The sheer number of infographics in the condition monitoring field is staggering; they show up on social media, and in conference presentations, whitepapers, websites and books. Infographics are effective at helping people comprehend difficult concepts that integrate an array of variables and factors.

My soon-to-be-published book, “Inspection 2.0,” covers a host of different condition monitoring methods, including sensory inspections. I was looking for an infographic to illustrate failure modes and detection methods in the time domain for different types of machines and applications but was unable to find a graphic that fit my needs.

Necessity is the mother of invention. Left without choices, I decided to construct my own graphic, naming it Condition Alarm Mapping (CAM). The final product is shown in the figures on the following pages. However, the number of variations and uses of the CAM graphic is extensive and goes far beyond the scope of this article. As an introduction, I can show and describe what it is, why it is needed, and how it is used.

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The advent of unattended sensor technologies has placed a particular challenge on data communication for machine surveillance monitoring. This challenge is magnified when mobile equipment and large geographic territories are involved. The use of satellite communications has recently been applied in an extensive condition-based maintenance program for a large fleet of railroad maintenance equipment. The satellite communications. are a part of an integrated system of sensor, software and communications technologies.

This paper describes the selection and application of sensors for the real-time monitoring of contamination in hydraulic fluid and engine oil. Also discussed will be onboard data collection electronics, onboard satellite transmission hardware and knowledge-based data analysis and exception reporting. The paper will be presented as a case study, and is believed to be the first of its kind for condition-based maintenance employing satellite communications technology.

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Condition control is defined as the interactive processes of condition monitoring, condition analysis, and condition response. A model is presented which employs the use of expert systems to achieve real-time condition control of a hydraulic system. The approach focuses on the use of fuzzy logic to achieve machine intelligence to monitor and analyze pre-degradation ‘incipient’ failure and impending conditions. Also discussed are the corresponding real-time ‘reactive’ condition responses, coupling system control with condition control.

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In recent years, the cost of inappropriate drain intervals to the economy, to the environment and to car owners has received closer inspection. In the United States, the average car owner changes his/her oil at just less than 5,000 miles. Conversely, in Europe the average oil change interval is more than 10,000 miles.

Assuming 10,000 miles is a more optimum interval, approximately 300 million to 400 million gallons of engine oil (worth about $1.5 billion, not including labor) in the United States are consumed unnecessarily. With increasing environmental and economic pressures, the potential waste can no longer be easily glossed over.

There are, however, negative consequences to overextended oil drains. In diesel engines for instance, overextended oil drain intervals have been shown to increase engine wear by more than 20 percent with a corresponding reduction in horsepower and fuel consumption. One could safely project that overextended drains in passenger car applications would have a similar negative outcome. This of course presents a real dilemma to the car owner.

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Catastrophic machinery failure in most cases can be avoided if the early symptoms are detected and appropriate action is taken. This is the essence of new condition monitoring technology which, if well conceived, can extend machine and component lives by as much as an order of magnitude. This paper discusses current condition monitoring methods including available sensor technology. Applications and rationale are also discussed.

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Somewhere in your plant there are all-important pieces of production equipment that simply must operate as intended-or else. And most likely the “or else” is too painful to even think about: injuries, catastrophic damage, contract penalties, irate customers, missed shipping dates, junked parts, ballooning costs, a sickly quarterly financial report, and so on. Those critical types of equipment are candidate for machine health monitoring.

To be more precise, the ideal candidates for machine health monitoring is one that is both expensive and sophisticated, provides a crucial and depended-upon work function, has extensive maintenance requirements, and presents a safety risk upon failure. While all mechanical systems don’t involve all those terms, many do meet one or more. And the advent of new sensor and computer technology has more than ever before made machine health monitoring a viable and cost effective technology that manufacturers can use to their advantage particularly today when the almost universal goal in manufacturing is to produce high-quality work at the lowest cost and at the most productive rate a machine can deliver.

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