A Publication of Condition Monitoring Society of India

Regd. No. 45061/2003 Volume 8, No. 2 July 2011

From President’s Desk…

Information & Communication Technologies (ICT) in Condition Monitoring!!

Today we all live in the information age and expectations are high from networked information
systems. Computer networks pervaded all domains in our daily life, be it at office or at home or
even on the move (mobile services). This ascendancy of network technology has certainly
changed the way we handle the information and data. However ICT (Information &
Communication Technology) was not really exploited in condition monitoring/ Predictive
maintenance so far. While the condition monitoring systems in current practice have quite
advanced to the extent of providing valuable data and information to maintenance engineers they
are not so effective in providing the information throughout the plant. ICT allows this flow of information by
providing access through networked system, thus aiding in decision making. CM practice must now look beyond
the data collectors, signal analysis programs and expert systems, Web and agent technologies can be
employed by integrating distributed systems, processes and heterogeneous data for asset management
Networking, distributes systems, and OLE have made rapid progress in recent years which are to be exploited
fully in effectively implementing information sharing among all departments of plants. Thus it is imperative to
adopt ICT in condition monitoring strategies or else we would be lagging behind!!
-- Dr V. Bhujanga Rao

Main Features of this Issue… Announcement – NCCM 2012!!

 Announcement of NCCM
2012
 Last date for PGDCM is Research & Development Establishment (Engineers)[R & DE(E)], Pune, has come
extended forward to host next National Conference on Condition Monitoring (NCCM-2012).
 Heavily Tracked Bushing
Detected
Further details will be intimated shortly.
 Poor Air Gap in 3000 HP
Motors
 Product News
Last Date for PGDCM is Extended up to 14-10-2011!!
 Case History
 Terminology The School of Distance Education (SDE), Andhra University (AU) in collaboration with
 CMSI – Hyderabad Chapter Condition Monitoring Society of India (CMSI) is offering an exclusive one year PG Diploma
 CMSI Members in News on Condition Monitoring (PGDCM) in distance education mode. CMSI requests its members
 Condition Monitoring Around to encourage their eligible colleagues/friends to utilize this opportunity and enroll for the
The Globe course.
 New Members
 Reference Books Eligibility : BE / B.Tech. in any Discipline, AMIE or equivalent there to, or
M.Sc (Applied Physics), or M.Sc (Electronics) or M.Sc (Instrumentation).
Course Fee : Rs.20,000/-
PGDCM Course
Cost of application : Rs. 100/-
For Further Details Contact:
Last date for submission of application : 14.10.2011
Director,
School of Distance Education, Last date for submission of application : 31.10.2011(With Fine).
Andhra University, Application can be downloaded from our website www.andhrauniversity.info/sde. Duly
Waltair-530001 filled-in applications are to be sent to SDE, AU by enclosing a DD for Rs. 20,100/- (Course
Ph: 0891-2844142, 2550223
fee inclusive of cost of application) drawn in favor of Registrar, Andhra University payable
Website:
www.andhrauniversity.info/sde at Visakhapatnam. Course details may be obtained by visiting our website.

Enroll as a member of our society & Advertise your products in News Letter ‘MONITOR’ and
Website www.comsoi.org Check Website for details..
HEAVILY TRACKED BUSHING DETECTED
IN HYDROGEN COOLED TURBO GENERATOR In February 2006, the CSMeter was used to perform broken
bar and air gap eccentricity (AGE) tests. After about 2
A heavily tracked bushing was detected in 390MW, 20kV, minutes per motor the CSMeter came up with a diagnosis,
hydrogen cooled turbo generator. During a partial discharge on its LCD screen, that rotor windings on all four were
measurement using the TGA-B portable instrument, high healthy, but that the AGE was unacceptable on the three of
levels of PD activity (over 3000mV position, well above the them. This was confirmed by the current spectra, displayed
highest range, see Fig. 1) were detected on the C phase out by the CSMeter. Fig. 4 shows the spectrum of one of the
side of the hydrogen environment. motors, with an AGE severity of 13.89 dB (average
difference between the RSPFC and RSFC sidebands).
A severity of less than 15dB indicates poor AGE. This
finding provided guidance to the utility in question as to
what type of inspections were required to determine the
cause of this problem. The problem was finally
corrected, and the vibration was reduced to acceptable
levels.

Fig. 1 High level system noise (OVR: out of range)

As consequence, the user briefly
shut down the unit for a visual
inspection to verify the mechanical
connections in the main lead areas
and to inspect the generator bushing
for cracks or signs of tracking. The
user found that the generator
bushing of phase C was heavily
tracked as shown in Fig.2. The plant Fig. 4. Air Gap Eccentricity Spectrum
had changed from a base to peak
load operation, which may have Web resource: http://www.irispower.com
accelerated the electrical tracking
(due to condensation when the unit Product News: Machine Talker's Wireless Vibration
is off). Fig. 2. Heavily tracked generator bushing Sensor Product
Webresource: http://www.irispower.com
Machine Talker, Inc. (OTCBB: MTKN), developer of
wireless process control systems has introduced a new
POOR AIR GAP IN 3000HP MOTORS
wireless product for reading and processing signals from
IDENTIFIED IN BOILER AIR FAN APPLICATION
vibration sensors. Dubbed the CBM6, the product facilitates
Condition-Based Maintenance by monitoring up to 6 sensors
Boiler Primary Air Fan motors in a
at a remote location and linking results in to a wireless mesh
utility plant Fig. 3 showed high
network for access by a plant maintenance personnel. The
vibration levels, which appeared to
product was shown at the annual conference of the Cooling
be electro-magnetically induced.
Technology Institute (CTI) held in Houston on February
In February2006, the
2008. At the Conference, Machine Talker's Chief Scientist
CSMeter was used to
Gerry Nadler presented a technical paper entitled “Wireless
perform broken bar and
Vibration Monitoring for Condition Based Maintenance of
airgapeccentricity
Cooling Towers". In announcing the new product, Nadler
(AGE) tests.
noted, "A major initiative of the industry is ability to predict
when machinery may fail so that repairs can be made before
damage occurs. Acquiring vibration data from inside cooling
towers is a perfect application for this product.
Fig. 3. Air Fan Motor
Contd.. Contd..

SPM Instrument India Pvt. Ltd.

7-1-27/1, Srinivasa Complex, 1 st Floor "B" Block,, Ameerpet, HYDERABAD-500 016, INDIA
Tel +91 40 23731264/+91 40 23730644, Fax +91 40 23731314, [email protected]
Analyzing the vibration history of a machine and finding Terminology: The Criticality Index
change is the principal means for pre directing failure. The
health of machinery operating within cooling towers might be
The Criticality Index is often used to determine the degree of
the most critical as they are used extensively in oil refineries,
nuclear power plants, office buildings, hotels and industrial condition monitoring on a given machine taking into account
plants. Advance knowledge of a potential failure will save the machines purpose, redundancy (i.e. if the machine fails, is
money and will extend equipments lifetime; not to mention there a standby machine which can take over), cost of repair,
the avoidance of a catastrophic event." Locating an intelligent
CBM6 Machine Talker and its sensors right on the machinery downtime impacts, health, safety and environment issues and
is extremely cost-effective because no wiring is required. a number of other key factors.
Studies indicate that wiring alone can be 90% of the cost of
sensor installation with long runs of conduit required in CMSI Hyderabad Chapter EC Meeting
industrial applications.
Resoultions
Web resource: http://www.machinetalker.com
The executive committee of Hyderabad Chapter met on 28 th
April at 6.30PM and declared new office bearers as below:
Case History: Measurable returns from CM!!
Chairman : Dr.P.N.Reddy, Director, SNIST
Vice-Chairman : Dr.P.Ravinder Reddy, Prof. & Head,
An American petroleum company with two refineries on the
West Coast of the United States embraced the concepts of MED, CBIT
condition monitoring early in its evolution. They saw
Secretary : Dr.A.Chennakeseva Reddy, Prof. & Head,
measurable returns from the new approach. However, when
they evaluated their maintenance activities and costs, they MED, JNTUH
found they still had heavy expenditures, especially on their
Jt. Secretary : Dr.A.Purushotam, Prof. of MED, SNIST
many pumps. They began to evaluate the incidence of
failures and found that bearings or seals were failing in many : Dr.P.Vekata Ramana, MGIT
of their pumps on an average of once every six months. The
Treasurer : Sri.P.Manikandan, IARE
company then began to assess the causes of their high
incidence of seal and bearing failure in pumps and found Jt. Treasurer : Dr.K.Kishore, VCE
three general areas that required improvement: alignment,
Executive Mem. : Dr.P.A.Sastry, Dean, MVSR
balance, and assembly.
The company addressed this problem by developing a new : Dr.S.Khadarvalli MJCET
precision program with the full cooperation of upper : Sri.Abrahamuddin, DCET, Vignan Jyothi
management, operations, and maintenance, all of whom
worked together to solve their machinery problems. By : Dr.P.Mallesham, Principal, Sri Indu
adopting precision standards for alignment, balance, and : Dr.Krishna Veni, EEE
assembly, these refineries extended the mean time between
failures from six months to more than six years. : Dr.S.Venkateswarlu, SNIST
The company in the preceding case history understood that : Dr.N.Ramesh Kumar, BHEL (R&D)
the costs incurred by the excessive pump failures were more Ex-Officio Mem. : Dr.M. Anand Rao, Vice President,CMSI
than those of just simple parts and labor. They also included
the additional real costs of managers/supervisors and
purchasing personnel’s time, of stocking and maintaining Other important resolutions:
inventory, and of the planners who scheduled the
maintenance. What was not recognized, however, was the
further effect that machinery failure has on production and/or 1. It is proposed to arrange awareness programs in each
productivity. The actual impact on production can vary of the engineering colleges offering Mechanical and
greatly depending on industry, process, and equipment Electrical engineering courses. JNTU campus to
criticality. For example, in a refinery where there are identify guest speakers and also to draft the schedule
redundant (backup) machines, a failure may have no effect of lectures for awareness program.
on production. In the paper industry, however, there may 2. Formation of sub centers in various colleges and
only be one machine producing a particular type or grade of
promoting enrollment of members (faculty and
product. A failure may result in a complete halt in
production. The cost savings resulting from precision students).
maintenance practices in this case would be tremendous. The 3. Three day workshop on condition monitoring to be
savings from reduced equipment downtime often far exceed organized by Hyderabad local chapter.
the maintenance savings. 4. National Conference on Condition monitoring to be
proposed for Hyderabad.
Web resource: http://www.update-intl.com/Value2.htm .

M/s. Structural Solutions Private Limited (SSPL)

For MEMS Accelerometers, Thermovision Cameras, Piezo Electric Transducers, Electro Dynamic Shakers, etc
Email: [email protected], URL: www.stsols.com, Phone: 040-27636433
 Condition Monitoring Society of India(C M S I)
CMSI Members in News
Dr. V. Bhujanga Rao, Chief Controller (HR), DRDO, New Delhi, and Founder
President, CMSI received the prestigious Technology Leadership Award 2010.
Defence Minister A.K. Antony presented the award to Dr. Bhujanga Rao in
recognition of his exemplary leadership in transforming NSTL into a premier
underwater system lab of the DRDO at the DRDO awards function held at New
Delhi.
CMSI congratulates him on this great achievement and wishes him all the best in
future endeavors!!

CONDITION MONITORING AROUND THE GLOBE...

Courses, Conferences, workshops

COMADEM 2012, the 25th International Congress on Condition Monitoring and Diagnostic Engineering Management with
CMSI as a technical cosponsor of the event, is being held in Huddersfield, UK during 18 - 20 June 2012. The congress will cover
a wide range of subjects in the field of industrial asset management and will include a mix of key tone presentations, technical
papers, poster sessions, themed master classes and exhibitions stands. Members of CMSI are requested to contribute technical
papers in large numbers for the congress.
Submission of Abstracts: 1st October 2011
Papers Submission: 15th December 2011
Conference Dates: 18th - 20th June 2012

For Further details see website: http://compeng.hud.ac.uk/comadem2012

CMSI Welcomes New Members!!  Reference Books 

Institutional Member: Condition Based Maintenance And Machine Diagnostics
SKF INDIA LTD, Mumbai By J. Hywel Williams, Alan Davies, Paul R. Drake
Life Members: This text attempts to present the fundamental justification
Dr. Manish Raj for condition-based maintenance together with enough
Mr. Girish R Arlikattti analytical and practical guidance for its implementation.
Mr. Dayananda Totar There are chapters on the two dominant techniques of
Mr. Nataraj vibration and debris analysis. Also basic diagnostic
methods are given along with a presentation of systems
approach to condition monitoring. A detailed case study
Editorial Board : shows the practical application of the techniques presented.
Finally, future developments in the use of expert systems
Dr. V. Bhujanga Rao
and AI techniques are highlighted.
Dr. M. Ananda Rao
Sri. P.V.S.Ganesh Kumar Publisher : Kulwer academic publishers
ISBN : 0 412 46500 0
Sri. T. Venkata Ratnam
BOOK POST

If undelivered please return to:

PVS GANESH KUMAR
General Secretary, Condition Monitoring Society of India,
Naval Science & Technological Laboratory,
Visakhapatnam – 530 027, INDIA, Phone: 0891-2586390

All feedback, comments and contributions to the news letter are most Welcome.
- Editors