Introduction
Continuous Condition Monitoring of electrical assets with real time alerts helps facility operation teams improve continuity of service, enhance safety, and reduce maintenance costs.
Design, installation and commissioning of Industrial equipment is the major task for setting up the electrical infrastructure in various market segments. Operating industrial machinery involves more effort than simply installing the equipment and stepping back. Monitoring the health and condition of the electrical assets which are in use is more and more essential for smooth operation of the entire industry. Without insightful asset monitoring systems in place, you can miss out on important signs of forthcoming catastrophic failures. For big industries such as oil and gas, any downtime from equipment failure can result in losses worth millions of lost dollars. Due to this, condition monitoring should be made mandatory.
Continuous condition monitoring of electrical assets is an effective way to reduce maintenance activities, can cut operational costs, and prevent unplanned shutdowns. Collecting data during normal operation can alert operators of problems in real time.
Traditional electrical asset condition monitoring
Electric power utility, transmission, and distribution systems are composed of a great deal of aged apparatus, which may cause a decrease in reliability owing to their deterioration. The traditional business model for electrical test companies has been to periodically test on their clients’ electrical assets. This would provide a certain level of comfort to customers that their equipment was in good working condition and would remain in good condition until the next scheduled test. The whole process of testing was tedious and consumed lot of time, as each asset must be tested for various parameters separately.
However, failures can occur in between tests. Given the high impact of failures, the aging of medium-voltage assets, and the growing number of options in cost-effective monitoring solutions, a change is taking place. End users are increasingly installing 24x7 monitoring on their
medium- and high-voltage assets so that potential problems are spotted when they start and are more likely to be rectified before failure occurs.
The driver for change in condition monitoring
Reduce the tedious job of periodical testing of the assets Improve the industrial production, profitability and reliability Early alerts with diagnosis and recommendations Periodic testing is certainly better than leaving your asset unmonitored.
The time between the inspection will take an asset to go from a problem that is undetectable to a failure mode in between the periodic testing and inspection time. As the frequency of testing increases, the chance of failure decreases, but, at some point, that becomes too labor
intensive and financially difficult to support.
How a modernized condition monitoring can help
The advanced electrical asset condition monitoring has taken a huge leap over the past with latest IoT technologies, automation with Artificial Intelligence and advanced algorithms has made condition monitoring a game changer. The goals were to achieve
- Reduce the tedious job of periodical testing of the assets
- Improve the industrial production, profitability and reliability
- Early alerts with diagnosis and recommendations
- Data is available remotely at your fingertips
What’s changed now: Moving towards a new asset performance strategy
Ensuring a high level of availability in supply of electrical power since the past has been accomplished through sufficient system redundancy as well as meeting the demand. Intensive manpower and time-based maintenance schemes with relatively short inspection intervals have
also meant that potential problems were usually discovered before failures occurred. However, deregulation of the electricity market has changed all this by placing much greater emphasis on purely economic considerations. As a result, time horizons for decisions about equipment replacement have generally been postponed.
Similarly, the drive to re-invest in and maintain the network has also typically been reduced. The increased and more dynamic loading have resulted in reduced safety margins. To maintain high level of availability while also controlling maintenance costs in this new industry environment, power utilities must rely on tools that allow effective, and ideally automated, multi-site multi asset condition monitoring with single platform.
Based on data obtained, actions such as maintenance, repair or replacement can then be scheduled in a timely manner. This type of information can also help optimize use of equipment, e.g., as in dynamic rating.
Mitigation of the risks by doing Condition Monitoring
We at Rugged Monitoring have developed an AI based comprehensive electrical asset condition monitoring system “RMEYE” with multiple analytical capabilities in asset condition monitoring that stands way apart in technological advancement. RMEYE is a versatile condition monitoring solution that can offer comprehensive analysis on various electrical assets spread across multiple industries. It considers every aspect in condition monitoring of different assets like transformer, cable, GIS, AIS, motor, generator, UPS, VFD, MV panel, battery, relays, etc and users to give the best recommendation for longer and better health of the assets.
R501, the customizable, rack mount, comprehensive electrical asset condition monitor is designed to monitor multiple electrical assets and its parameters enables a simple and user-friendly interface. R501 provides condition monitoring of electrical assets by focusing on preventing asset failures and reduce downtime. With our comprehensive monitoring solution, the health of assets can be determined, and maintenance activities can be scheduled.
The system along with sensors, monitors, and software (Rugged Connect/ RMEYE) is completely modular and customizable, with its rack mount design various monitoring modules can be added as per the requirements and specifications. The solution can be used for existing (retrofit applications) or new electrical assets. R501 along with the advanced software “RMEYE” possess multiple analytical capabilities in asset condition monitoring and stands way apart in technological advancement. The versatile condition monitoring solution can offer comprehensive analysis on various electrical assets spread across multiple industries. It considers every aspect in condition monitoring of different assets like
- Transformer
- Cable
- Motor
- Generator
- GIS
- AIS
- Switchgear
- Breaker
- VFD
- Battery
- UPS
- Relays
It provides the users with best diagnostics and recommendations for longer and better health of the assets. With the new updated On-Prem & Cloud solution, it is an infinitely scalable condition monitoring system that can provide a detailed reporting that you require for a smooth operation of your industry.
Condition monitoring in maintenance is focused on preventing asset failures, downtime, and any tedious practice by monitoring asset health to determine what maintenance needs to be completed and by when.
