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Customer Savings
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15,764
Assets Monitored
The discharge piping is used to transport the high-pressure outlet gas leaving the compressors.
Continuous piping resonance can lead to cracks, leaks, and valve failures. First and foremost, this poses a grave safety risk. In addition, the compressor unit and sometimes the entire station need to be shut down to address the leaks, causing significant downtime.
There are several inherent challenges related to monitoring piping resonance.
Resonance severity and frequency are often undetectable to the human ear and eye.
Time-based protocols only capture intermittent data, failing to accomplish repeatability.
Resonance is ever-changing with operational parameters.
The age-old attempted solution involves route-based vibration monitoring. With this approach, key resonance windows and possible failure modes will go undetected between readings. Furthermore, time and weather limitations do not allow for measurement repeatability,
The comprehensive solution is simple: Continuous Real-Time Vibration Monitoring.
Compressor cooling fans are a critical component of midstream operations. In fact, a compressor can not operate if the cooling fan is down. Optimizing the health of cooling fans is essential to avoid lost throughput and reduce NPT.
Fan imbalance, shaft misalignment/looseness, and worn fan bearings are just some of the issues that can cause a cooling fan to fail.
There are several inherent challenges related to monitoring compressor cooling fans.
The large number of fans on-site makes route-based protocols extremely time-consuming and inefficient.
Limited access to the fan shaft/bearings means cooling units need to be shut down to safely obtain route-based readings.
Time-based protocols only capture intermittent data failing to accomplish repeatability.
The age-old attempted solution involves route-based vibration monitoring. With this approach, possible failure modes and early signs of bearing wear will go undetected between readings. Furthermore, time and accessibility limitations do not allow for measurement repeatability across the site.
The comprehensive solution is simple: Continuous Real-Time Vibration Monitoring.
Misalignment on rotating equipment occurs when the centerlines of the motor and the driven machine shafts are not in line. Misalignment increases strain on the equipment and can eventually lead to loss of power transmission as well as premature coupling, bearing, and shaft failure.
The majority of rotating equipment used in the industry is operating out of alignment. In fact, misalignment is responsible for up to 50% of equipment failures.
There are several inherent challenges related to monitoring motors for misalignment.
The large number of rotating equipment on-site makes route-based protocols extremely time-consuming
Even after the realignment of equipment, there could already be damage to the bearings, coupling, etc.
Time-based protocols only capture intermittent data failing to accomplish repeatability
The age-old attempted solution involves route-based vibration monitoring. With this approach, possible failure modes and early signs of bearing/coupling wear will go undetected between readings. Furthermore, time and accessibility limitations do not allow for measurement repeatability across the site.
The comprehensive solution is simple: Continuous Real-Time Vibration Monitoring.
Screw compressors are used to move compressed gaseous fluids for purposes such as air supply or gas storage. In the event of failure, operations are halted as there is no longer a source of high-pressure fluid being pumped. Optimizing running speeds with the health of the overall machine is critical to ensure that the maintenance downtime can be planned, and losses are limited. Bearing failure, shaft misalignment, and lubrication failures are commonly the cause of downtime for these assets.
There are several inherent challenges related to monitoring bearings.
Vibration frequencies in the early stages of bearing failure are the only method of detection, as there is no audible noise nor visual indication of failure.
Infrequent equipment breakdown or maintenance allow for minor failures to escalate into catastrophic failures.
Throughput demand causes difficulty in physical failure assessment as downtime is so costly.
Typically, these compressors are run until there is audible or visual indication of imminent failure. This can result in unplanned downtime and escalated safety hazards in more severe cases.
Vibration sensors and continuous machine health monitoring can be used to account for future failures weeks in advance. For example, vibration signatures of bearing failures, misalignments, and other points of failure can be called out immediately, rather than allowing the issue to persist, causing further damage.
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