CONDITION MONITORING OUTSOURCING
According to Ralph Hearn, the keg-plant area engineer:
“Pasteurisation is the key to ultimate beer quality and
freshness, so this particular PHE is central to the output
of the whole plant. When it is out of commission,
production comes to a full stop”.
A recent scheduled service shutdown of five days was
used to remove the heat exchanger, dismantle, test,
recondition and re-gasket the plate pack. Thanks to
planning by Alfa Laval, turn-round and re-connection
was achieved in just four days.
Vibration monitoring
Although established to supply outsourced CM services
and training, AV Technology recognised that some
elements of CM programmes can be more cost-effectively
sourced in-house, using normal plant staff. One example
is routine vibration data collection tasks that cover a large
number of pieces of critical machinery and equipment
spread across the plant. The AVT product developed to
meet this requirement is the web-enabled Spi-VR
handheld vibration data collector and software.
Based around a ruggedised Archer PDA unit, the Spi-
VR (Spectrum Inspection and Vibration Data Recorder)
enables vibration measurement and undertakes the
analysis processes. Engineers can also record any other
measurement or observations available directly on the
instrument machinery record, plus add comments or
reports relating to lubrication management, oil analysis,
and thermography.
As data is collected, the vibration analysis traffic light
alerts and trends immediately highlight critical areas
within the plant. Management reports bring together
information at the click of a few keys. After initial
assessment by the on-plant engineers, any data on which
advice is sought from AVT can be uploaded to the web
and shared externally with their experienced engineers.
Plants can save money by utilising the existing in-
Petrobras’ huge
P43 floating
production storage
and offloading unit
28 PROCESS ENGINEERING : JULY/AUGUST 2009
house engineering staff and maintenance capacity, where
available, but AVT engineers are also using the device to
collect plant data on their CM service contracts, such as
at Shell UK at Stanlow. Here AVT has been awarded a
further five-year, condition-based, maintenance contract
that includes rotating equipment condition monitoring,
reciprocating compressor monitoring and thermography.
Offshore platform
Petrobras’ huge P43 floating production storage and
offloading (FPSO) unit is situated on the mature
Barracuda deepwater field in the Campos basin. With oil
production at 150,000 barrels a day, even 1-2% increases
in uptime and efficiency can mean millions in savings.
Petrobras reviewed the operations with Rovsing
Dynamics, a specialist in applying predictive operational
and maintenance information to optimise production
and maintenance activities.
Jose Antonio Figueiredo, engineering manager at
Petrobras explains: “Our business improvement potential
is mostly linked to downtime reduction. To achieve higher
machine availability and increased efficiency, we will in
2009 implement advanced, predictive monitoring of our
most critical production assets.”
Three critical production systems – water injection
pumps, compressors and gas turbine generators - are
monitored by the Rovsing Dynamics OPENpredictor
system, using different types of on-line CM to assess the
electrical, mechanical and performance condition of the
machines, and warn of changes in their dynamic
behaviour.
Henk Smith, director of Rovsing Dynamics added: ”We
will also develop a training and knowledge exchange
programme for the Petrobras University, particularly for
remote monitoring of the platform-critical machines and
heat exchangers, to enable centralised support from Rio
de Janeiro.”
PE
An AVT engineer uses the
Spi-VR to collect vibration
data at Shell Stanlow
“AVT have
always
provided a
quality condition
monitoring
service, but
recently we have
noticed an even
more dynamic
and proactive
approach, clearly
aimed at helping
us improve
machine
reliability and
availability
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