Welcome to Answers Now

Simple as a screwdriver and useful as a pair of work boots: that’s our goal for Answers Now.

We’re writing for you: the one whose job is to keep your plant running smoothly. The one who gets the call when it’s not.

We know what happens when plant equipment fails. Production halts. People go home. Repair bills pile up. People can get hurt. Customers look elsewhere. That’s trouble for your organization, and for you.

It’s Answers Now’s goal to give you ideas and information to head off such problems. We want to make your job easier, and help you keep the machines you care for up, running and delivering value.

If you find Answers Now useful, please pass it along to a friend or colleague.

Let’s get started.

What’s shakin’ in your facility?

More important, do you know what that shakin’ feeling means for your maintenance program?

Almost every machine that rotates or oscillates will cause vibration. Some devices, like orbital sanders, wouldn’t work at all if they didn’t vibrate. But vibration can also tip you off to underlying problems that could bring your operations to a halt. That’s one way to stop vibration. Just don’t expect the boss to go along with it.

If you haven’t thought much about vibration—or you’ve left it to an outsider to do the diagnosis—a quick vibration primer can be useful. Can you name the four main causes of machine vibration? Do you know how the unique signature of vibration from a specific machine is described?

Fluke has put together a brief overview of vibration, why it happens and what it can do—and how you can get a jump on maintenance needs by understanding what vibration in your machines is telling you. Check out Vibration Solutions Center for some important perspectives.

Learn more about motors and drives

Introducing a new approach to vibration testing and diagnosis

• Those who could afford it set up predictive maintenance programs, often hiring outside experts to monitor machine vibration over time, detect deterioration and recommend fixes.
• Others used basic tools like stethoscopes or even sticks to get a feel for the condition of their machines. And hoped for the best.

Now there’s a third choice: the Fluke 810 Vibration Tester gives maintenance professionals a reliable, affordable answer for plants without predictive maintenance programs.

Many facilities can’t afford the time, money or manpower for a full predictive maintenance program. They just need answers. The Fluke 810 is a mechanical troubleshooting tool that gives you those answers.

You don’t need prior measurement history to obtain results with the Fluke 810. It’s easy to use and doesn’t require extensive training. You don’t need vibration consultants to interpret complex results. You don’t have to wait for data analysis. You’ll get the answers you need when you need them: now.

The Fluke 810 enables you to:

• Troubleshoot common mechanical problems on the most common types of machinery
• Proactively plan repairs
• Confirm repairs after maintenance
• Commission new equipment and ensure proper installation
• Drive investments in repair or replacement with quantifiable proof of machine condition
• Train new or less-experienced technicians and build confidence and skill across the team

For more details on the Fluke 810 Vibration Tester, you can check the product page, or click here to be contacted for more information or request a product demonstration.

Alpenrose Dairy guards against dozens of flavors of trouble

“We’ve got equipment here that if it goes down, processing stops,” said motor expert Todd Toburen. “We could be down for a couple of days.” But the Fluke 810 helps the Alpenrose team detect problems early and avoid downtime.

“Using the Fluke, we’re able to take a reading once a week or once a month” said Toburen. “If we notice something different we can build a trend analysis with that data. The Fluke will actually give you ‘loose bearing’ or ‘bearing wear’—it will give you the diagnosis.”

For the full story on Alpenrose and the Fluke 810, view the testimonial video here or read about it here.

Tips & Tricks

Phase 1: Assessment

1. Survey and document how many motors, at what age, horsepower and ratings, with what level of controls are present in your facility.
2. Identify the highest and most critical loads.
3. For those key units, use a power logger to evaluate their energy consumption (power draw).

This will give you a general energy-consumption map for motors in your facility.

Phase 2: Immediate improvements
There are two kinds of immediate improvements you can make.

1. Changes to the units and to unit operation
2. Repairs

For more on optimizing motor performance, see this Fluke application note.

Say What?

Accelerometer: A transducer whose electrical output responds directly to acceleration. Accelerometers typically cover a much wider frequency range, along them to pick up signals not present with other types of transducers. Due to the frequency range, accelerometers are ideal for most types of rotating equipment, making them the most used transducer for vibration measurements.

Condition monitoring (CM): The measurement, recording and analysis of machinery parameters (such as acceleration) to determine equipment health. Current condition is compared to when the machine was new. Also known as machinery health monitoring.

Unbalance: Unequal mass distribution on a rotor. The mass centerline does not coincide with the rotation or geometric centerline. Also known as imbalance.