Publisher’s Note

Machine fault problems are broad sources of high maintenance cost and unwanted downtime across the industries. The prime objective of maintenance department is to keep machinery and plant equipments in good operating condition that prevents failure and production loss. If the department organizes a predictive maintenance program, this goal as well as cost benefts can be achieved, while accurate information at the right time is a crucial aspect of a maintenance regime.

Machine fault identifcation can be done with different methodologies as vibration analysis, lubricant analysis, acoustic analysis, and thermography with the use of appropriate sensors, different signal conditioning, and analyzing instruments. Vibration analysis techniques for machine fault identifcation are the most popular among other techniques.

Modern manufacturing plants are highly complex. Failure of process equipments and instrumentation increase the operating costs and results in loss of production. Undetected or uncorrected malfunctions can induce failures in related equipments and, in extreme cases, can lead to catastrophic accidents. Early fault detection in machines can save millions on emergency maintenance and production-loss cost. Gearbox and bearings are essential parts of machinery. The early detection of the defects, therefore, is crucial for the prevention of damage and secondary damage to other parts of a machine or even a total failure of the associated large system can be triggered.

Machinery failure reveals a reaction chain of cause and defect. The end of the chain is usually a performance defciency commonly referred to as the symptom, trouble, or simply the problem. The machine fault signature analysis works backwards to defne the elements of the reaction chain and then proceeds to link the most probable failure cause based on failure analysis with a root cause of an existing or potential problem. Accurate and complete knowledge of the causes responsible for the breakdown of a machine is necessary to the engineer, similarly, as knowledge of a breakdown in health is to the physician. The physician cannot assure a lasting cure unless he knows what lies at the root of the trouble, and the future usefulness of a machine often depends on correct understanding of the causes of failure. The proper maintenance can be done only after the knowledge of root cause of failure.

Prevention of potential failure is required for reliable and safe operations of machineries and the prevention of catastrophic failure can be done by appropriate maintenance. Conditionbased maintenance is the best suitable technique to avoid unwanted futuristic failures through condition monitoring or signature analysis for rotating machineries. Besides lubricant analysis, vibration analysis, acoustic and thermography are the best suitable technique available for fault identifcation. These should be used optimally for avoiding any breakdown.

We would like to thank our readers for the heartening response to our previous edition’s cover story – “How to change your Lubrication Culture” and other articles. Our current issue’s cover story is on “The power of using multiple technologies for machine inspections”. This will help our readers to know both good and bad examples of the coordination between these two powerful inspection methods so analysts and asset owners alike can see what to do and what not to do in certain situations.

As always, we look forward to your valuable suggestions and feedback.

Warm regards,

Udey Dhir