Fever Signals Trouble for Equipment Too

(October 2006) What is the first thing the doctor checks? He takes your temperature. If you have a fever, the doctor knows something is wrong.

“What we’re looking for with thermography is anything that causes heat,” Jesse King, Predictive Maintenance (PDM) coordinator, said. “Inefficiencies show up as heat. An inefficiency could be anything from a worn bearing to a loose connection causing a higher resistance.”

“Predictive Maintenance is a misnomer because we don’t actually predict anything,” Jesse said. “A lot of people think we can see in to the future. All we do is take measurements and these are analyzed to see if a machine has entered a failure mode. Most machinery fails in a predictable manner.”

Bright Wood took its first infrared foray in 1995 by hiring an outside contractor to do annual readings on motor controls, starters, circuit breakers, fuses, etc. The number of measurement points steadily increased over the years and by 2000 it was more cost effective for the company to purchase its own camera and train an in-house thermographer.

Today thermographer Mike Taylor takes between 100 to 200 images daily with the infrared camera. His route includes monthly checks on all the primary floor machines in Madras and Redmond. Much of his focus is on the electrical side, but the infrared camera is also used to spot mechanical problems like belts and guards rubbing, misalignment, and bad bearings. Mike gets a call any time there is a fire to scan blow pipes for remaining hot spots.

Bright Wood’s PDM department is constantly finding new ways to use the infrared camera to improve equipment reliability. Jesse is off to InfraMation 2006, an infrared thermography convention, to swap ideas with other companies this fall. He’ll be looking for new applications and presenting a paper on Bright Wood’s solution for taking accurate motor connection readings outside.

“We checked one end of a motor control for years,” Jesse said. “On the other end there was a similar connection, but because it was in an outside environment which was dirty, vibrated, and the temperature swung – we overlooked it.” The solution was simple: build removable guards. These are installed in the early morning hours before the motor is in use. Later in the day while it is under normal electrical load, Mike returns to take his infrared images.

Most problems detected with thermography and other PDM inspections are repaired by Maintenance and Electrical in the quiet hours between swing shift’s shutdown and day shift’s start up. Their impact on the company’s bottomline, however, has not been so hushed.

“Predictive technologies have been one of the biggest contributors to reducing repair costs at Bright Wood by about 50 percent over the last 10 years – despite rising costs and additional equipment and machine lines,” Marlon Steele, Madras Maintenance manager, said.

Other Newsletter Articles:

Madras Machinist Heads to Iraq with Navy Seabees (October 2006)

705 Rebuild Team Outpaces Schedule (June 2006)

Madras Door Frame Plant Nails All Box Score Targets in March (June 2006)

Take the Steering Wheel with Diabetes (June 2006)

2P + 2 Products + 2 Crew Members =
2 Percentage Points to Run Time Goal (March 2006)

Consolidation Idea Rejuvenates Skid Row (March 2006)

In-Plant Mill Supplies Keep Drivers Home (March 2006)

Bright People Donate $11,742 to Central Oregon Charities in December (March 2006)

Bright Wood to Close Bend Facility (Company announcement released February 17, 2006)

One of the infrared camera’s biggest finds was a worn bushing on Pacific Power and Light’s main transformer in Madras. If it had failed, five plants would have been without power for at least two weeks.

PP&L installed a replacement on a Sunday afternoon thanks to the early warning from Bright Wood’s thermographer. “Predictive Maintenance as a rule should never be seen,” Jesse King, PDM coordinator, said. “We should find problems before they are even noticed.”

The above infrared image shows a similar catch on Redmond’s main transformer, which would have taken down four production plants, Maintenance, Shipping, and the main office.

Predictive Maintenance Technologies Used by
Bright Wood:
Infrared
Vibration
Oil Analysis
Motor Circuit
Shock Pulse

Points monitored monthly with all the technologies listed above:
More than 10,000

Jesse King and Mike Taylor demonstrate how equipment readings are taken with the infrared camera. The camera captures images of temperature; too much can signal equipment failure before it happens.

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