Pump prediction
Modern non-invasive motor condition monitoring equipment is proving its worth at Wessex Water. Brian Tinham talks to operational services manager Dave Durkin
Maintec 2010 show
Getting maintenance right, and squeezing that bit extra out of existing and new plant, is the name of the game for 2010. Brian Wall suggests taking a day at Maintec 2010
Motors - Evolution in design, revolution in efficiency
Managing your motors for efficiency and reliability can be a headache at the best of times. And with discounted energy for industry perhaps set to disappear, against a backdrop of emissions regulations, then clearly it's not becoming any easier.
Seeing is preventing
An ability to anticipate mechanical breakdowns before they impact plant performance can be invaluable in minimising unplanned downtime. Dr Tom Shelley reports
Control freak
Let's talk about drives, motors and controls - no, not just the technologies for linear or rotational motion control, important though those are, but also control engineering in, for example, transportation, the process sector and the utilities. Why? Because there's quite a lot happening that could make a difference to plant engineers specifying, installing, commissioning and maintaining all of this stuff.
Game,set and match
The famous Wimbledon sliding roof is often held up as a triumph of engineering ingenuity. Brian Tinham takes us behind the scenes, with its designers
Global warning
For some engineers, questions about how much money could have been saved if a major failure had been predicted, trigger thoughts about the cost of expensive process interruptions and downtime. For others, it's all about avoiding unnecessary plant strip-down and rebuild costs caused by resulting damage. And for others again, the relevant measure relates to degradation in the quality of the product or service provided.
Greener world
Most plants have already implemented a wide range of energy-related programmes - from switch-off campaigns to intelligent production scheduling at lower time-tariffs; and from installing energy-efficient equipment to improving maintenance regimes.
Motoring clinic
Given current low prices for electric motors, compared with high costs of plant downtime caused by a failure, making a repair-versus-replace decision should be easy, shouldn't it? In theory, yes, but while there's no contest for motors rated 11kW or less, it's a different story when it comes to larger motors - and plant engineers are well advised to consider aspects such as reason for failure, severity and repair versus replacement timeframes, as well as costs.
Driven world
Unless you're heavily involved in project work, chances are your experience of drives, motors and controls is wide - after all, it's bread and butter stuff - but not as wide as it could be. So a quick update would be useful. Especially if it turned out that you could be saving time and money, and/or improving plant controls.