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Selecting Machines for Oil Analysis
James Oldach, Plant Asset Management Consultant,
New Dimension Solutions
There are two reasons for conducting routine oil analysis: 1)
to assess the condition of the lubricant, 2) to assess the condition
of the machine.
The benefits associated with assessing oil condition include
reduced oil purchasing, reduced oil disposal, reduced labor associated
with oil changes, and minimizing wear/machine failures due to
poor lubricant properties. Therefore, sampling for lubricant condition
is applicable for equipment where there is a significant payback
with oil change interval extensions (usually larger sumps), for
critical equipment where minimizing wear/failures will provide
payback in the way of increased reliability, and for equipment
that has chronic problems that can be associated with lubricant
issues.
The benefits associated with assessing for machine condition
are better realized on the more critical equipment where failure
effects of the machine are costly in either operational consequences
(downtime), safety consequences, or environmental consequences.
Assessing for machine condition allows predicting failures which
can reduce downtime, minimize secondary damage, prevent output
of bad product, cause catastrophic failure of equipment, etc.
Therefore the approach to use for establishing the population
of equipment to be part of the sampling program is as follows:
1. Perform a criticality assessment and ranking of the equipment
in the facility related to Operations, Environment, and Safety.
2. Identify the population of equipment that are large "consumers"
of oil.
3. Develop a program plan for oil analysis to include the number
of samples to be taken initially and the goal of samples to be
taken eventually. The roll out of the sampling program must be
strategic in order to ensure all scheduled samples are taken,
analyzed, and acted upon. Planning 600 oil samples annually in
the CMMS when maintenance can only support the gathering of 200
samples annually only serves to discredit the program.
4. Prioritize the critical equipment for entry into the program
and quantify the associated benefits for predicting failures for
each. Also consider if the machine is part of another Pdm program
that will serve to protect the equipment if it is not entered
into the sampling program.
5. Determine the monetary benefits for extending oil changes
on the machines that are large consumers of oil.
6. Rank the equipment based on the defined benefits and systematically
include the equipment in the sampling program in accordance with
the ranking and the ability of the maintenance group to support
the sampling activities.
Selection of lab test series is dependent on the type of equipment
and the goal of the test. If lubricant condition is the focus
of the sample then select the appropriate lubricant condition
package (again based on the machine type), if machine condition
is the focus then select a more comprehensive package that includes
wear metals and possibly ferrography.
See other responses
to this Readers Challenge.
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