Pulp, board, and paper producers are always seeking new ways to reduce operating costs while maximizing asset availability, increasing maintenance efficiency while still meeting stringent quality requirements. With this in mind, many are reevaluating their maintenance strategy and adopting a more holistic approach, one in which machine and process condition monitoring is integrated and includes vibration analysis, lubricant monitoring, process parameters, quality control system data, essentially any data that may be available in the distributed control (DCS) and quality control systems (QCS) to provide a complete picture of machine health.
Condition Based Maintenance (CBM) is a proven maintenance strategy that seeks to detect faults before functional failures occur. By identifying issues early, corrective action can be taken to avoid unplanned downtime, catastrophic failures, and product quality losses.
“A key benefit of having comprehensive condition monitoring is that you see the bigger picture. Paper process equipment can be incredibly complex and made up of many machines working together. If you focus on any one specific mechanical component, you miss seeing the component as part of an interconnected system and how the operation of that system has an effect on the component,” says Kyle Hester, Condition Monitoring Specialist, a CAT III Vibration Analyst with over ten years of tissue machine experience as well as training and expertise with lube analysis, ultrasound, thermography, operating deflection shape (ODS) analysis, and 3D modeling.
The challenge is that most condition monitoring systems focus on the mechanical health of components such as bearings and gearboxes using vibration analysis. However, the impact of the paper-making process on mechanical condition monitoring and vice versa largely gets overlooked. Sometimes, additional condition monitoring data such as lubricant analysis is collected as well but often not used in conjunction with vibration data which creates problematic data islands.
According to Hester, when the condition monitoring system is designed for standalone operation, as most are, technicians may not see the big picture. In contrast, systems such as Valmet DNA Machine Monitoring can provide a much more sophisticated, integrated view. Valmet is a global leader in process technologies, automation, and services, offering a comprehensive range of process optimization and condition monitoring products and services.
“With Valmet DNA Machine Monitoring you can see how one system affects another. In the paper making industry for example, you can compare pressure pulsations from stock approach to fan pump and screen vibration. Pressure pulsations can cause variability in the sheet and our systems allows you to correlate those pressure pulsations to data from the QCS and quickly identify if the source pulsations is the screen or fan pump. You can also trend lube health data with vibration. There really is no limit when the condition monitoring system is built into a platform that shares data and analysis tools with the distributed control, quality control and process optimization systems,” says Hester.
By reducing reactive maintenance, the number of onsite spare parts required is also reduced. Spare parts storage can also be optimized through common stores that supply multiple plants.
The savings from preventing ancillary damage to equipment may not be readily apparent. For example, if a large blower is run to failure, it is very likely that the motor will be damaged or destroyed as well. This piece of the puzzle is often overlooked in terms of calculating the ROI of condition monitoring programs since the machines are usually repaired before catastrophic failure leads to ancillary damage.
With Valmet DNA Machine Monitoring, the system can deliver a holistic view of mill health as well as a suite of tools to perform advanced analysis. In doing so, information can be viewed and analyzed within seconds. In contrast, with many conventional systems the information must be exported into third-party applications for comparison, which is a very inefficient, time-consuming process.
For more information on Valmet and its process automation systems, please visit https://www.valmet.com.