Machine, Plant & Systems Monitor

A Blueprint for
Condition Monitoring
Expert Monitoring, based at Cardiff Business Technology Centre,
UK, has designed a predictive condition monitoring tool that ap-
plies real-time speech recognition technology to instrumentation data
to embed systems with a memory of plant performance ‘blueprints’.
Figure 1. Expert Monitoring’s Smartlogger.
MPSM investigates.
probes and accordingly the
I ndustry is becoming increasingly
interested in the development of pre-
performance. A more accurate indi-
cator of a transducer’s response char-
Smartlogger lite system comes with
two of them, battery-powered; the
dictive maintenance tools to enable acteristics can be obtained by collect- MA-INST probes are clamp-on de-
information and knowledge to be ex- ing high-speed data and applying vices, designed to measure DC and
tracted from routinely-collected data. real-time classification techniques, to AC current from 0.1 mA as high as
These data should provide multi-dis- predict performance repeatability 2000 mA. In more demanding appli-
cipline personnel with information within an application system. cations, the MA-POWER probe meas-
and knowledge about their particu- ures up to 20 000 mA, with an ana-
lar machine processes but, so far, this logue output of 100mV/A, and is de-
has not generally been the case. Re- signed for motor-current monitoring.
search companies in both the UK and
Probe Measurements into
These probes read high-speed data
the USA have developed Multivariate a Portable PC into a portable PC by way of a BNC
Statistical Process Control (MSPC) to connection into the data collection
various levels of success, but to date Much information about the opera-
tion of instruments and plant machin- module, which is called the
no technology has been generic Smartlogger blueprint card. This 12-
enough to apply itself to offer the high ery can be obtained by the on-line
measurement of the machinery load bit ADC blueprint card acquires data
levels of accuracy and repeatability at up to 100 kS/s from up to four data
demanded by the spectrum of manu- duty-cycle current. The most practi-
cal way of gathering such data is by collection channels and is a PCMCIA
facturing industry. This is the task to type III device, compatible with many
which Expert Monitoring has the use of non-obtrusive current
other software packages includ-
addressed itself. ing National Instruments’ CVI
and LabVIEW development tools.

Smart technology
The Smartlogger is a data log-
A Blueprint of your
ging system that allows manu- Industrial Assets
facturing personnel to work on
data that has already been col- An example of an application for
lected and, using speech rec- the blueprinting of equipment
ognition techniques, to draw would be to instigate the proce-
up standards for measuring dure both before and after a
normal or acceptable instru- scheduled stop for maintenance.
mentation performance – re- This could be carried out for a
ferred to by Expert Monitoring single item or component, or for
as ‘blueprinting’. It can be used grouped devices or several as-
to classify both vibration and sociated items of plant. This
non-cyclic data from either ac- blueprinting process would have
celerometers or portable cur- two different functions; firstly
rent probes. Using speech rec- the performance of components
ognition technology, this pre- would be blueprinted at a mo-
ment in time when the system
dictive condition monitoring
contains realistically partially-
tool will enable managers to
worn components (i.e. just be-
give their systems a memory of
fore the routine stoppage), and
plant performance blueprints.
secondly, problems associated
The area of predictive condition with the start-up period after
monitoring has already seen a maintenance shut-down could
number of so called ‘smart’ begin to be minimised by com-
products but for the most part, paring the blueprint of the
the hardware devices used to newly-installed components
collect and manipulate the with the old blueprints, or with
Figure 1. The Smartlogger data logging system in another existing device in the
data can only be used to sta- action.
tistically plot the equipment’s system.

20
 September/October 1999

Integration
into Existing Systems
The portable version is an easy-to-use
and stand-alone system, designed to
predict changes in process perform-
ance. The feature extraction database
browser on Expert Monitoring’s
proprietary notebook system can
be customised to suit a user’s
application using the National
Instrument’s LabVIEW software.
The feature extraction database can
also be queried by an existing
SQL-compliant monitoring system,
such as that designed by CSI for
portable condition monitoring
applications.
The Smartlogger software can also be
configured to read from an existing
client-archived condition monitoring
database. In this case, the user might
require start-up support from Expert
Monitoring in interpretation of the
Figure 3. Diagnosis using generic rules to represent plant knowledge
data sets.
The procedure for the blueprinting of Feature Extraction
industrial assets depends on the ap- For further information, contact: Expert
plication. An outline of the set-up pro- In the case of switching devices, the Monitoring Ltd, Cardiff Business
cedure for both applications is ex- Smartlogger system writes a series of Technology Centre, Senghenydd Road,
plained below: 1’s or 0’s to any given OBDC com- Cardiff CF2 4AN, UK. Tel: +44-1222-
plaint database. The value 1 indicates 372311; fax: +44-1222-373436: e-mail:
a good condition system, whereas an [email protected]
Instrumentational 0 indicates a
change in its
Blueprinting performance.
The storage of vi-
In process control applications, a bration data is
switching device (e.g. a 10-volt sole- simplified by re-
noid) always has its own unique iden- cording the high- Expert Monitoring has developed a comple-
tifier in the ferrule number on the est magnitude of mentary portfolio of intelligent PC-based proc-
device cabling. At the equipment set- Vr ms data to- ess performance monitoring systems. These
up stage, the process control engineer gether with its products are based on many years experience of
therefore inputs the ferrule number, frequency (Hz) diagnosing and classifying plant failures. Our
location and device description into component. systems enable clients to achieve operational
the Application Program Interface excellence by providing detailed information on
(API). Both the switching action and The benefit of real-time production plant performance.
the steady-state response of the de- this feature ex-
vice in the system are blueprinted and traction data- • easy-to-use diagnostic software tools
stored as three-dimensional graphs. base is that it • advanced condition monitoring techniques
minimises the • minimise downtime/maximise plant
amount of time availability
required interro- • timely intervention prior to breakdowns
Blueprinting gating and ana- • measure manufacturing capability to a
degree of sophistication not found in
of Vibration Data lysing data spe-
conventional data logging systems
cific to multiple
As an alternative to current probes • enhance plant efficiency and system reliability
industrial as-
• reduce the cost of the total maintenance overhead
alone, the battery-powered portable sets. In addition,
ICP accelerometer – known as the the computa- Expert Monitoring provide tailor-made systems for a range of process
VIBIII module – can be connected in tional and management needs. The SMARTLOGGER™ data acquisition system allows
series with the two probes. In motor- memory over - a remote 24-hour link to your plant, with the option of outsourcing the condi-
pump set applications the input/out- heads required tion monitoring to Expert Monitoring. At the system enterprise level the
put relationship can then be deter- to run this note- Machinery Information Management Expert System (MIMES™) works
mined. For example, in some situa- book system are in concert with the SMARTLOGGER™, indicating fault locations and
tions a vibration signature may be a providing the appropriate maintenance procedures and actions.
greatly reduced,
harmonic of the larger system. In this thus increasing
case, the current probe blueprint the time that the For further information, contact: Expert Monitoring, Cardiff
technique is used to identify any system is avail- Business Technology Centre, Senghennydd Road, Cardiff,
changes in the performance of the able for use at CF24 4AY. Tel+44-29-2037 2311 / 2023 1875;
motor-driven pump. site. fax+44-29-2037 3436; e-mail: [email protected]
Circle Reply Card No. 7

21
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Title* Publication Price*
ISSN or ISBN Date Quantity

The Vibration Monitoring Handbook 1 901892 00 X May 1998 £ 35/US$60

The Wear Debris Analysis Handbook 1 901892 02 6 January 1999 £ 35/US$60
The Thermography Handbook 1 901892 01 8 June 1999 £ 35/US$60
The Corrosion Handbook 1 901892 03 4 January 2000 £ 35/US$60
The Noise & Acoustics Handbook 1 901892 04 2 August 2000 £ 35/US$60
The Oil Analysis Handbook 1 901892 05 0 January 2001 £ 35/US$60
The Appearance & Odour Handbook 1 901892 06 9 TBA £ 35/US$60
The Acoustic Emission & Ultrasonics Handbook 1 901892 07 7 March 2000 £ 35/US$60
The Level, Leakage & Flow Handbook 1 901892 08 5 August 2000 £ 35/US$60
The Power, Performance & Efficiency Handbook 1 901892 09 3 March 2001 £ 35/US$60
The Steady State Handbook 1 901892 10 7 June 2001 £ 35/US$60
Technical Data Monitoring & Control 1 901892 10 5 TBA £ 35/US$60
Subscription to Condition Monitor 0268 - 8050 Monthly £259/US$415
Subscription to Condition Monitor (Pdf) 0268 - 8050 Monthly £175/US$282
Condition Monitoring ‘99 (Proceedings) 1 901892 11 5 April 1999 £ 65/US$110
COMADEM ‘99 (Proceedings) 1 901892 131 July 1999 £ 65/US$110
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