Machinery Lubrication magazine published by Noria Corporation
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1487844
28 | November - December 2022 | www . machinerylubrication.com BENEFITS OF OFFSITE ANALYSIS Data quality and integrity — Most commercial laboratories are certified ISO facilities and have rigorous checks and calibration stan- dards to ensure the data they produce is as accurate and precise as possible. ey follow ASTM procedures or may have developed some methods to enable better testing than what many onsite lab technicians might be able to do. Unfortunately, we have seen people with onsite lab equipment neglect the maintenance and calibration of their equipment, which can severely impact the data that they produce. Specialized testing — Whether due to cost, complexity or need, onsite labs are not usually equipped to do some testing that may be required to truly understand the lubricant's or machine's health. Some of these tests include analytical ferrography, RPVOT/RULER testing and elemental analysis. Of course, all of these tests can be run onsite but are commonly not. is results in missing the whole picture of what may be happening within the machine. Price advantaged — Similar to buying in bulk to save money on a unit price, if you can commit to a volume of samples per year, the expense of a single sample can be relatively low. is is even more true if a company forms a sole-sourcing agreement with a lab for services rendered for their entire fleet of facilities. Sometimes lubricant suppliers will also help offset the cost of analysis. Anytime the cost of analysis is being analyzed, you must also ensure that the test slate isn't compromised to reduce lab costs. Big data — Perhaps the buzziest of buzzwords in recent years is "big data," but it does have a place in our analysis program. When you submit your sample to a commercial lab, you are benefitting from the lab's experience with similar equipment or, better yet, from their data stores of similar equipment operating in similar environments. ere is power in an extensive data set of equipment test results that can help more accurately predict normal versus abnormal wear or even provide better insight into maintenance strategies to aid in extending the equipment's life. DRAWBACKS TO OFFSITE ANALYSIS Timeliness — When utilizing an offsite lab, you must accept the slower turnaround time associated with shipping and subsequent testing. While this can be mitigated with expedited shipping, there is added cost to this. Some believe that the oil sample degrades the longer it stays in the bottle, but the bigger issue is that the oil in the bottle becomes less representative of what is inside the equipment. e conditions inside the machine are constantly changing, so it is imperative to analyze the lubricant as quickly as possible to understand what those conditions are. Garbage data — While this can hold true for both onsite and offsite analysis, it is more commonly seen when relying on an outside lab. e lab can only test the fluid that they receive, so it is imperative that they get the most representative sample. A lack of focus on the importance of the lubricant analysis program can lead to problems such as improper sampling, waiting weeks to send samples off, not supplying ancillary machine data to the lab and ultimately not being able to make accurate decisions based on results coming back in the reports. Lack of focus — For those that bring testing in-house, there is usually a sense of program ownership and pride within the lubrication and reliability program. While relying on an outside lab doesn't mean that these feelings can't exist, it is more heavily reliant on the internal cham- CONDITION MONITORING, LUBRICANT ANALYSIS AND TROUBLESHOOTING