Industrial Reliability & Safety in 3 Steps
By Michael Riccio , CRL , CAT-1 IRT Global Marketing Manager , IRISS Inc .
The critical importance of electrical power to every aspect of our world cannot be exaggerated . It must be generated and distributed effectively to end-users , and any disruption in that process means loss of operations , money , and in extreme cases , life . Therefore , the reliability of electrical power creation and distribution must be continually safeguarded and improved . This does not happen by chance or through reactionary-maintenance tasks , and it must be focused on from the early design stages and continue through the life of the assets tasked with these functions .
Adopting a “ Monitor , Inspect , & Manage ” approach is a proactive way to avoid the concerns at hand by maximizing the value of workforce time and skill . Scalability is no longer an issue when ,
8 FDPP - www . fdpp . co . uk instead of going through the time and cost of expanding their workforce , they can apply condition-based reliability technologies to maximize their available workforce skills and availability . These Reliability Technologies can be specified with the specification engineer and Original Equipment Manufacturer at the initial design / build stage or retrofitted into existing equipment through a simple and inexpensive process .
MONITOR With the use of a monitoring system on transformers and throughout substation electrical equipment , asset conditions can be continually collected , trended , and assessed . Monitors feed data through a gateway to software and apps , allowing the information to be continuously accessed from workstations and mobile devices .
When the new equipment arrives from the manufacturer with these monitors built-in , customized parameters can be set for the specific operating and environmental conditions the asset is exposed to that keep it within a “ safe zone ” to maximize functional reliability . When the asset condition data exceeds the custom parameters , alarms can notify electrical technicians of a possible issue that may require inspection . Keeping human interaction with equipment to only instances where confirmation inspections of potential faults are deemed necessary minimizes workers ’ risk and eliminates the humanerror threat to asset functionality .
INSPECT
Once the wireless monitoring system notifies technicians of a possible issue with a transformer or other piece of electrical equipment , the use of pre-