Predictive Maintenance & Sustainability

Recently a customer remarked how they were seeing lower electricity consumption on lines that were under Predictive Maintenance compared to the past. ?We have been working with them for over a year now. To validate the remark with data, we chose a blower as it approached corrective action. We monitored the electricity drawn by the motor over a period of 12 weeks. As the blower approached failure as predicted by our algorithms, the electric current drawn increased by a whopping 30% (see chart below). Consumption promptly declined as the engineering team carried out the recommended corrective action. The equipment vibration also reduced after the emerging fault was rectified.

There are a few reasons that account for a spike in electricity consumption prior to failure. One is the increased work the motor has to do to move the faulty driven equipment.?This also manifests in the increase in vibration amplitude as failure approaches. Excessive vibration is an obvious waste of energy. Another factor causing waste of energy is hidden inside the motor and hence not obvious! The electrical contacts and the gap between rotor and stator keep fluctuating leading to internal sparking and a loss of efficiency of the motor. Finally, losses occur due to unplanned shutdown and startup of equipment. These are avoided when a proper Predictive Maintenance program is in place.

The United Nations has drawn up Seventeen Sustainable Development Goals. These are agreed upon by all members for delivery by 2030. Corporations are coming under increasing pressure from investors, media and their own employees to demonstrate progress on each dimension. When Goals become metrics, there is the usual problem of ‘Green Washing’ by some Corporates eager to jump on the bandwagon while paying lip service. However there are enough Corporates that are demonstrating the commitment to act with responsibility in this matter. It is only a matter of time before the movement gains sustained momentum to save the planet. Three out of these seventeen are directly impacted by Predictive Maintenance as a result of reduced energy consumption. These are:

·????????Goal 7.3: By 2030, double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency

·????????Goal 9.4: By 2030, upgrade infrastructure and retrofit industries to make them sustainable, with increased resource-use efficiency and greater adoption of clean and environmentally sound technologies and industrial processes.

·????????Goal 12.5: By 2030, substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse

The example we shared makes the connection to the first two goals straightforward. Let’s look at Goal 3. Predictive Maintenance helps users identify emerging failures early. By ensuring timely corrective action, they can not only avoid machine failure, but also stop components from encountering extreme events. For example, timely lubrication of a bearing running dry will improve its condition and hence avoid having to replace it early. Increasing the life of equipment and components are ways by which users can reduce impact on the environment.

Much work remains to be done to quantify the exact saving as a result of adoption of Predictive Maintenance. This is needed before claims can be accepted by external auditors for inclusion in corporate reports. That is something we are working hard on.

By linking their actions to their organization’s commitments to Sustainability, Engineering Leaders can enhance their contribution to their organization and thereby increase their visibility. In turn they can secure the support of business leaders to adopt improved practices like Predictive Maintenance and Digitalization.

We are happy to work with prospective customers to support their efforts to build their business case and secure leadership support.

?Global environmental degradation is accelerating. It is going to take tremendous effort from all to turn the situation around and ensure we leave the planet in a livable condition to generations following us. Predictive Maintenance is a small step in the right direction at this time.

? Milind Yedkar, AccuPredict Services Pte Ltd.