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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Excessive heat is a severe contaminant. It wreaks havoc on oil (chemically and physically) and retards lubricant performance by increasing wear, corrosion and friction. Friction and wear cause more heat, which sends the machine into a cycle of despair.

Heat must be controlled within the machine’s operating limits. This varies considerably between machine types and applications. Lubricants have their own unique limits as well.

Attempting to solve heat problems by simply adding a cooler or enlarging the cooler just masks the symptom and prolongs the solution. Abnormal heat is a telegraphed S.O.S. call that commands attention and remediation.

Critical temperatures on most high-speed and high-value machines are monitored in real time, often at multiple points, such as guide and thrust bearings (typically imbedded thermal couples). A common example of bearing temperature monitoring is shown in Figure 1.

Here, a temperature excursion was noticed first before any other symptoms. After inspection, a lubrication issue (cake-lock) was found to be the root cause.

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