Its good to share
January 1st 2005 Predictive maintenance is not new but is an increasingly popular tool in the armoury of people striving for asset effectiveness. Often the predictive maintenance function is compartmentalised and the only data that is shared is a request for downtime to carry out a repair. In this article we explore additional benefits that can be achieved by sharing predictive maintenance data and how it can be integrated with a plant’s business systems
Predictive maintenance means different things to different people.
In its most basic sense it involves comparing a trend of measured parameters against known engineering limits for the purpose of identifying and correcting problems, before a failure occurs. This could mean performing a visual inspection to see if an oil leak has worsened or using complex diagnostic tools or software to measure equipment condition or performance.
Generally when asked about predictive maintenance, people will make the association with condition monitoring techniques such as vibration measurement, oil analysis, infrared thermography and maybe motor current analysis. For many industries this covers most needs. Processing industries are different; they have other tools that they can use such as equipment performance monitoring and predictive diagnostics for intelligent field devices.
Whatever equipment or technique is used to perform predictive maintenance the information is often kept within the department that originated the data until it reaches the stage where something must be done. It may be that there is a condition monitoring department collecting vibration, oil and thermography data on mechanical assets, an instrument department collecting information on control valve and instrument condition and other operators looking at the condition of process equipment. Each department may have concerns about individual plant assets but on their own the concerns may not be significant enough to warrant bringing the plant down for maintenance.
If data were automatically shared through a unified, web-based application, accessible by managers and integrated within the business system then any business decisions that are made could be based on full and accurate information on the overall condition of the equipment and not just on one aspect of it. It may even be that data from one predictive maintenance technique can be used to corroborate data from another.
This has been made possible with the introduction by Emerson Process Management of their AMS™ Suite. AMS Suite consists of several software applications that are seamlessly integrated with each other and can be integrated with a plant’s CMMS and ERP systems.
AMS Suite: Intelligent Device Manager provides a comprehensive set of analysis and reporting tools for intelligent instrumentation. Its predictive maintenance capabilities include: the ability to run diagnostic tests on control valves; a means of detecting transmitter impulse line plugging: measurement of analytical sensor performance and predictive diagnostics for motor-pump machine trains. AMS Device Manager alerts plant operators and maintenance technicians of impending failures.
AMS Suite: Machinery Health Manager performs predictive maintenance on mechanical equipment. Incorporating multiple technologies into one application, it unifies vibration, thermography and oil analysis data to provide an overall picture of machine condition.
AMS Suite: Equipment Performance Monitor is a performance monitoring application for process plants that is designed to increase availability and throughput and improve uptime; it provides users with accurate information concerning the operating performance of plant equipment.
AMS Suite: Asset Portal unifies asset information across the plant or enterprise and collectively presents a picture of the operating condition of mechanical equipment, process equipment, field instruments and valves. Team members across the enterprise see prioritised reports by asset type with actionable alerts to facilitate analysis and allow them to make informed decisions based on all the facts. AMS Asset Portal uses webbased technology to distribute this valuable asset information to people who need it no matter where they are located.
AMS Suite: Real Time Optimiser, this is a flexible modular application that combines the capabilities of plant modelling, data reconciliation, and realtime optimisation in a single package. It takes process data from existing controls systems and instrumentation and then provides necessary set points and equipment selections to achieve optimum process operations.
AMS Suite is built on open technology which means manufacturers that use standard communications protocols can interface with AMS Asset Portal to consolidate all predictive maintenance data into one application. In addition AMS Suite can integrate with existing CMMS and ERP systems bringing about true asset effectiveness. In addition, PlantWeb Services ensure that users get full value from their technology investments More articles from Emerson Process Management: | 
