Condition monitoring refers to the process of monitoring data that is collected from sensory devices on industrial equipment. By analyzing vibration, acoustic and ultrasonic emissions, temperature, pressure, oil condition, and other machine operating characteristics, factories and plants can prevent unexpected equipment breakdowns and more effectively schedule their maintenance activities, which ultimately improves the efficiency of operations and increases return on assets. We recently spoke with Yuri Khazanov, President of InCheck Technologies, about his company's MEMS based solution for condition monitoring applications.
MEMS Investor Journal: Which types of companies are typically the end users?
Yuri Khazanov: End user companies are industrial, commercial, and municipal organizations that operate and maintain industrial assets. These include water and wastewater facilities, steel mills, process industries, power generation, general manufacturing, and others.
MEMS Investor Journal: Which technologies are currently used for monitoring of industrial machinery? What are their respective costs?
Yuri Khazanov: Companies use vibration analysis, ultrasound detection, infrared thermography, and other technologies; vibration analysis is the most standard and widely used. Vibration data provides very detailed information on the machine condition. It helps users to pinpoint specific problems within a machine and track developing faults. By tracking changes in a vibration signature it is possible to know which component is having a problem and estimate approximate time to failure.
Vibration analysis is usually performed using online monitoring systems or walk-around data collection with a portable analyzer. Online condition monitoring systems available on the market today often require high capital investment and typically are expensive in installation and operation.
MEMS Investor Journal: Specifically, what are the costs?
Yuri Khazanov: Typical hardware costs are usually more than $1000 per vibration data channel. Each asset may need multiple data channels. A software suite may cost tens of thousands of dollars per license. Most installation costs are largely driven by the dedicated wiring that is required for some systems. Operating expenses are high because additional personnel is usually needed.
As an alternative to expensive online systems, some organizations perform manual, route based data collection. In this case, a trained operator carries a hand-held vibration analyzer to collect the data. Moving from one machine to another in a pre-determined route, the operator stores the data on the measuring device and later uploads it to a desktop computer for storage. Then the data is analyzed in-house or sent by email to an outside consultant for analysis. This solution is less costly at the expense of less frequent data updates.
MEMS Investor Journal: What are the costs in this case? How often is the data collected?
Yuri Khazanov: A vibration analyzer can cost up to $40,000 with the software. Many operators require training before they can use an analyzer. The data is collected monthly or quarterly. Since manual labor is required, there are issues related to safety, human errors, time needed for a route -- all these prohibit more frequent data gathering.
MEMS Investor Journal: How do users typically calculate ROI on industrial machinery monitoring technologies?
Yuri Khazanov: By implementing predictive maintenance programs organizations can reduce maintenance costs by 25 to 50%. These numbers vary from industry to industry. Maintenance costs do not include costs of unplanned downtime, which can be high with poor maintenance.
Unplanned downtime can be reduced by as much as 80% with predictive maintenance. These estimates vary from industry to industry. Many case studies and articles are available, each citing different numbers; 80% is one of the highest numbers we saw in those sources. The models for calculating ROI vary by the industry and between companies. Some companies account only for reduced downtime while others include reduced repair costs and lower operating costs.
MEMS Investor Journal: What are the main challenges with each of the existing approaches?
Yuri Khazanov: Online monitoring systems are high in cost, because users have to own and operate complex hardware and software that comprise a typical monitoring system. Organizations often have to have additional IT and engineering resources to operate the system.
MEMS Investor Journal: What is the cost? Who are the main system providers in this space?
Yuri Khazanov: Many online monitoring systems available on the market today are priced out of reach of medium and small size operators. Products that are offered by GE Bentley, Rockwell, Emerson, DLI and other vendors oriented towards large users -- big power and chemical plants, steel mills, military, and similar users. Smaller companies do not have budgets or expertise to buy and operate these systems.
MEMS Investor Journal: What about other approaches?
Yuri Khazanov: Route data collection has limitations because of issues arising from less frequent data collection, lack of the ways to immediately share the data, as well as operator’s training, qualifications, and personal safety may affect its effectiveness.
MEMS Investor Journal: Why is your approach better? Are there any downsides?
Yuri Khazanov: For online monitoring systems, our solution takes the technical complexities of the monitoring system out of the hands of end users. The software and data hosting facilities are provided as a service, which makes it easier and more economical to end users. Tasks related to the system's operation are performed by InCheck as a part of the service. The users can also outsource engineering tasks and entire monitoring activities. The costs are lower in part because the system utilizes already existing network infrastructure, which makes monitoring affordable to large and small businesses alike. The use of MEMS sensors for continuous vibration monitoring also reduces costs, as it eliminates the need for field calibration due to the steady performance characteristics of our MEMS based devices.
For route data collection, our network enabled vibration analyzer streamlines the process by uploading the collected data to our server for storage in a central database. This makes the data immediately available for analysis online. The incoming data gets processed by the server’s alert engine that notifies the maintenance personnel of abnormal conditions immediately.
MEMS Investor Journal: What is the cost of your system as opposed to alternative approaches?
Yuri Khazanov: The price advantages for end users come from a few sources. Specifically, we provide a lower hardware cost per data channel of ~$400-$600. We also provide a modular system, which means that there is no need to buy more than necessary. Users can also use our online software to minimize costs even further.
MEMS Investor Journal: Some companies are trying to use vibration based energy harvesting to power sensor nodes attached to machinery equipment. How realistic is this approach? How do you currently power your sensors?
Yuri Khazanov: At this time, this energy harvesting has not achieved power outputs that can power sensors and communication electronics for continuous operation. Therefore, systems that employ energy harvesting are limited in the amount of data they are able to collect and transmit. In some cases, the trade-off defeats the purpose of monitoring.
Vibration energy harvesting in particular, is somewhat effective on machines that run at speeds of 1800 or 3600 RPM. Most critical duty machines that require monitoring, like large pumps, are running slower, making vibration energy harvesting ineffective. Today, most monitoring systems are powered by either line power or a battery.
*********************************************
Mr. Yuri Khazanov, P.E., has been President and Principal Engineer at InCheck Technologies since its inception in 2006. He has led the development of the company's core product -- InSite™ network-based online monitoring system. Prior to starting InCheck, Mr. Khazanov served as the director of engineering with Yeomans Chicago Corporation, a custom engineered pump manufacturer. A graduate of Moscow Power Engineering Institute in Russia, Mr. Khazanov holds a Master of Science degree in mechanical engineering. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in the state of Illinois.
Copyright 2011 MEMS Investor Journal, Inc.