Plant managers have been using condition based criteria to make maintenance decisions for many years. This thinking allows them to:

• Predict problems and plan maintenance so equipment does not go beyond repair 

• Avoid costly production shutdowns - maximize uptime 

• Stop performing unnecessary scheduled replacement or maintenance 

• Plan spare parts purchases instead of carrying large inventories or paying expediting fees for emergency delivery 

Traditionally, technicians make scheduled visits to look, listen and/or feel for abnormal equipment operation. More sophisticated monitoring involves measuring equipment health with portable sensing equipment. Both techniques require manual data logging and interpretation. In spite of the increased attention, breakdowns often occur between rounds, unpredicted.

Hard-wired temperature or vibration sensors can alert maintenance personnel to developing problems. Frequently this involves proprietary software and regular user interaction and analysis. High installation costs limit justification to only a few critical assests.

PST changes the game by offering low-cost wireless sensors and simple data management tools. This extends condition based maintenance to a broader array of essential assets. With PST, maintenance managers fully automate the condition monitoring process, resulting in significant savings:

• Automatic data collection - no manual measuring, recording, transcription or associated errors 

• Set it and forget it - our iStatus software checks for abnormal operation and provides e-mail or text alerts 

• Convenient and secure data storage - iStatus records sensor data in an industry standard SQL database 

• Fast and easy reporting - analyze trends to catch unexpected operation changes

Case Study

Motor Temperature

Running temperature is a major factor in electric motor life. One manufacturer told us that for every 10°C over specified temperature a motor is run, its life is halved. Conversely for every 10°C under specified temperature, it will last twice as long.

PST temperature sensors easily bolt on to a motor's casing. iStatus logs temperature data and looks for an upswing. When the high alert message is received, the user opens iStatus and evaluates the trend. Significant increases in the average daily peak or daily peak temperature indicate it may be time to order a replacement.

Packaging lines use many low-horsepower conveyor motors. Direct replacement costs can run anywhere from $950.00 t0 $5500.00 including labor. There are obvious savings associated with delaying or avoiding this cost.

Plants frequently express the cost of NOT producing or shipping product in dollars per minute. Ranging from $5.00 to $100.00 per minute (or more for critical lines), it doesn't take long for a prolonged shutdown to get very expensive. 

The incremental cost of a single PST monitoring point varies from just 11 to 33 cents per day assuming that the life of the sensor is 5 years. 

Contact a PST sales representative to learn more about optimizing your maintenance budget with iStatus and the family of PST sensors.