Industrial Automation Magazine India

Condition Monitoring is instrumental in enhancing the asset Functional Reliability

Published on : Friday 07-10-2022

Shivnath Ram, Head – Asset Reliability and Asset Management, Jindal Steel and Power. 

Condition monitoring is commonly understood to apply to rotating machinery. What other assets in the plant can benefit from condition monitoring?
It is just a myth that Condition Monitoring is largely applicable to Rotating Machinery. In fact, condition monitoring has evolved as a science over a period of time and its application bucket, at present, includes almost all types of industrial assets that are critical to environment, safety and production. For example, in an integrated steel plant, the other assets which can get benefitted from condition monitoring are:
1. Hydraulics and Lubricating Systems
2. Electrical systems – transformers, electrical panels, cable joints, distribution lines
3. Refractory – furnace walls, torpedo liners, ladles, stoves and ducts
4. Piping, structural and machine foundation base
5. Locomotives, EOT and mobile cranes, slag pot carriers and HEMM
6. Pressure vessels and storage tanks
7. Slow speed or quasi-static bearings – BOF converter and slew
8. Vibrating screens and hammer mills, and
9. Belt conveyors.
 
Machines fail because their parts fail. Today’s buzzword is functional reliability of parts. Equipment Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) followed by calculation of Risk Priority Numbers (RPN) have led to the emergence of advanced methods and techniques in the field of Inspection and Monitoring. The idea is to detect budding-stage abnormalities so that timely corrective actions could be planned before the parts fail functionally resulting in Equipment Breakdown. So, the parameters which are the best reflection of the health of machinery parts are being measured, trended and monitored. Initially, the parameters like Vibration, Temperature and Sound were thought to be the only indicative parameters of machine health conditions. Nowadays, apart from Vibration Analysis, many Condition Monitoring techniques are in use like:
a. Tribology – the science related to lubricants, friction and wear characteristics
b. Oil condition monitoring – viscosity, moisture, TAN and TBN values
c. Contamination monitoring (NAS Class)
d. Infrared thermography
e. Acoustics mapping
f. Motor current spectrum analysis (MCSA)
g. Partial discharge (PD) testing
h. NDT testing
i. Torque monitoring
j. Resistance, current and voltage check
k. Eddy current and leak detection
l. Pressure and flow monitoring
 
The aim is to detect the budding-stage abnormalities or deterioration signs so that prompt corrective actions could be taken. In coming days, many more techniques will be added in the journey of Condition Monitoring.
 
What is an estimate of the size of the market? How much of this market is accessible to Indian companies?
Products and services related to condition monitoring have a huge market potential. Smart sensors, data analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning have become the buzzwords nowadays. Majority of the operation and maintenance professionals are emphasising digital twins for all the production critical assets suggesting the deep penetration of the concepts of condition monitoring in industries. The teams want to have all the desired data analytics and inputs on their dash-boards or mobiles; with action prompts for detected abnormalities or deviations.
 
Ideally the total annual maintenance cost should be less than 2% of the Estimated Replacement Value (ERV) of the asset. But the maintenance cost is often more than 2% of the ERV. Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM) is still a hidden potential waiting to be unleashed. Condition monitoring is instrumental in enhancing the asset functional reliability. With reliable assets, the maintenance cost will be below 2% of the ERV of the asset.

Condition monitoring annual budget should be at least 10% of the annual maintenance budget cost. ERV of production critical assets, say for an integrated steel plant, can be even more than Rs 10,000 crore. It means, the condition monitoring annual budget should be at least Rs 20 crore for assets with ERV of Rs 10,000 crore. It clearly indicates that the condition monitoring market potential is huge as the initial investment cost would be many times higher than the estimated annual budget for condition monitoring.
 
With the advent of so many sensors, data processing units and communication gadgets, the industries are little bit confused about the application; the result and the justification of the costs involved. Allocation of adequate annual budget to condition monitoring is still a concern. But, of late, the experimentation and Proof of Concept (POC) demos have already started in most of the industries indicating their firm inclination towards digitalisation and automation. The market accessibility is growing day-by-day. In the next 2-3 years, at least top 10% of the production critical assets in most of the industries will be covered under Real-Time Condition Monitoring.
 
Condition monitoring and prescriptive analytics is a business activity different from legacy sales and services activities. Do you think MSMEs and start-ups have an inherent advantage in getting market share?
It is rightly said that condition monitoring and prescriptive analytics is a business activity different from legacy sales and services activities. People engaged in Sales and Services are continuously exploring the latest reliability products and techniques. They gather information on the potential market players (including MSMEs and start-ups) who are experimenting and developing advanced versions of hardware and software related to Condition Monitoring. In fact, sales and services people are now becoming technology partners and change agents for industries. Their information and involvement is helping industries to adapt to the technological changes and upgrades which is vital for sustainable growth and survival. Definitely, the MSMEs and start-ups have an inherent advantage as they are the change agents in terms of exploring new ideas and technologies which could help improve the overall industry performance. Their ideas can revolutionise the mind-set of industries forcing them to redefine their business activities. Industries have already started talking about the role of asset reliability in improving and sustaining OEE. Real-time information on asset health is in focus and prescriptive analytics is the new necessity of industries. And, necessity is the mother of invention.
 
Are there real studies done to establish proof of concept using simulation and digital twin techniques? This needs an intensive collaboration between prospective buyers and vendors. Is it happening in India? With what success?
Yes, real studies are being done to establish Proof of Concept (POC) using simulation and digital twin techniques. There are many players in the markets including MSMEs and start-ups who are constantly approaching the industries; show-casing their technical understandings; discussing feasible options and explaining cost-to-benefit ratios in terms of safe work; availability, quality and productivity. This has already started in Indian industries. The prospective buyers and vendors are now focusing on symbiotic business relationships although these initiatives are in the budding stage when we talk of digitalisation of condition monitoring activities. New Technology has a cost and most industries are still reluctant as they cannot clearly visualise the modus operandi related to asset digitisation and data acquisition sensors; human-machine data interface; data analytics and action prompts.
 
Is the appetite for such systems bigger at large plant operators like power plants and refineries?
Yes, it is true that the appetite for such systems is bigger at large plant operators like refineries, metals, power, cement and mining. Industries want real-time visibility of their business-critical activities with status for timely navigational decisions. This paves the way for digitalisation of assets; enhancing process automation; using smart sensors and IIoT enabled gadgets; integration of operational and maintenance data; prescriptive analytics; digital reporting; execution and auto updates of action plans citing even job back-logs if any. Digital transformation initiatives are not being taken solely for increasing production but there are other dimensions to it which would help the industries achieve all sphere business excellence. In fact, many industries have also started focusing on the following areas:
i. Environment protection
ii. Safety
iii. Systematic inspection and monitoring of assets
iv. On-job training and skill building
v. Energy efficient operations
vi. Waste minimisation and clean surroundings
vii. Resource optimisation, spares planning and inventory control, and
viii. Measuring maintenance KPIs and reliability.
 
Can the government play a role in accelerating deployment of such systems? Are there any schemes for promoting better maintenance using data technologies?
Definitely, the government can play a significant role in accelerating deployment of such systems. Condition Monitoring helps to detect budding-stage problems which are no immediate threat to safety. In fact, many catastrophic and costly breakdowns get avoided. This helps to ensure a safe workplace where losses to production and assets are almost negligible; and waste generations are low. The government can give promotional subsidies for adopting latest technologies in the area of reliability and maintenance; safety; environment protection; energy conservations; carbon reductions, etc.
 
The Prime Minister's Trophy for the 'Best Performing Integrated Steel Plant' takes into consideration the maintenance data to assess the performance. It talks of maintenance KPIs like MTBF, MTTR and availability; and safe maintenance practices. But maintenance data integration and the related analytics are not the binding assessment criterion.
 
Does engineering education prepare graduates/post graduates to design, specify, evaluate and implement such new age solutions?
The present engineering education curricula are technology assimilative in nature. Many colleges have already started courses on Reliability, Data Science, Robotics, Maintenance Management, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning, IIoT and Cloud Computing, Condition Monitoring, Tribology and so on. Some colleges have started collaborating with industries for experimenting new ideas and concepts related to Condition Monitoring; Real-time Health Monitoring; Cloud-based Equipment Monitoring; Industry 4.0 Solutions; Robotics and Automation, etc. Today’s graduates/post-graduates are capable of introducing new ideas and concepts; and are ready for experimentation for new age solutions.
 
Shivnath Ram is Head – Asset Reliability and Asset Management at Jindal Steel and Power,
Angul – Odisha. He has 22 years of experience in Equipment Reliability and Maintenance of Steel-Power-Cement Industries; Integrated Condition Monitoring (Vibration, Thermal Scanning, Tribology, Acoustics, MCSA, NDT, Flow and Force Balance; Process Correlations); Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) and Enterprise Asset Management (EAM); Six Sigma Live Projects; SAP PM Module One Cycle Implementation; and RCM; Maintenance Standardization and Lubrication Management.
 
Shivnath has a B.E. (Mech) from REC Durgapur (Now NIT Durgapur); Executive Masters Diploma in Business Administration (EMBA); and has completed certification courses in SAP PM Module; Advanced Vibration Analysis; Tribology; Six Sigma; ISO Internal Auditing; Reliability and Maintenance; Bearing Life; RCM and FRCA. His areas of interest include: IIoT and Digitalisation of Condition Monitoring; Developing Maintenance Strategies for Enterprise Asset Management (EAM); and OEE improvements and Maintenance Standardization (through FMEA and RPN Calculations).
 
Shivnath has to his credit 32 Technical Papers presented at National & International Conferences on Topics related to Equipment Reliability; Diagnostics and Trouble-shooting; Vibration Analysis; IR Thermography, Tribology, Alignment, Maintenance Standardisation; Faculty Development Programme.
 
(The views expressed in interviews are personal, not necessarily of the organisations represented)