, it would have certainly resulted in calendar roll
shaft breakage causing a production downtime to the tune of USD 60 Thousand
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 Case Study 4: Forging Unit – Motor Pulley
Background:
➢ One of the biggest Indian forgings and machining components manufacturer transforms its
preventive maintenance schedule into Predictive Maintenance
➢ The Company is a part of a USD 3 billion group, manufacturing world-class forgings and
machined components in Pune.
➢ The 1000 Ton main forging press had a 75 HP motor and fed a trimming machine.
➢ The motor pulley combination was situated on top of the Press at a height of about 15 feet
thereby reducing its access for routine maintenance.
➢ Ensure constant uptime of the Press

Solution:
➢ Industrial Data Enabler (IDE) was installed to capture the machine parameters
➢ The IDE allows wireless monitoring of the motor pulley system reducing its downtime and
maximizing the motor’s performance.

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 Case Study 4: Forging Unit – Motor Pulley

➢ The IDE collected the tri-axial vibrations, temperature and noise levels of the motor instantly.
➢ Looking at the steady state vibrations, at the time of IDE installation, thresholds were set.
➢ Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) method to analyze the data helped in detecting the root cause of
discrepancy in the vibrations.
➢ After 2 months of continuous monitoring, IDE detected a gradual rise in the vibrations of all the
three axes.

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 Case Study 4: Forging Unit – Motor Pulley

➢ A spectrum that detected the fault signature (presence of associated harmonics 2x and 3X
with higher amplitudes).
➢ The maintenance team took a corrective step and physically inspected the motor and pulley. It
revealed that the pulley on the motor had cracked.
➢ The prediction benefitted the manufacturer as follows:
• Prevented the cracked pulley from damaging other drive components.
• Avoided a catastrophic disaster.
• Saved life of the operator.
• Corrective measures facilitated resumption of the Press.
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 Case Study 5: Steel Plant – Hammer Mill Crusher
Background:
➢ One of the largest Indian steel Companies produces a range of steel products.
➢ The Company has a potential of 7 Million Tons per year and owns a few integrated and
specialized steel plants in North India.
➢ To increase the production capacity the Company is in the process of modernizing and
expanding its production units, raw material resources, and other facilities.
➢ The coke oven plant in one of the specialized steel plants used an up-running hammer mill
crusher to crush the coal with a capacity of crushing 50 tons per hour.
➢ The hammers in the rotor often wear out with time affecting the overall coking process. To
ensure the consistent production of coke, it was necessary to monitor the performance of the
crusher.

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 Case Study 5: Steel Plant – Hammer Mill Crusher

➢ Industrial Data Enabler (IDE) is deployed on the drive end motor bearing.
➢ After a week, the vibrations on the motor crossed the threshold limits and accordingly
notifications were sent to the maintenance team. The notification invoked a close inspection of
the motor to avoid the breakdown.

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 Case Study 5: Steel Plant – Hammer Mill Crusher

The Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) algorithm to analyze the discrepancy in the vibrations
signaled that the motor had an unbalance, looseness and was also likely to be misaligned.
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 Case Study 5: Steel Plant – Hammer Mill Crusher

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 Case Study 5: Steel Plant – Hammer Mill Crusher
Summary:

➢ Physical inspection of the motor confirmed the indication of the FFT.

➢ The maintenance team took the corrective measures to prevent the motor breakdown and thus
ensured the consistent production of coke.
➢ Inattention to the notifications could have caused the motor breakdown eventually interrupting
the production of coke and resulting in a production downtime of approximately 4 hours, which
could have resulted in a loss of USD 6 Thousand.

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Thank You!!

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