Electricity + Control December 2017

TRANSFORMERS + SUBSTATIONS

Who MUST be involved? • The customer’s reliability engineer/s (The champi- on that heads up the condition monitoring team) • The customer’s on-site oil laboratory • The customer’s condition monitoring teams • The reliability lubrication engineer/s (The cham- pion that heads up your TFM team) • The customer’s lubrication teams (lubrication technicians) • The customer’s maintenance teams – electri- cal and mechanical departments • The customer’s planning teams • The customer’s procurement department • The RS condition monitoring consultant • The RS hydrocarbon manager/consultant PHASE 1: Assessment The assessment phase is the most important phase of the programme. The team will assess all

departments involved from procurement of lubri- cants to who is responsible for the application of lubricants. We will assess procedures and predic- tive maintenance schedules. Audits will be done on type of equipment, the environment in which it operates, as well as operating temperature, load and speed of each application. Vibration data anal- ysis, thermal analysis and oil analysis will be done on all rotating machinery to establish the overall condition of the machines. Condition monitoring helps to enforce the foundation of your TFM pro- gramme by pin-pointing machines that are already in defect mode and that require urgent attention. PHASE 2: Modification and design Lubricant storage and handling must be done ac- cording to best practice standards. In industry, to- day it is not uncommon to see lubricant stores that are severely contaminated and not adhering to the three principles of keeping the lubricants dry, cool and clean. In your lubricant store is where you start to address contamination control. If the lubri- cant storage is not up to standard the programme will not succeed. Handling of lubricants inside the lubrication storage area as well as in your operation needs to be done as cleanly and pristinely as possible. RS knows how to achieve this, whether you are a chocolate factory or a coal mine. The principle stays the same although the procedure may differ. Machinery needs to be optimised for reliability. For example breathers, oil level indicators and oil sample points need to be installed to aid an indus- trial gearbox to perform its operations on a daily basis. Automatic lubricators will be recommended for machines that are hard to reach or in hazard- ous environments. Mini mesh points and filters can be installed on hydraulic systems to help keep the lubricant clean and ease the process of tak- ing an oil sample. These are only a few examples. Each individual machine in its environment needs to be assessed individually and modifications will be recommended to help the machine achieve optimum reliability status. RS has the capability and the initiative to develop customised solutions based on the customer’s needs. We know that for every problem there is a solution. PHASE 3: Implementation RS will assist customers to implement modifications that need to be done on machines. We will assist

This company’s Reliability Solutions division has developed an holistic ap- proach to achieving Total FluidManagement(TFM). Condition Monitoring Technologies are used to identify sub-standard flu- idmanagement practices and the effects these have on component life. The team considers all aspects of lubrication and overall fluidmanage- ment instead of targeting a single department. Take Note!

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Dispensing bay area inside the lubrication container.