Avoid Dangerous Arc Flash With IRISS /Infrared Windows

Infrared windows are the Zero Hazard way to inspect your equipment and avoiding hazardous Arc Flash.

Vibration Analysis is a Cost-Effective Maintenance Tool

How would like to have early warning of problems developing in your machines?

Unsure how to diagnose the source of the problem?

Lindsay Engineering’s Vibration Analysis Services may be your best solution.  We have been providing Vibration Solutions to small to large plants for over a decade.  Vibration Analysis programs have many benefits to your company and plant.

Benefits of Lindsay Engineering’s Vibration Analysis Services:

• Identify Machine problems
• Reduces Downtime
• Reduces secondary damage
• Increases machine productivity
• Maintenance can be properly planned
• Savings on maintenance costs
• Reduce spare parts inventory
• Improve plant safety and reduce worker injuries
• A well maintained machine lasts longer

Why use Vibration Analysis?

Vibration Analysis provides us with early warnings of many potentially serious problems in rotating machinery. Vibration Analysis helps detect:

• Worn or damaged bearings
• Worn or damaged gears
• Lubrication problems
• Misalignment
• Out of balance
• Loose fittings or foundation

It’s too late once it fails

Equipment that fails while in service can cost up to 10 times more to repair than equipment repaired when predicted by condition monitoring.  Studies show the implementation of a condition monitoring program results in average maintenance savings of over 25%.

Of all the various maintenance technologies,
Vibration Analysis provides the greatest ROI when adopting a Predictive Maintenance (PdM) Program.

Most Vibration Analysts cite “Unbalance” as the leading cause of machine vibration and subsequent failure.  However, it is not the only cause.  All agree that balanced machinery operate at peak efficiency.  Vibration is a symptom of unbalanced machinery.

Mass Unbalance occurs in a rotating machine when the mass of the rotor is unevenly distributed around the center of rotation. Wien this happens the center of mass does not correspond with the center of rotation.

To learn more about Machine Vibration and Unbalance, please view this Balancing Overview presentation.  (The file is 4MB Adobe Acrobat file.  Depending on your download speed may take a moment.  )Lindsay Engineering is expert at Vibration Analysis and Testing.  We are your partner in preventing machine vibration in a wide variety of plants all around the country, but especially in Southern California.  Our emphasis is on prevention of vibration problems through early detection and correction.

The key to diagnosing, preventing and servicing machinery vibration problems is 1) Expert know-how and 2) The right equipment.

Companies all over California and around the country depend on Lindsay Engineering to provide these much needed services. Joe Lindsay, the owner of Lindsay Engineering, has more than a decade of experience. The company has invested over $300,000 in the right equipment to diagnose and detect vibration problems.

Preventing the loss of air, nitrogen and other gas leaks is an important service Lindsay Engineering provides to plants all of California and other states.  This service can potentially save your business significantly from energy losses.

Ultrasonic Testing is an important and valuable technique that Lindsay Engineering uses to detect and prevent problems.  We utilize Ultrasonic Testing on non-rotating assets such as steam lines, steam traps, vacuum chambers, valves, air lines, gas lines and pressure vessels.

Leak Detection is an important function for detecting and protecting problems in assets.  Ultrasonic Testing is a very useful and our primary technique for leak detection.  We often couple Ultrasonic Testing with IR (Infrared) Thermography to locate electrical leaks and faults.

Ultrasonic Testing utilizes specialized equipment that uses high frequency sound energy to analyze and make measurements.  At Lindsay Engineering, we use Accutrak Advanced Digital equipment to detect analyze and leaks.  The right equipment like this and our years of experience allow us to help your organization save money from leaking out of your assets.

Predictive Maintenance is the standard for today’s industrial machinery.  Predictive Maintenance (sometimes called Condition Monitoring) allows plants and facilities to accurately predict when service and repairs are due.  Predictability comes with many significant and important benefits for your plant.

Benefits of Predictive Maintenance (PDM):

• Allows you to schedule time for downtime and repairs – instead of being forced to deal with an unplanned breakdown.
• Allows you to budget money for machinery maintenance.
• Saves you money because proper maintenance helps you avoid costly breakdowns.
• Improves efficiency of machinery with optimally tuned equipment.

Today’s Predictive Maintenance methods supersede the old-fashioned methods of “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.”  This old method was costly and in today’s business climate, too costly for most plants.  If your plant is still operating this way, Lindsay Engineering can help.

Three methods of Maintenance Compared:

• Reactive: Wait until a failure, then fix it.  This method is costly and causes unnecessary downtime.
• Preventative: Greasing bearings, tuning machinery, changing belts, and rebuilding machinery.
• Predictive: Most up-to-date method, increases reliability considerably.  Collecting and analyzing data on your machinery is on-going.  We measure such issues as vibration, temperatures and leaks.  Predicts when maintenance is needed and can be scheduled and budgeted accordingly.

Lindsay Engineering develops your Predictive Maintenance (PdM) program to your organizations specific needs.  Our staff first meets with your organization to discuss goals, issues and parameters of the Predictive Maintenance Program.  We then formulate the right plan for you that allows you to take ownership of the solution in a cost-effective manner.

Sales • Service • Training • Laser Rentals

Proper alignment of your machinery saves you money. It saves you from needless and expensive repairs. It saves you up to 8% of total power used. It saves you by increasing output. Properly aligned equipment is a big part of keeping your equipment in optimal condition.

Here is information from a case study done in a Steel and Aluminum plant in the UK from September 2001. “This report will go on to show that improving Alignment Methods will lead to savings in the maintenance budget and power consumption in the plant.”

Cost Savings on Laser Alignment

The most common method of a straight line, thickness gauge and your eyes is compared to the “Easy-Laser™ Method.” With the eyeball method, as the illustration shows, you measure the alignment of the shaft. Using Laser Alignment with the Easy-Laser™ method you have much more accuracy and precision that greatly improves the results from proper alignment.

Labor Costs Savings Comparisons for Laser Alignment:

	Straight Edge Alignment	Dial Indicator Alignment	Laser Alignment
Time Per Alignment	1	3	1
# of Aligned Machines	39	39	39
Frequency of Machines /Year	2	1	1
Total # of Alignments /year	78	39	39
Hours spent on Alignments / Year	78	117	39
Average Labor hourly cost	$42/Hr.	$42/Hr.	$42/Hr.
Technicians required per alignment	2	2	2
Cost per Team	$85/Hr	$85/Hr.	$85/Hr.
Total Yearly Labor Cost for Alignment	$6,630	$9,945	$3,315

Repair Cost Savings comparison for Laser Alignment:

	Straight Edge Alignment	Laser Alignment
Number of Machines	39	39
Average Repair Costs/Machine	$460	$460
Current MTBF	6 Months	20 Months
Repair Costs	$35,880 / Year	$10,764 / year
Annual Savings for Laser Alignment		$35880-$10764 = $25,116

An increase of just 1 month on the MTBF to 7 Months would give yearly repair costs of $30,753 a savings of $5126.

Energy Cost Savings for Laser Alignment:

Plant Size	1180KW
Cost of Power	$0.0566
Machine Operating Time	24 X 365 Days = 8,760 hours / year
Total Cost of power for one year	1,180 X 0.0566 X 8,760 = $585,063
Power Saving	11.8kW
Power Cost Saving	$5,850 (1% of $585,063)

Assumptions:

• A 25 mils aligned motor was measured at 12.2 Amps.
• After Laser Alignment to 2.5 mils this came down to 11.8 Amps, a 3.28% reduction in power.
• We assume that only 1% is reduced in the above example.

Summary of Annual Cost Savings for Laser Alignment:

Labor Cost Savings for Laser Alignments	$3315
Electricity (Power) Savings for Laser Alignments	$5850
Repairs Cost Savings for Laser Alignments	$5126
Total	$14,291

These figures are the minimum that this plant would save by using Laser Alignment methods of their motors. The electricity savings could be up to 3 times higher (3.28% instead of the 1% used in the example). Repair cost savings could be up to $10,724 if the MBTF was 20 months (instead of the 7 months used in the example). If they also use the system on the entire plant (instead of the 41% used in the example) we could easily increase savings of over 2.5 times. If you then also calculate with increased productivity, you would see even more significant savings.

The bottom line is Laser Alignment equipment and services could be paid back quickly, in only a few months.

Lindsay Engineering uses Infrared Thermography methods and equipment to detect temperatures problems in your machinery.  Infrared Thermography detects infrared energy emitted from objects and converts it to temperature.  We then can analyze the temperature distribution images that are created.

We use Infrared Thermography Cameras to aid in the temperature distribution.

Our expertise and experience allow us to accurately detect malfunctions, variations and problems that are due to temperature distribution.   As you know, spikes in temperature can cause major issues.  With the use of Infrared Thermography technology, we can see problems before they develop into bigger problems and become more costly.

Seeing the temperature distribution through the lens of the Infrared Thermography Camera allows us to discover problems that we never were able to see before.  We can’t normally see temperatures with our eyes.  Additionally, it is time consuming and difficult to accurately map and detect temperature distribution on your equipment.

We use Infrared Thermography as another tool in our toolbox to help us prevent, diagnose and repair problems in the machinery of our clients.  For more information on Infrared Thermography, please give us a call.  Additionally, you can find out more about Infrared Thermography Cameras here, under the Product and Equipment section of our website.