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This Plant Maintenance articles series relates to doing maintenance and care on operating plant and equipment. It includes coverage of maintenance engineering issues, and topics on the maintenance of process plant operating assets and industrial equipment.
The Plant Maintenance series of articles are provided with the permission of Feed Forward Publications and Lifetime Reliability Solutions.
NOTE: The series does not include coverage of related commercial or vendor software or database management applications.
Vibration from out-of -balance rotating equipment can be frightening.
The ground shakes, machines jump about, hold down bolts come loose and parts break.
An unbalanced rotating body will produce forces on its bearings and transmit them throughout its structure and into the foundations.
Keywords: rotor, centrifugal forces, balance quality. [Read more…]
Don’t run centrifugal pumps on the end of the curve. Pumps are designed and selected to operate near their highest efficiency point.
If they operate at the right-hand end of the pump curve the likelihood of cavitation increases.
Keywords: suction pressure, flow velocity, vapor pressure, duty point. [Read more…]
There is a good chance you can make astounding changes and achieve incredible performance improvements from your plant and equipment.
It can be done with the method used by Thomas Edison to solve his problems and make his discoveries. Improvements in the order of 20% maintenance savings with 100% on-time achievement of production plans are possible.
The method is that of continuous improvement. You start by proving it works for yourself first and then, once you are sure it works you introduce it to your people.
Keywords: continuous education
What you will learn from this article.
What you will learn from this article.
Roll mills, drum dryers, kilns, ball mills and rotating reactors usually turn on metal tyres and trunnion rollers.
Eventually, the tyres and rollers wear out or fatigue and require repair or replacement.
Usually, the equipment manufacturers keep material specifications as proprietary information and one is forced to buy the parts from them. [Read more…]
What you will learn from this article.
Fixing plant and equipment about which you know little is daunting.
Here are a few ideas to help you successfully fault find failed equipment. [Read more…]
Some quality paradigms are expensive.
Quality is a mindset! When a wise man is given the chance to buy quality items he does so because quality pays for itself.
A quality item lasts longer, runs better and looks good when others fade. To change the way you think about quality takes a lot of experience with using poorer options. When you are sitting down with your head in your hands wondering what can be done to get costs down, to get production up and how you are going to hit the key performance indicators, remember the importance of quality equipment, quality systems, quality training and your quality mindset!
Keywords: quality control [Read more…]
What you will learn from this article:
Chemical corrosion can destroy the containment materials in contact with a process.
Means exist to mitigate and even prevent chemical corrosion. This article focuses on several such methods.
At times chemical corrosion is acceptable and one need only allow for it by using thicker materials. An example is the storage of sulphuric acid in mild steel tanks at ambient conditions and concentrations [Read more…]
What you will learn from this article.
What you will learn from this article:
The cost of maintenance destroys your capital investment returns.
When equipment is first selected the buyer has the choice to buy for quality and long trouble-free operating life or to buy based on least cost. The least cost choice will result in high maintenance and operating expense for the life of the equipment.
When net present value cost of maintenance for cheap equipment is calculated in today’s dollars investors will discover that a large part of their capital will never earn them income but will be spent on maintenance and repair.
Keywords: replacement asset value, internal rate of return, opportunity cost [Read more…]
What readers will learn in this article:
What readers will learn in this article:
Dusty surroundings are one of the most difficult environments for bearings.
In equipment handling powders or in processes generating dust the protection of bearings against contamination by fine particles requires special consideration. [Read more…]