Condition monitoring and vibration analysis!

GE Bently Nevada and GE Commtest asset condition monitoring and vibration analysing products have been added to the World leading test instrumentation ranges available from Classic Technology – one of Ireland's leading independent test instrument distributors.

The SCOUT and vbSeries ranges of portable data collection and vibration analysis diagnostic instruments are the first choice for leading companies around the world, providing all-in-one tools suitable for every level of vibration analysis - from novice to expert. These instruments offer the power and convenience of dual-channel measurement and dual-plane balancing, to help improve the reliability and performance of production assets like turbines, compressors, motors, generators, and everything in between.

Classic Technology represents some of the world leader’s in their field and operates Ireland’s only UKAS accredited calibration laboratory for Mass, Pressure, Temperature and Electrical Calibration. Customers know they can rely on an unbiased opinion of the best test equipment available; covering parameters such as Pressure, Temperature, Mass, Flow, Level, pH, Conductivity and Condition Monitoring. Classic Technology is also Ireland’s only GE Druck Approved Service Centre.

Successful wireless interoperability trial

The ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute (WCI) has completed another successful interoperability trial in which it verified its new Generic Client Interface (GCI) specification, which is applicable to ANSI/ISA-100.11a based gateways.

Condition Monitoring & Diagnostics Software Platform

Conducted at ISA headquarters (NC USA), gateways from Yokogawa, Honeywell and Nivis successfully demonstrated interoperability with a WCI test client. The first production client to use GCI will be GE’s System 1® product which was also successfully tested during the trial.

System 1® is GE’s patented conditioning monitoring software platform for real-time optimization of equipment and selected processes, condition monitoring and event diagnostics that enables plant personnel to quickly identify important events, evaluate the situation and respond, leading to increased equipment availability, reliability and reduced maintenance costs.

ANSI/ISA-100.11a is flexibly designed to support legacy and/or proprietary protocols and the GCI is an example of how the ANSI/ISA-100.11a wireless standard can deliver that result.

“We are excited to see the success of this interoperability test conducted by the ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute. WCI plays a crucial role in the success of ISA100 in the industrial space," said Hitoshi Yasui, general manager of Wireless Research and Development Business Unit, Yokogawa Electric Corporation. "Yokogawa has demonstrated leadership in defining, developing and deploying the ISA100 family of standards. We believe unique features of ISA100 allow Yokogawa to provide solutions to meet our industrial customers’ requirements. Customer satisfaction has always been, and will always be, the primary goal of Yokogawa."

“With the successful outcome of the test, we continue to look forward to additional interoperability tests planned for the coming year with more ISA100-certified products in the queue to confirm the scalability, reliability and performance benefits of the ANSI/ISA-100.11a standard,” said Andre Ristaino, managing director of WCI.

condition monitoring software upgrade.

The industry-leading System 1 software suite now has Lubrication Analysis Data Import package

GE's Bently Nevada business announces the latest version of the industry-leading condition monitoring software, System 1 6.7.   This latest version supports current Microsoft platforms and enables migration and modernization of System 1 to streamline technology maintenance costs. It also provides a consolidation of condition monitoring platforms by providing lubricant analysis data import that strengthens diagnostic and predictive health capabilities within your reliability centered maintenance program for smarter plant operations.

System 1 6.7 allows customers to migrate to the latest PC/server hardware platforms, Microsoft OS and SQL platforms allowing streamlined security and IT platform management across the network.  This efficiency allows customers to better understand equipment health and more effectively manage System 1 for optimal efficiency, production and emissions.

The addition of the lubricant analysis data management system eliminates the need for paper reports that are to trend manually making it difficult to establish a normal baseline and identify assets entering a failure mode.  The lubricant analysis data import application package allows users to streamline data trending to easily identify if an asset condition is changing.  The system also allows users to identify correlation of lubricant analysis data with other condition monitoring and process data to help identify a failure mode.  System 1 alarm and alert configurations and Decision Support Rules allow users to automate analysis and alerts sent to maintenance staff and DCS Operators so that quick action can be taken as soon as the health of an important asset changes.

Wind farm profitibility improvement

Increasing wind farm profitability by reducing gearbox maintenance costs with condition-based maintenance

As much as 25%-30% of wind farm operating and maintenance costs are associated with gearbox maintenance alone. Reducing these costs can help wind farms stay more profitable, efficient, and competitive, bringing clean energy wind farms to the forefront. GE Energy's Condition-Based Maintenance Solution, including GE Energy's Bently Nevada™ ADAPT™.wind Software, reduces gearbox maintenance costs and provides wind farms with a greater competitive edge in the energy market.

A Bently Nevada integrated condition monitoring system enables operators to understand the gearbox condition remotely. Dependable knowledge of the gearbox condition enables continued operation and revenue generation when a defect is not significant, while mitigating the risk of run to failure, an unplanned outage, or catastrophic event.

Proactive condition monitoring across the fleet also helps operators plan efficiently for and coordinate maintenance outages. Consolidating maintenance into one outage, and scheduling one crane, can save hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars per year in lost revenue, depending on the size of the wind farm.

GE Energy's patented Planetary Cumulative Impulse Detection algorithm is a set of measurements that detect and trend the passage of particulates through the planetary stage of a wind turbine gearbox. This provides greater insight into gearbox condition and helps pinpoint problem areas. GE Energy's Dynamic Energy Index (DEI) algorithm is specifically designed for variable speed machines. DEI spreads the variation over five bands of operation for more accurate spectral energy calculations and earlier fault detection.

GE Energy's Wind Turbine Condition Monitoring Solution is part of ADAPT™.wind, the standard condition monitoring solution on GE's wind turbine units that can be readily deployed on most manufacturers' ~1.5 MW-class turbines. Turbine owners can expect to see cost savings through several venues including reducing unplanned crane services and optimizing maintenance. The incredible value and benefit in implementing this solution has been acknowledged as many companies are adopting condition-based maintenance (CBM) strategies to decrease down time, reduce cost, and improve reliability. This solution already has over 700 units in the order and installation process.

Wind turbine monitoring

Bently Nevada™ ADAPT™.wind condition-based monitoring decreases downtime, reduces cost, and improves reliability

With a massive fleet of wind turbines coming off warranty and an anticipated installed-base growth of 475% over the next 5 years, companies are adopting condition-based maintenance (CBM) strategies to decrease down time, reduce cost, and improve reliability. CBM in wind turbines, like in combustion and steam turbines and generators, is the process of monitoring the condition of machinery, scheduling maintenance, and avoiding failures. This solution already has over 700 units in the order and installation process.

Wind farms are exposed to some unique challenges. Change of wind speeds, load conditions, and environmental conditions all contribute to the complexity of operating wind turbines. In addition, wind farms are spread out over acres or even across miles, and the gearboxes are located several hundred feet into the air. This makes it difficult for a technician to predict or diagnose an issue with the turbine. Advanced condition monitoring techniques and experience are critical to reliably monitor the wind asset.

One integrated condition-based monitoring system, Bently Nevada™ Advanced Distributed Architecture Platform Technology (ADAPT™.wind) from GE, enables operators to understand the condition of the asset without having to physically examine the machinery. By utilizing the intelligence of the system, operators can understand the severity of the defect, make corrections, and continue to generate revenue if the defect is insignificant.

ADAPT.wind CBM also allows operators to plan for maintenance, coordinate outages for closely clustered units, and proactively monitor units with anomalies, instead of running to failure or tripping the unit on an anomaly. Being able to understand the condition and health of the wind farm’s machinery, an operator can consolidate maintenance for one time and schedule one crane, realizing hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings.

The ADAPT.wind software is the standard condition monitoring solution on GE’s wind turbine units and can be readily deployed on most manufacturers’ equipment.

Relief valve leak detection

Pressure Relief Valves (PRVs) are used extensively in oil refineries, chemical plants, pipelines, power plants, and other industrial applications as part of pressure-relieving systems to protect piping, boilers, vessels, and other pressurized assets from dangerous over-pressure conditions. To help users ensure that these systems are supplied in accordance with recognized good engineering practices, a number of industry-specific standards exist. For example, American Petroleum Institute standards API 521 (ISO 23251), API 526, and RP 520 all deal specifically with PRVs and pressure-relieving systems as used in the petroleum industries.

PRVs are particularly susceptible to leaks and the consequences of such leaks can be serious:

• Dangerous operating conditions, increasing the risk to plant and personnel
  
• Damage to the environment
  
• Regulatory fines/penalties
  
• Negative public image/reputation
  
• Reduced process efficiency and profitability
  
• Loss of raw, intermediate, or finished materials

While most companies expend considerable resources to detect and mitigate leaks, usually in the form of routine inspection or observation regimens, current approaches have not proven entirely effective, and PRV leaks remain a significant challenge for industry. Additionally, PRVs are frequently subjected to unneces¬sary maintenance. This occurs when a leak cannot be confirmed, but to err on the side of caution, preventive repairs, replacements, or overhauls are carried out “just in case.” This can drive the relative maintenance costs for PRVs very high.

Cost-effective and reliable online technology is now available to monitor critical PRVs for the presence of leaks. An online approach means that leaks are caught within minutes, incident severity (and associated consequences) is minimized, and costly routine inspection regimens are eliminated.

GE’s PRV Leak Detection System uses the Bently Nevada Trendmaster™ Pro architecture to gather periodic, online temperature and acoustic measurements and automatically analyze them in System 1™ software. By using both temperature and acoustic measurements in complementary fashion, more reliable detection is available than when using either technology alone. These measurements are then processed through a special RulePak in System 1 software’s decision support engine. This RulePak contains sophisticated, embedded knowledge of PRV leak behavior, automatically detecting the presence of a leak.