Technologies

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Eliminate Unplanned Downtime and Energy Waste

Technology Overview

The technology offer presents a monitoring system for critical AC motors and rotating equipment such as pumps, blowers, mixers and conveyors (synchronous and asynchronous motors, any voltage, including variable frequency drives (VFDs) and direct online equipment). It detects, classifies, and communicates electrical and mechanical faults up to 5 months before failure. The integrated solution consists of sensors and an online platform for automated machine learning data analysis. The platform delivers real-time information on the health, performance and energy consumption of connected assets. Unlike vibration-based condition monitoring solutions, our solution does not install sensors directly on the equipment, but analyzes electrical waveform patterns using sensors installed inside the motor control cabinet (MCC).

The system is customizable based on clients’ requirements. The technology provider will adapt the insights on the basis of customers needs. For instance, in the water industry, energy efficiency insights are seen as particularly valuable and hence the technology provider will try to customize the system for this purpose. Moreover, the team is working on creating a dashboard that is available in various languages. All in all, to the team will work together with clients in order to help them get the most out of the current and voltage data that was collected.

Technology Features, Specifications and Advantages

The underlying technology is electrical signal analysis (ESA), which makes it possible to detect not only electrical and mechanical faults in motors, but also mechanical faults in the driven asset. In 2020, almost 95% of faults were detected successfully between 5 days and up to 7 months prior to failure, with typical pre-warning times of at least 4 weeks. The use of ESA additionally allows installation in the MCC which creates the opportunity to monitor previously unmonitorable assets, such as assets located in ATEX zones or in hard-to-access locations.

Additionally, this solution helps users push toward more sustainable practices, in three ways :

  1. Provides insight into power consumption at the level of individual motors, assets and processes, driving improved decision making on energy efficiency.
  2. Critically improves maintenance strategies, leading to energy savings. With the insights, users typically achieve an energy savings between 2-10%.
  3. Prolongs the lifetime of electric motors and driven equipment by enabling predictive maintenance, extending renewal cycles and thereby reducing waste.

This solution addresses users’ objectives through a multi-pronged approach by ensuring their assets reliably operate, by providing efficiency insights to ensure that operational practices are optimal, and by offering a dedicated team of specialists to ensure maximum value is obtained.

Potential Applications

The solution is suitable for monitoring AC motor-driven rotating equipment such as pumps, blowers, conveyors, mixers and more. The technology works for new and retrofit installations, synchronous and asynchronous motors of any voltage, as well as applications driven by variable frequency drives and direct online applications.

It is estimated that globally there are 300 million electric motors that drive critical rotating industrial equipment. This solution can be applied in a wide variety of industries. The industries that are likely to derive the most benefit from this solution:

  • Steel
  • Chemical
  • Water
  • Oil and Gas
  • Power Generation
  • Paper and Pulp

Customer Benefit

Unlike competing, hardware-based electric motor condition monitoring solutions, this solution is not limited to predefined algorithms. The system is built for continuous improvement and learns to work with different asset configurations and operational patterns and failure modes based on customers' needs. Furthermore, the asset reliability specialists can place detections in context, providing customers with actionable diagnoses and guidance rather than generic alerts. Furthermore, this solution is installed inside the motor control cabinet, making it especially useful for monitoring assets that are located inside ATEX zones or hard-to-reach places or operating in harsh conditions. Submerged pumps are an example. In addition to predictive maintenance and condition monitoring, other current and voltage-based insights that can help improve operations (e.g. a real-time digital pump curve) and sustainability (e.g. an energy efficiency monitor) are continuously added.

OVERVIEW
Contact Person

Lars Ligtenberg

Organisation

Samotics B.V.

Technology Category

  • Chemicals
  • Analysis
  • Electronics
  • Energy
  • Performance Monitoring System & Sensor
  • Environment, Clean Air/Water
  • Automation, Control, Communication, Monitoring System & Sensor
  • Waste Management & Recycling
  • Manufacturing
  • Assembly / Automation / Robotics

Technology Readiness Level

Keywords

Predictive Maintenance