Machinery Lubrication magazine published by Noria Corporation
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/190260
AS I SEE IT 3. Contaminant Tolerance Not all machines have the same sensitivity to particle contamination. Some are reasonably tolerant, but most are not. At least 10 percent of all critical machines have a hypersensitivity to particles of a certain size and concentration. Achieving cleanliness is almost always costly, yet the benefits gained are usually multiples of this cost. 4. Proactive Maintenance Proactive maintenance seeks machine life extension by systematic eradication of root causes like particle contamination. The cleaner the oil, the longer a machine's life expectancy. Proactive maintenance brings critical root causes such as particles into focus. Noria has published extensively on this important subject. 5. Predictive Maintenance While proactive maintenance seeks life extension, predictive maintenance seeks to detect the onset of machine failure and From page 46 predict the remaining useful life (RUL). It's a tough job, but when done with the right tools, methods and skills, it is highly effective. With oil analysis, predictive maintenance targets wear particle detection and characterization (analytical ferrography, etc.). The effectiveness of wear particle analysis is much improved when oil is clean. This can be observed in Figure 1. Measure and Control Cleanliness The concept of setting cleanliness targets essentially is a visible, measureable performance standard. It's like controlling your weight, blood pressure or cholesterol level by frequent measurement. These are controllable root causes of disease for those who aspire to a long, healthy life. In machine reliability, it's proactively taking control of your machines (order) so they won't take control of you (disorder). Can we aspire to enable good machine wellness? Can we nurture our machines to cleanliness? Maybe it's time for an intervention. About the Author Jim Fitch has a wealth of "in the trenches" experience in lubrication, oil analysis, tribology and machinery failure investigations. Over the past two decades, he has presented hundreds of courses on these subjects. Jim has published more than 200 technical articles, papers and publications. He serves as a U.S. delegate to the ISO tribology and oil analysis working group. Since 2002, he has been director and board member of the International Council for Machinery Lubrication. He is the CEO and a co-founder of Noria Corporation. Contact Jim at jfitch@noria.com. 4| September - October 2013 | www.machinerylubrication.com