Real time maintenance
May 1st 2008 Cost-effective predictive maintenance vibration monitor detects rolling element
bearing failures and shaft imbalance conditions in four locations simultaneously
The efector octavis bearing condition
monitor from ifm electronic is now
available as a master unit which can
monitor up to four separate locations.
Additionally, the new efector octavis
VSE100 unit has eight input/output
connections that can be freely configured.
Also, the I/Os can be used as inputs,
electronically trigger diagnosis (e.g. in a
reference run of a machine tool spindle),
collect switching states of other sensors
and transmit them to operational data
logging via the OPC standard. The
integrated FIFO history memory can store
33,000 values with time stamp.
The octavis central unit can also be
programmed via ethernet. The vibration
pickups, which can be up to 30m from the
central diagnostic, are made in stainless
steel with a IP69K rating for arduous
environments.
Rolling element bearings are probably
the commonest element to be found on
the shop floor. As both a load-bearing and
moving component, their condition
determines the efficiency of the machines,
yet until now it was very costly to monitor
their condition continuously.
Affordable sensors for condition
monitoring mean monitoring is no longer
restricted to the most critical bearings, and
you won't need extensive training in
vibration frequency analysis.
ifm electronis's vibration monitor, efector
octavis, detects rolling element bearing
failures and shaft imbalance conditions on
critical plant equipment such as pumps,
motors, mixers, compressors, fans and
spindles. octavis is permanently mounted
on plant equipment to continuously
monitor a machine's operating condition
through vibration analysis. octavis has the
processing capability to analyse a
vibration signature and to predict failures
in advance by sending an alarm output
signal to a PLC or relay. This can optimise
machine availability and plant up-time.
Configuration software is used on setup
to input application parameters such as
bearing types, shaft speed and output
conditions via an RS232 cable. These
parameters allow octavis to monitor only
critical damage frequencies in the vibration
spectrum and ignore all external noise.
One efector octavis monitor can detect up
to five different rolling elements on a
machine or 20 individual frequencies.
Alarm display provides early warning
and critical alarms. Pushbutton
programming includes a teach button with
an integrated alarm display. The alarm
display provides two switching outputs
that indicate an early warning alarm and a
critical alarm. More articles from ifm electronic Limited: | 
