PREDICTIVE MAINTENANCE ARRIVES FOR CHRISTMAS SERVICE SEASON What sounded like science fiction just a short time ago is now a reality in the new predictive maintenance systems becoming available from members of the global Schaeffler Group such as Schaeffler Australia. The company’s automated rolling bearing diagnostics and the calculation of the remaining useful life of bearings are important components of Industry 4.0, which refers to a fourth industrial revolution (following water/steam power, mass production and automation through IT and robotics). Industry 4.0 introduces the concept of ‘cyber-physical systems’ to differentiate this new evolutionary phase from the electronic automation that has gone before. “All machinery – all motors, drives, shafts, conveyors, wheels – depend critically on bearings, whether you’re in an outback mine, city factory or an urban water or energy plant supplying the population,” says Mark Ciechanowicz, industrial services manager, Schaeffler Australia. Plant maintenance and operational staff were given an insight to the future at this year’s Hannover Messe 2016, the world’s biggest industrial trade fair, where Schaeffler presented to the 250,000 visitors its new predictive maintenance solutions that provide machine operators with information about the future condition of their machines. Schaeffler technologies flowing on into Australia and beyond in time for the Christmas/New Year maintenance season included the FAG SmartCheck diagnostic system, which transfers data to the cloud. “The cloud provides greater processing power and a wider range of analysis options than existing purely local calculation systems,” says Mr Ciechanowicz. “This type of predictive maintenance allows not only the capacity utilisation of factories, processing plants and utilities to be optimised, but also makes it possible to plan maintenance intervals,” says Mr Ciechanowicz, who is responsible for advanced technologies such as the early warning system FAG SmartQB. 16 November 2016 This user-friendly technology comprises a FAG SmartQB sensor unit (a variant of the existing FAG SmartCheck), a cubic housing with a touch panel, and a cable for power and data transmission. The system was specially developed for detecting irregularities in electric motors, pumps, fans, and their rolling bearings, and is supplied with a ready-to-use configuration suitable for Australasian conditions. “An important prerequisite for predictive maintenance is automated rolling bearing diagnostics, a function that is used in motor gearbox units, for example. These units are used not only in machine tools, but also in belt conveyors, presses, water and energy infrastructure, paper and cement plants and resources, processing and manufacturing and bulk handling processes, as well as steel mill rollers. “Because such machine drives may be operated P R E V E N T A T I V E M A I N T E N A N C E
EN-Nov16
To see the actual publication please follow the link above