Imagine this situation: we are driving a car and suddenly we begin to smell a sharp smell of gasoline.
We stop and see that a puddle quickly forms under the car. We have discovered a malfunction that needs to be fixed urgently before it gets worse. And we can already say for sure that in this case the costs of time, effort and material resources are inevitable. Of course, if the malfunction has matured over a long period of time, then timely predictive diagnostics would be very helpful: the root cause could be detected by the first signs of an emerging malfunction, and, resorting to professional maintenance, an accident could be prevented.
Thus, predictive maintenance of equipment is a set of measures aimed at timely prevention of emerging defects in equipment.
The above example, although rather rough, but in general terms, it quite gives an idea of why enterprises are generally implementing predictive maintenance of electrical equipment.
Specific information about the current state of technology is obtained using special analytical equipment. Methods such as: vibration analysis, thermometry, flaw detection and others are used.
The specialist, according to the results of measurements, receives an objective idea of the real state of the equipment, its components. Interpreting the results of the measurements, they predict the failure, and also indicate the way to prevent it. If necessary, measures are taken, including repair. This approach is more rational than, for example, scheduled maintenance.
Scheduled maintenance involves the replacement of equipment nodes after a certain period of time. But after all, not every node will necessarily exhaust its resource by the planned date: one bearing worked under a greater load, and the other under a lesser one. One needs to be replaced already, and the other just needs to be lubricated.
Thus, predictive maintenance is aimed at establishing the actual, real state of the equipment in order to predict changes in this state during further operation in the usual mode for this equipment at a given enterprise.
This is how the most expedient moment for applying technical actions is calculated, as well as the type of required repair actions.
The specialist carries out an inspection, measures the main technological parameters, their examination, if necessary - takes samples, tests and controls the equipment in various load modes.
Some units will not even have to be stopped or disconnected from the network during the predictive check, let alone disassembled. This is the tremendous pragmatism of this approach to maintenance.
Today, there are specially designed modules for continuous software monitoring of the technical parameters of electrical equipment.
Such systems are especially relevant for large expensive productions with mechanical equipment, where any shutdown or downtime is fraught with huge losses. Contact and non-contact sensors of the most important parameters are installed on and near the units, which are crucial in predicting failures.
The signals from the sensors are processed by software methods in real time, and if the value of any parameter is outside the norm, the operator will immediately know about it, and the technical service employee can decide to go and inspect.
What is Predictive Maintenance? | Working, Advantages, Disadvantages of Predictive Maintenance: