Oil Analysis

Often referred to as the life blood of equipment, oil can provide a great deal of information on the condition of equipment as well as providing a leading indicator what could be the condition of the machine if action is not taken. Is there contamination? Has the chemistry of the oil been compromised? Is there wear debris present? These are all questions that can be answered with Lubricant Analysis.

Using over 120 years of combined experience, Allied’s Lubrication Analysis program has been developed to address many key issues that have previously been lacking in industry.  Allied’s approach to ensuring that all failure modes are covered through appropriate technologies allows for a well documented approach to not only oil analysis but to overall Reliability Centered Lubrication (RCL).

Further, used in conjunction with other CBM technologies, Lubricant Analysis can help enable the Proactive Workflow Model by identifying defects in advance; corrective work can then be planned and scheduled generating higher reliability gains.

Some of the more common failure modes that Lubricant Analysis can detect include:

Issues identified and addressed through the use of Oil Analysis include:

• Test Slate Selection- Using ISO standards as a guideline along with extensive plant experience, Allied as developed a test slate based on equipment type that adequately addresses all the potential failure modes that a component can face.  These test slates are designed to give warning of a potential problem well before the point of initial damage.

• Best Practice Alarming- Should a component reach a point of some type of initial damage taking place, improper alarms can result in a missed opportunity.  Allied employs the best practices when establishing alarms.  These alarms are developed to assist the analyst and the end user in determining the true condition of both the machine and the lubricant.

• Clear, Concise, Relevant Recommendations- The emphasis of Allied recommendations is on the machine condition faults, and proactive actions to prevent machine damage from contaminated, poor quality, degraded or misapplied lubricants. ISO 13381 recommends that fault reports include:

• The Diagnosis, inclusive of all identified failure modes.
• The initial Prognosis (existing and future failure modes), confidence level, validity conditions and associated risks (of taking no action).
• A recommended action, its associated prognosis (existing and future failure modes), confidence level, validity conditions and associated risk.
• Any alternative action, its associated prognosis (existing and future failure modes), confidence level, validity conditions and associated risk.
• There should be three (3) categories of actions given; no action, interim action and full solution, any of which may be the recommended action.

The detail of which Allied performs evaluations allows a planner or maintenance manager the confidence to add the recommendations of the oil sample directly to the work order without the need to re-evaluate the sample report.

• Integration with other PdM technologies- In accordance with Allied’s failure mode identification and detection philosophy, it is highly probable that multiple technologies may be deployed on a given component. The oil analysis recommendations are combined with all the other PdM technologies in the TEAM™ software.  This provides the analyst with access to problems discovered by the other technologies. TEAM™ provides problem tracking and assures that work orders are generated, work completed, and problem resolution is validated by follow-up testing. 

• Integration into Overall Reliability Process- Oil analysis has long been treated as a separate function of the reliability process.  Allied takes an integrated approach to reliability ensuring that all data from all PdM technologies is available for review by all analysts as well as the end user.  This allows for a better understanding of the actual machine condition and can be used as a roadmap to determining the overall root cause of a problem.
  
  

• Analyst Qualifications & Training- Allied takes a very serious stance related to analyst qualifications.  An Analyst must have at least ICML Level 2 Certification in their specialty field, Level 1 in a Secondary technology, and a minimum of two (2) years of PdM experience. An Analyst is considered to be capable of performing stand alone oil analyst, capable of conducting both fault and severity diagnosis. The Analyst can quantitatively evaluate and document these exceptions, identify specific faults, assign severity, accept or reject new or rebuild equipment and make recommendations in a report according to the specifications and standards contained in the Guidelines. ISO 18436-4, Condition monitoring and diagnostics of machines - Requirements for qualification and assessment of personnel - Part 4: Field lubricant analysis, can be reviewed for further clarification on this issue.

• Client Interaction- Feedback can be one of the greatest tools in a reliability program.  This holds especially true as it relates to oil analysis. The Allied analyst has open lines of communication with all personnel involved in the reliability program including:

• Reliability Engineer
• Reliability Program Manager
• Maintenance Manager
• Vibration Technicians
• Infrared (IR) Technicians
• Lubrication Technicians

This communication allows for a consistent improvement process helping to result in an oil analysis program that is truly of world class caliber.

Continuous improvement and refinement are critical to long term success.
Find out how the Proactive Work Flow Model can you help succeed.

 To learn more on how Allied can help your plant drive world class results,
please contact us at langhornejason@alliedreliability.com

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