Abstract
M.Phil. (Engineering Management)
Condition monitoring is the process of monitoring a parameter of condition (vibration, temperature etc.) in machinery in order to identify a significant change which is indicative of developing fault. It is a major component of Predictive Maintenance. The use of condition monitoring allows maintenance to be scheduled, or other actions to be taken to prevent failure and it consequences.
Predictive Maintenance helps the organization to predict equipment failure before a catastrophic failure can occur. The purpose for implementing Predictive Maintenance in industry is to increase productivity, decrease maintenance costs and downtime, and also to increase safety. In this study, Predictive Maintenance was implemented as a means to improve the availability of a centrifugal slurry pump, and conclusions were made on whether it is a better method than reactive maintenance to minimize equipment downtime and maintenance operation costs.
Centrifugal slurry pumps are used in many applications such as in the mining, chemical and in the industrial plants. Ergo City Deep Plant uses centrifugal slurry pumps to pump slurry from its City Deep pumping station to Elsburg pumping station over a distance of about 50 km. Due to unplanned breakdowns, the pumps are not operating at peak efficiency point, and as a result the plant does not meet its monthly production target. Before the implementation of Predictive Maintenance, no planned maintenance strategy was done on the pumps. Ergo City Deep Plant used reactive (breakdown) maintenance, which had escalated the maintenance operating costs year on year. Reactive Maintenance methods result in huge unplanned costs as well as overheads if the budget for maintenance is exceeded in order to restore the pump into working order.
Hench in this study, Predictive Maintenance by using Condition Monitoring techniques was used to improve the availability of a centrifugal slurry pump. From the field data the pump availability increased by Predictive Maintenance. The research field data resulted in decrease in downtime and equipment failures, and also reduced maintenance costs. It was concluded that Predictive Maintenance is a better maintenance method than reactive maintenance.