MechChem Africa July-August 2024

Rotating Equipment Performance: easily accessible, everywhere

John Storm, the Connected Technologies manager for the SKF Group in South Africa, talks about the Rotating Equipment Performance Centre in Johannesburg South Africa, that extends the company’s diagnostic and proactive maintenance service offering.

the REP Centre to the company’s autho rised distributors / partner networks. “We are working on a platform that will enable authorised partners to access information, dashboards and reports to help them to better attend to their customers Machinery Health,” he explains. In terms of the analytical software tools, he says SKF utilises diagnostics and machine learning models to extract useful condition linked insights. “We can typically diagnose 60 to 70% of all simple applications auto matically, using engineering-linked machine learning models, but we still believe in the help of expert professionals for the more complex conditions,” he adds. “At SKF, we are not trying to develop stand alone black box systems. Instead, our software uses very open architecture, and we ensure that we can offer a wide range of different integration levels, from local SKF hardware integrated solutions to fully connected cloud based systems. We acknowledge that our customers are pursuing different analytical approaches and many may have built their own ways of consolidating different data from across the plant. So for us at SKF, integration is key and we have developed capability that

keeps onsite implementation simple and very flexible,” John Storm assures.

Entry-Level implementation options In terms of practical implementation for connecting equipment to SKF’s REP Centre, the first step is to connect the assets by collecting data – using handheld or online data collection devices. “Our emphasis on the quality of raw vibration sensors stems from their capacity to detect a multitude of fault conditions simultaneously in rotating machinery utilizing the SKF hardware—as many as eight distinct bands/conditions per sensor/channel depending on the solution design. By harnessing vibration data, we can pinpoint frequency-related problems unique to each machine. Coupled with customised analytical software and precise machine contexts, we’re able to generate dependable and potent predictive analytics and specific machine failure mode insights,” he explains. For collecting data and connecting it to networks, Storm says SKF offers different technologies to offer solutions for most ap plications. At the starting point, he says that hand-held devices such as the SKF Quick Collect hand held sensor or the next gen eration portable condition monitoring Microlog Analyzer DBx can be used by maintenance teams walking around the site. These instruments integrate with Android or IOS phones and devices so the data can be sent via the cloud to the REP Centre. As time progresses, maintenance teams can start to build up hierarchies and data-collection routes that best suit their plant needs. In addition, the REP Centre is available to support, do more advanced diagnostics and to identify the early onset of failure and application specific engineering changes that are needed to keep the equipment healthy. SKF is also extending its Rotating Equipment Performance service into Africa. “Mining is a key segment for us and we expect significant growth in this market. To drive accessibility to our REP Centre from remote applications across Africa, we have recently released a first

S KF has been offering remote diagnostic services from its Jet Park facilities in South Africa for several years. “SKF’s Remote Diagnostic Centre, as it was called before, underscored that, initially, data collection from the field was exclusively em ployed for analysis, diagnostics, and reporting services. We have rebranded, however, to The Rotating Equipment Performance (REP) Cen tre to better represent the broadening of our capabilities, the deepening of our engineering expertise, and the enhancement of our service offerings,” begins John Storm, SKF’s Connected Technologies manager. “Instead of simply diagnosing and report ing problems to clients, we are now able to feed analysed diagnostics and machine health insights through to our SKF Engineering spe cialists and engineering partners, who can develop quick-response solutions to problems that might arise in the field,” he explains, adding that this is a faster way of closing the proactive maintenance loop. SKF, he says, is a knowledge engineer ing company, and the REP Centre is about transforming key data collected from plant equipment into engineering insights on how to best protect and optimise plant assets. Since the early 2000s SKF has been cloud-based with respect to connectiv ity and software, so even though the company moved into new premises recently, no real changes were needed. “But enhancements to our software capabilities are continuous. Most no tably we have focused on feeding information through to our different engineering complements – bear ings, seals, lubrication, manufacturing, and condition-based maintenance, for example – to make our offering more collaborative and holistic,” Storm tells MechChem Africa . SKF is also looking at tools that will enable the company to pass on insights gleaned from

Easy machine and equipment health monitoring is available from the SKF Multilog IMx-16 Plus.

36 ¦ MechChem Africa • July-August 2024