Case Studies
- Last Updated on 10 March 2012
- Hits: 1270
Metso Minerals, based in Matamata New Zealand, designs and manufactures up to 23 tonne Barmac (Vertical Shaft Impacter) VSI crushers that can pulverise between 10 and 2080 tonnes of rocks per hour into bite-sized smithereens.
With such formidable force the slightest structural imbalance can cause almost as much damage to the machine itself, as it does to the rocks it punishes. While maintenance is critical and repairs are inevitable, Metso design engineers are discovering the advantage of using Commtest VB 2000 to fine-tune prototypes and minimise wear and tear on machinery. In just three years since they incorporated the Commtest vibration analyser system into their test programme, Metso Minerals have more than justified their investment. They have been able to achieve, and pass onto their customers, significant product design enhancements that increase performance and reliability, and reduce costs all round.
Rock On Rock For Crushing Results
Invented in New Zealand the Barmac VSI is globally unique due to its power-saving crushing process. Unlike other types of crusher, which use metallic parts to crush rocks, the Barmac uses rocks fed into the machine to crush others through high velocity impact. Rocks entering the rotating rotor are hurled at high speeds into the chamber and smashed against other rocks falling through the machine. Adjusting the rotor speed controls the size and shape of the reduced product desired for the application.
The Barmac has found a home in many niche applications offering lower power consumption, up to 50% less wear and tear to metal parts, and increased product throughput by up to 30% over other technology.
The machines are used in over 3000 quarrying and mineral processing sites worldwide. Customers include aggregate and sand processing plants, industrial mineral sites from cement clinker to diamond mines, to waste and recycling sites.
In such critical and dangerous environments reliability and productivity is key, and customers can ill afford to have any component of their business out of operation and in need of costly repair. Therefore, a constant challenge for Metso design engineers is building a crusher that can withstand the rock-pounding abuse, is easy to maintain, cost-effective to produce and operate, and requires minimal downtime.
Using Vibration Analysis To Avoid Resonance Damage
The design of Metso machines has advanced considerably over the years and they are now used in more applications and run at a wider range of speeds than ever before.
"We used to employ consultants to perform vibration tests on new prototypes as well as on problematic machines. But this was proving a costly exercise and didn't allow the flexibility or convenience of experimenting with and analysing a variety of tests for detailed design and modification," said David Kenny, R&D Engineer at Metso Minerals.
"We started doing our own tests three years ago after an incident where we were baffled as to what had caused a cracked shaft on one of our machines. We were amazed when a consultant established the fault straightaway using Commtest's vibration analysis equipment in a bump test. He found that, at a certain speed, the resonance - or natural frequency - of the machine was the root cause of the problem. The solution was to adjust the rotor speed above or below its natural frequency, and we had no more problems."
- Last Updated on 10 March 2012
- Hits: 736
vbOnline™ Integrated with Bently Nevada Condition Monitoring System in ambitious project
Commtest's permanent condition monitoring vbOnline® system has been successfully integrated with a Bently NevadaTM 3500 system in a recent collaborative project.
Enersur-Suez Energy Peru is a 130MW hydroelectric plant. As the largest energy provider in Peru, Enersur also provides a substantial amount of energy to neighboring Brazil. The company wanted to add vibration analysis of their hydro generators to their protection system. Installing a permanent online system would ensure scheduled readings were regularly monitored and analyzed.
The machinery being monitored is among some of the most remote in the world, located high up in the Andes mountain range near the edge of the jungle district. After flying into Lima, Commtest's Customer Success Engineer Shane Smith and local channel partner Marco Ortiz drove 300km up the steep and often winding road. "Altitude sickness was a problem," says Smith "but the mountains were incredible". The facility's inherent lack of accessibility was a key driver in the decision to install a system that could remotely monitor Ensersur's machinery and transmit the data off-site.
Two 32 channel vbOnline systems were set up to take 39 readings from buffered outputs of a Bently Nevada 3500 rack. These signals correspond to 18 radial proximity probes, 6 axial probes, 3 keyphasor® and 12 airgap sensors. All sensors were pre-installed in three hydro generators of 44.5MW each.
- Last Updated on 10 March 2012
- Hits: 1249
vbOnline™ condition monitoring system set to challenge market
Everyone agrees that remote access to predictive maintenance systems can conveniently increase plant machinery uptime, and increase overall businesses profitability. So why then are only 37% of condition-based monitoring systems connected online?
With ever tightening manufacturing processes and costly time-based maintenance programs, ensuring the functional reliability of critical plant and equipment is a considerable responsibility.
Used as part of a predictive maintenance program, online condition-based monitoring systems can provide increased convenience, and help reduce lost production and overall cost of maintenance.
Until now the required investment for these systems has been out of the reach of many. This is about to change with the launch of Commtest's new vbOnline™ system.
- Last Updated on 10 March 2012
- Hits: 262
Thermal Imaging In The Food Industry
In the food industry, it is essential to carefully control the temperature of perishable goods throughout production, transportation, storage and sales.
Repeated warnings about illnesses due to tainted and improperly cooked foods highlight the need for tighter process control. Because this almost always involves a human factor, food processors need tools that automate crucial operations in a way that helps minimise human error while holding down costs.
Thermal imaging cameras are such a tool. Analogue video outputs can be viewed on video monitors, and digital temperature data, including MPEG4 video outputs, can be routed to a computer via Ethernet.
The main elements doing non-contact temperature measurements in the food processing industry are a thermal imaging camera and associated software.
They act as “smart” non-contact sensors to perform 100% inspections, measuring the temperature of equipment, refrigerated products, and cooked foods as they exit the cooking process.
Thermal imaging cameras are easy to use, small, and can be positioned almost anywhere as needed. They can also be used to inspect package sealing, and improve efficiency in other food processing operations.
Pictured alongside: An IR temperature measurement and thermographic image are used to locate undercooked chicken tenders and stop the line so undercooked ones can be removed.
FLIR thermal imaging cameras have firmware and communication interfaces that enable their use in automated process control.
Third-party software makes it easy to incorporate these tools into automated machine vision systems without the need for extensive custom-written control code.
The use of thermal imaging cameras in food processing is growing for applications such as:
- Oven baked goods
- Microwave cooked meats
- Microwave drying of parboiled rice and other grains
- Inspecting ovens for proper temperature
- Proper filling of frozen meal package compartments
- Checking integrity of cellophane seals over microwave meals
- Inspecting box flap glue of overwrap cartons
- Monitoring refrigerator and freezer compartments
Thermography for quality assistance and product safety
Thermal imaging is first and foremost a quality assurance (QA) tool. Controlling the quality and safety of cooked meat products is an excellent use of this technology.
A permanently mounted thermal imaging camera can record the temperature of, for example, chicken tenders as they exit a continuous conveyor oven.
The objective is to make sure they are done enough but not over-cooked and dried out. Reduced moisture content also represents yield loss on a weight basis.
Thermal imaging cameras can also be used for inspection on microwave precooking lines. Besides improving product quality and safety, overall throughput can be increased. An additional benefit is reduced energy costs.
Read more: Benefits of using thermal imaging cameras in the food industry
- Last Updated on 17 February 2012
- Hits: 1495
Rotor Kit Demonstrator VT-100
from
Proviso Systems Ltd
The Proviso Test Rig demonstrates most rotating machine faults.
The VT-100 demonstration rotor rig has been designed to simulate vibration of rotating machines and to demonstrate machine condition monitoring methods. It can be used for factory acceptance tests of monitoring and diagnostic systems too. Its good portability is excellent for in-field training purposes.
Using the set the vibration characteristics of rotating machines with antifriction bearings can be demonstrated. Different methods of balancing can be demonstrated and trained.
It is also possible to simulate unbalanced rotors, coupling misalignment, ball bearing faults, looseness and other typical machine faults, whilst allowing the user to demonstrate the capabilities of modern monitoring instrumentation to collect and analyze vibration measurements.
The demonstrator contains two identical rotors with ball bearings. The first rotor is driven by an AC electric motor with a flexible coupling. The second rotor is driven using a belt to provide variable speeds. An axial bearing is coupled to the second rotor to allow bearing fault simulation.
- Angle scale on the rotor. Using angle scales allows easy demonstration of balancing with a strobe light. The profile of the rotors are prepared for installation of balancing weights.
- Ball bearing faults detection. An axial ball bearing is coupled to the second shaft. Bearing housing allows adjust the bearing load. The axial bearing can be dismantled and different faults can be simulated.
- Different speeds of both shafts allow demonstration of frequency analysis methods. Very useful is demonstration of strobe light capability, especially for belt drive faults.
- The motor is equipped with a flexible coupling. It is possible to demonstrate not only vibration generated by a misaligned coupling, but also vibration excited by electromagnetic forces.
The VT-100 is delivered complete with a portable hard carry case, power cable, belt, adjusting tools, and balancing plastic.
Specification 230V 50 Hz 140W, 2730 rpm 1P20
Dimensions 460x 307 x 120 mm,
Weight 7,5 kg (8 kg with case)
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