Tractian: which assets does the sensor monitor?

Even if your company has a multitude of data about your assets, with service orders, spreadsheets, papers and a structured maintenance routine, unfortunately we know that managers can be surprised by a lack of knowledge in this field.

For several generations, the maintenance sector has only been remembered in emergency situations, besides being referred to as a source of excessive expenditures. Bearing that in mind, the TRACTIAN sensor and platform were created to streamline the maintenance manager’s life, being the best tool to combine productivity and monitoring in only one place.

TRACTIAN was named one of the fastest-growing SaaS companies in the world

We manage to monitor more than 30 categories of machines, such as:

Basically, the platform can monitor each and every rotary asset that works with any type of behavior considered critical, or that has a vibration profile statistically defined.

In this article, we bring the main machines monitored by the TRACTIAN Smart Trac sensor, their functionalities and some case studies. Enjoy!

TRACTIAN technology

When we talk about maintenance, we talk about maintaining a rhythm. The manager’s job is not catching up with what already happened, but keeping activities up and running every single day.

We find many solutions in the market that promise the future industry, but when it comes to execution, it normally takes ages to be implemented and often times they don’t think about the reality of the shop floor.

TRACTIAN is a system of online monitoring and condition analysis, carefully designed for the routine of maintenance teams. We deliver a solution to the sector with a focus on intelligence (condition monitoring + predictive analysis).

Unlike most traditional alternatives, our solution is focused on the day-to-day needs of maintenance. Let’s remember the industry’s information is on the machines, and the decision-makers are people who are involved in the maintenance routine.

TRACTIAN’s solution provides state-of-the-art online monitoring for the assets as well as predictive maintenance. With our tools, you can have access to all equipment’s analytics and spectrum. You can also instantly view the reliability and availability of the assets in a very simple interface.

Check out our complete guide to reliability

Through automatic insights and alerts sent via the TRACTIAN App or a browser available on smartphones, tablets or your computer, it’s possible to request service orders to the right people and monitor all machines from one place only, with automatic warnings when something goes wrong.

Now we have chosen, among more than 30 machines we monitor, the four most common:

Compressor

With the sensor implanted on the compressor, it’s possible to detect the wear and overload on the axis. It can be divided into different models, such as:

• Positive displacement compressor: It obtains a high pressure by reducing the volume of gas.

• Piston compressor: Due to the low cost of production and the excellent performance for applications, it is very common in all industries. Piston compressors of low cost have only one piston, however, there are models with three or five, commanded by one axis. What distinguishes them is the volume produced per minute.

• Screw compressor: Also named positive displacement compressor. Two axes plowed in a helical shape (similar to a screw thread) that are synchronized, with a distance between the surfaces.

• Scroll Compressor (rotary spiral compressor): The technology of a scroll compressor is widely utilized in air conditioning applications and refrigeration. The scroll applications cover a wide range of operations utilizing several refrigerants. The scroll compressors, like other rotary technologies, require few mobile parts compared to the piston compressors.

Electric motor

Failures of imbalance, misalignment and resonance, for instance, can be identified with the TRACTIAN sensor. Basically, the electric motor converts electric energy into mechanics. Among all types of electric motors, the two most common are:

Check out our complete guide to Maintenance Planning and Control (MPC)

• Direct current: has a one-directional flow of electric charge;
• Alternating current: has a variation in the electric current, where magnitude and direction change in cycles.

Fan

TRACTIAN’s sensor makes the detection of belt misalignment and bearing defects possible. Fans can be classified as:

• Axial: characterized by a high flow and low pressure with reduction of the installed capacity.
• Centrifugal or radial: has a lower air flow capacity. Recommended for piped applications, where the air resistance and the pressure is higher.

Motor pumps

These are utilized to transfer water or other liquid products. They have the option to be powered by gasoline, diesel or electrically and there are also models with impulsion by a water wheel.

The motor pumps or electric pumps are monitored through TRACTIAN’s sensor, which detects signals of excessive temperature or imbalance. They are hydraulic pumps with strong motors, and have functions of specific energy increase, depending on the industrial segment. The main types are:

• Peripheral motor pumps: It is a low cost model. It has a lower flow capacity and cannot be used in places deeper than 8 meters. It is ideal to transfer clean water and without scraps.

• Centrifugal motor pumps: It is able to pump any liquid to a great height, with bigger flow and lower pressure. It is subdivided into, monostage, which transfers liquids to a height up to 40 meters, with average flow of 2 to 3 m3/hour. And multistage, which transfers liquids to heights up to 340 meters, with an average flow of up to 70m3/hour.

Put into practice

Corteva Agriscience – a multinational seed, crop protection, and digital agriculture company – has a plant that operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Downtime for maintenance or cleaning, even if infrequent, had a big impact when it happened.

Fernando Vicente, the plant’s maintenance leader, contacted TRACTIAN thanks to a colleague’s recommendation. He prioritized the most important equipment for the production line and installed 10 sensors – in a short time, several alerts were identified by the platform.

Learn about Corteva Agriscience new maintenance routine

Among the most critical assets were two pumps with very high failure rates and oscillating vibration patterns, and an exhaust tag: B270, whose worst issue was unbalance.

Even with planned shutdowns on the way, a week before the maintenance, the vibration of one of the pieces of equipment rose unexpectedly and the TRACTIAN sensor detected the anomaly.

“We did the vibration analysis sample a week before the insight was issued, and if we waited a month, maybe, we wouldn’t notice it. You notice noise in the area but without the data, you have no way to confirm it.”

Fernando also added that, in addition to vibrations, the sensor also detected unbalance and misalignment.

“The sensor has been useful for decision making, to know whether we stop before or not, to see how far back the equipment can operate.”

This insight shows that the sensors identified an unbalance in the 1st harmonic (H1), where the set limit was exceeded. After the alert, a preventive was done and the RMS Speed levels went back below the ISO Critical Zone limit.

Thanks to the insight, serious damage and losses were anticipated and Corteva was able to avoid a breakdown that could have cost anywhere from US$4,000 to US$13,000.

Another company, AmstedMaxion, reference in the manufacturing and supply of industrial and railway castings, had contact with the sensor after the maintenance team struggled with a lack of information to understand and predict the equipment’s repairs.

“This data that is sent by the sensor to the platform help us understand what is related to vibration and allow us to act preventively. And it ends up being very productive.” Maintenance supervisor of the company.

Check out the entire Sucess Case between AmstedMaxion and TRACTIAN

Assets utilized in the company such as the sand mixer F1135 and the mechanic pickling machine F5226 need constant balancing. With the use of the platform, it was possible to identify in an easy way the abnormalities, in order to prevent a severe breakdown that could lead to a halt in production.

After the preventive maintenance in the mixer, the company had a reduction of approximately 40% in the equipment’s vibration, preventing the asset’s early wear and tear and future downtime deriving from unplanned maintenance.

What now?

By implementing TRACTIAN’s online monitoring sensor and platform, you spare your assets from future unexpected failures and turn your company’s maintenance routine more efficient and assertive.

Thinking of any machine in your plant that must be safe and that cannot break down? Speak to one of our specialists to schedule a demonstration.