MechChem Africa July-August 2024

⎪ Maintenance and asset management ⎪

line-of-defence solution called SKF Axios, which is a cost-effective, cloud-based condi tion monitoring solution with software and dashboards hosted by Amazon Web Services (AWS),” John Storm tells MechChem Africa . Axios consists of a smart wireless vibration sensor that can be mounted to a motor, pump or bearing housing. The sensor connects to a small gateway, and all that is needed to deliver results is internet connectivity – and monitor ing and configuration can be provided by any connected smartphone or tablet. “For anyone trying to enter the realm of condition monitor ing, this is a very nice entry-level device. The system learns over time, and it narrows down its acceptable thresholds based on the speci fications and initial acceptable conditions set up for each machine. A more permanent level of equipment performance management on offer from SKF is a semi-online solution. These involve the installation of wireless sensors onto plant equipment, which are connected to SKF Enlight Collect IMx-1 gateway devices. “Our IMx-1 is a wireless mesh-able device that can handle a range of between 20 and 30 m from the sensors sending the data, depending on the density of the plant. The device speaks to a gateway with a 30-50 m point-to-point range from the sensor, which can either be hosted on a local network at the plant, or can link directly to our cloud-hosted software,” he says. It is possible to have 100 or so sensors con nected via a 2.4 GHz wireless mesh network to one gateway. The wireless sensor is an IP69 rated device that’s battery powered and the sensor units are typically scheduled to collect data once a day for an expected nominal bat tery life of five years. Protecting critical equipment The quality of data from The Quick Collect hand-held and Axios or IMX1 wireless systems is more suited to standard high speed applications – above 600 rpm – and lower criticality assets that require less data uploading. But for more advanced applica tions, which typically involve low speeds and heavy loads, more regular data, a quality data SKF’s IMx 8 and 16 data logging systems are ideal for localised, scalable installations in critical, low speed applications using fully wired online sensor systems.

The recently released first-line of-defence solution, SKF Axios, which is a cost-effective, cloud based condition monitoring solution with software and dashboards hosted by Amazon Web Services (AWS).

acquisition device is typically needed. “Low speed rotating equipment analytics needs high resolution data in the lower frequency ranges to get the spectral quality for detailed analysis,” Storm explains. Low speed vibration monitoring is typically associated with critical large and heavy equip ment: conveyor drives, crushers, grinding mills and such, he notes. These are often more complex machines in difficult environments on mining sites or fixed processing plants. For critical, low speed applications, Storm recommends fully wired online sensor sys tems connected to SKF IMx-8 or IMx-16 data logging systems. Each channel of these devices can synchronize and connect with one vibration sensor or any analogue 4-20 mA sensor or temperature probe for additional machine insights – and the IMx-8 has eight channels while the IMx-16. “These systems capture data based on pre-defined schedules, and thresholds can be set to allow the service provider to be notified immediately of anoma lies before the data is further analysed at the REP Centre. “What we offer through the SKF Rotating Equipment Centre is contextualised data that is directly relevant to the actual application. We are not simply dumping dumb data and hoping we might catch anomalies. Over the years we have established a highly successful approach to condition monitoring of critical assets. We can diagnose problems before they become catastrophic, even to the point where we might be able to salvage a component such as a large critical bearing by taking it out of production, remanufacturing it, and putting

it back into the machine or into storage for another full service life,” he says. “At SKF, we are driven by environmental responsibility and the circular economy. So we are constantly looking to see how long we keep equipment in production, exactly what needs to be changed to prevent damage to other components, and how many times we can remanufacture a component before it needs to be recycled,” he says. “And we never push plant operators to adopt any single connectivity architecture. We understand that different plants around the world will choose different network envi ronments, so we offer multiple solutions that can easily be integrated into any environment. We offer open architecture and integration possibilities to other onsite applications through API and OPC UA integration at a soft ware level with Modbus TCP/RTU at a hard ware level for the IMX 8 & 16, for example. “If there is no Ethernet connectivity, we can use the LTE or GPS wireless networks. In cases where there is no connectivity at all, we can manually download data from SKF devices to a cellular device and then take that device to a location with a data connection for uploading. “So anyone, anywhere, can easily access SKF Rotating Equipment Performance ser vices. All we need is for them to collect the necessary data and get it uploaded to the Cloud. We can then utilise our engineering expertise and our software and analytical tools to better and more rapidly protect plant equipment and improve operational perfor mance,” John Storm concludes. www.skf.com/africa

July-August 2024 • MechChem Africa ¦ 37