A factory floor's biggest enemy is downtime. There's nothing that can grind your operation to a halt faster than a downed machine or prolonged maintenance. But there is a way to stay ahead of your machines and maximize uptime: condition monitoring through vibration analysis.
Why Vibration Analysis?
Machines are complex systems that can be engineered to perform an infinite array of functions for industrial purposes. To develop a specific method of diagnosing each machine's health would be almost impossible given the diversity and uniqueness of each device. However, our rapidly deployable vibration and temperature monitoring solution, VERO™, can shed light on the performance of your most critical assets.
If there's one metric that really shows you whether a machine is about to fail or not, it's vibration. The more a machine vibrates, the more likely it is to fail, and the sooner it needs maintenance. By constantly monitoring how much a machine vibrates, it's possible to establish baseline behavior for that equipment and alert you whenever it begins to exceed defined tolerances.
This approach leads to reduced downtime, less headaches for maintenance and reliability teams, and cost savings across the board. You'll even be able to determine a real-time ROI report that shows you just how much money you've saved by eliminating downtime due to equipment failures. So, how does it work?
How the Vero System Works
Vero sensors measure vibration through triaxle (X,Y and Z) analysis. Because machine assets operate differently, you may think it would be difficult to unify the data collected by the sensors. Our Field Service Engineers will strategically place the sensors on each asset during installation and assign a name consistent with the asset and specific monitoring point location, such as Opposite Drive End.
Next, at the click of a button you will have access to AssetWatch™ which will prioritize any maintenance needs AND provide prescriptive recommendations by the Condition Monitoring Engineer (CME) assigned specifically to your account. The days of throwing a machine on the maintenance schedule then hoping for the best, are over. Vero and your dedicated CME typically alert you weeks, if not months in advance of any issue so your maintenance team can be excellent stewards of their time while also expanding the life of your critical assets.
Vero Wireless Sensors
Our sensors track your asset’s vibration and temperature by attaching magnetically, directly to your machines and transmitting information wirelessly. Since a network of Wi-Fi hotspots is included in your subscription you don’t need to get IT involved unless you want to. Need to fix something? No problem. Maintenance teams can remove the sensors. Ready to re-install the sensors? No problem. There will be a picture in AssetWatch™ to show you exactly where to position the sensors once the maintenance has been performed.
The sensors measure vibration across three axes in addition to tracking temperature for additional information. They're rugged enough to withstand severe cold down to -4 degrees Fahrenheit, and up to 140 degrees Fahrenheit in hot environments. Dust, dirt, and oil are hardly a problem for these sturdy sensors.
The sensor takes readings and reports them to your transponder over Bluetooth. The transponder is the next vital link in the chain.
Transmitting Data
The sensors broadcast messages in blue-tooth to the transponder and in turn the transponder speaks via Wi-Fi to the included Cradle point (router) cellular network which in turn transmits data to the cloud. If desired, our transponders can use your local Wi-Fi network.
Once the data is transmitted to the cloud via a broker, the data is then processed and displayed on the AssetWatch™ cloud-based software solution where a condition monitoring engineer will flag assets based on certified vibration training and experience.
Viewing Your Data
With your Vero system installed and configured you can sit back and relax. Stay in close touch with your assigned CME and follow the recommended next steps.
The CME can spot signs of issues with the equipment and flag an asset well ahead of failure, sometimes even a few months ahead (Factors including load, temperature, and design are almost always slightly different); Once they spot an issue, it is flagged as either a watching (lower priority) or a maintenance recommended (high priority) and is sent as a weekly report to the respective site to take action. On the analysis front, the CME will set thresholds according to ISO standards or the machines condition and type of operation and will send recommendations as needed.
From there, you'll be able to view all your data on our dashboard using our cloud-based software. You can pull up the latest info on any one of your machines and get detailed reports on their performance over time. With Vero, you have a dedicated CME who can help you identify trouble spots before they become a problem. Instead of just getting automated alerts, you get recommendations from an actual professional.
Data alone doesn't diagnose problems. Experts do. That's why we believe that vibration analysis equipment is only half of a solution. The other half is the CME who watches over your equipment 24/7.
Be Predictive and Proactive
Doctors would much rather see you come in for routine checkups to avoid more serious problems than to treat advanced conditions that could have been prevented. The same is true when it comes to industrial maintenance. It's much better to take a predictive, proactive approach, rather than a reactive one.
When you couple constant data gathering with real-time monitoring and dedicated CME analysis, it's easy to plan your maintenance and avoid downtime. Instead of a surprise shutdown, you can plan your outages well in advance and time as to disrupt your business as little as possible.
Even the Vero system itself requires minimal maintenance. The low-energy Bluetooth protocol means that our sensors won't require regular battery changes, and we even replace them for free when they stop working.
Save Money and Earn More
Spotting trouble early and avoiding downtime provides an incredible return on investment. Not only will your assets be more productive, but you'll be less likely to run into full system failures that could cause your CapEx budget to soar. Since there's no expensive hardware to install, the Vero system doesn't add much to your monthly expenses, while delivering benefits far beyond its value.
It's time to make maintenance a trivial task. Automate your problem discovery and simplify your scheduling with Vero. Schedule a demo of our system or contact us to book a meeting to learn more about how you can use Vero to simplify your maintenance once and for all using our vibration analysis equipment.
Author: Michael Bernhard
Michael is a Senior Solutions Architect at AssetWatch. As a previous MMA fighter and personal trainer, he knows how to bring the hard work and dedication to our manufacturing partners to help them reduce maintenance costs and improve asset reliability.
