MINUTES
OF KNOWLEDGE
QUICKTIPS
The New Hero in Reliability – The Multi-disciplinarian
Dominic Gallello | Symphony Industrial AI
Reliability professionals face a great challenge as well as an exciting opportunity . With the tsunami of high resolution , low-cost sensors that have come onto the market , along with machine learning and cloud computing , the multi-disciplinarian will take his / her place . Until now , reliability professionals were generally schooled and skilled in one discipline . Experts in vibration , oil analysis , infrared , motor currents and the list goes on-and-on .
While this has served the industry well , with the advent of artificial intelligence , change will happen . AI has enormous capability to combine signals from a multitude of data sources to perform multi-variate analysis in seconds where a mere mortal would take days or weeks to filter through the data to try to make a decision . This decision will not come close to the accuracy that a computer is capable of in the world of plant operations .
Instead of looking at silos of data , citizen data scientist tools are emerging to allow the engineer to combine signals that grow over time and become early warning signs of potentially catastrophic failure . This new human / computer interaction will be the norm for a new kind of reliability engineer . This is an engineer who is comfortable in using tools to harness vast amounts of data coming off sensors to predict the future and prescribe the corrective actions required based upon both current and future state that can now be forecasted with great accuracy .
READ THE FULL ARTICLE >
Extend Asset Life with Oil Mist for Storage Preservation
Keith Macaluso | Allied Reliability
Oil mist lubrication systems have many uses , whether in standby mode or during operation . A real-life scenario returned investment to a Pennsylvania refinery ’ s cooling tower for the purchase of an oil mist lubrication system , in less than one year . Two gearbox failures were eliminated per year ( saving $ 50,000 in repair costs for each gearbox ), and oil spill risk was reduced to zero . Overall , the oil mist successfully mitigated excessive water contamination that was previously responsible for erosion , rust , and sludge formation in gearbox reservoirs . Read the full case study here .
Best-in-class facilities that excel in equipment reliability and financial profitability realize the cost benefits of including oil mist lubrication system as part of their routine maintenance program for all machines on their premises , running or not . The alternative is to continue doing just-in-time repairs and essentially let facilities become “ rust buckets ” over time .
READ THE FULL ARTICLE >
5 Ways Machine Learning Improves Asset Performance in Power Plants
Mohan Amasa | AssetSense
Here are five ways that adding machine learning to your maintenance strategy can help you avoid downtime and elevate plant performance :
• Reduce your operations and maintenance costs by moving from reactive to predictive maintenance . The insights you gain from AI and predictive analytics can help you spot problems early . With these insights , you can be proactive about asset maintenance and fix issues before they disrupt your production .
• Prepare for the unexpected . You never know when a storm or other significant event will impact your operations . You can use the information you gain from AI and machine learning to see when assets have failed in the past and under what conditions . Then , you can optimize your disaster preparedness plans to prepare for outages when the unexpected happens .
• Gain a holistic , real-time view of your fleet . An AI-powered asset performance monitoring platform collects and processes data in near real-time . It also supports massive volumes of data so you can analyze historical trends .
• Overcome the operator skills shortage . According to a recent report , 48 % of power professionals are concerned about an impending talent emergency , while 28 % said that their company had been affected by a skills shortage . When your skilled operators retire , you can use AI to reduce human involvement or make it easier for new employees to monitor your assets .
• Make operators ’ jobs easier . User-friendly AI technology gives operators real-time insights into asset health . They can use this information to improve equipment and plant performance — while eliminating the headaches of manual processes and disparate technologies .
READ THE FULL ARTICLE >
SEE MORE TIPS
WWW . RELIABILITYCONNECT . COM 9