Posted to News on 7th Mar 2017, 14:52
The benefits of condition monitoring for the water industry
Pumps are the heart of the water supply and wastewater industries; keeping these critical assets running efficiently places considerable demands on maintenance resources. Therefore, SKF's presence at this year's Pump Centre Conference & Exhibition will focus on condition monitoring for pumps - and how machine health data can be exploited to achieve more closely tailored and economical maintenance planning and scheduling.
SKF will bring a number of innovations to the show, including new monitoring hardware and software covering both mechanical and electrical pump functions. Making their debut are the SKF Enlight QuickCollect handheld sensor and mobile apps, which make it easy to capture, share and store inspection, process and machine health data; and the SKF Multilog On-line System IMx-8, improving the reliability, availability and performance of rotating equipment through early fault detection.
Also on display will be the ever popular SKF Microlog series of portable, handheld data collectors and analysers, as well as complementary instruments from SKF's electric motor condition monitoring portfolio, which enable static and dynamic motor analyses, and motor current signature analysis. These are essential tools within SKF's motor monitoring service, which conducts surveys of industrial motor installations, where the instruments are used to deliver comprehensive reports and provide guidance on any actions or remedial work that may be required. These services are typically used in the water industry for submersible pump applications, as well as large electric motors found on screw pumps.
Wastewater pumps operate in highly contaminated environments, and for this type of application the SKF three-barrier system is recommended, as contaminants in the pumped stream must negotiate three barriers before they have a chance of reaching the bearing. Comprising a sealed SKF Explorer spherical roller bearing, split block bearing housing, separate housing seals and a biodegradable barrier grease, this will also form part of SKF's Pump Centre exhibit.
Visitors to the SKF stands can also pick up a copy of the 2017 SKF Training Solutions catalogue. Courses cover everything from basic knowledge of bearings, through more advanced techniques - such as bearing damage classification - to complete modules on condition-based maintenance and work control processes.
The Pump Centre Conference & Exhibition takes place on 11 May 2017 at the Telford International Centre. Visitors will find SKF on Stands F33 and F34. Go to www.skf.co.uk for further details.
