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Articles: Ultrasonics

Pick It Up and Use It

Savings Are Just Waiting for You With Ultrasound

by James Hall

It’s not rocket science, it doesn’t require extensive training and you don’t need a $10k dollar instrument to perform ultrasonic inspections in your plant.  In other words, the low hanging-fruit can be found by almost anyone.  However, you may want to gain an understanding of the technology to routinely find leaks, diagnose bearings, inspect steam traps and perform electrical inspections.  But with most of today’s instruments, virtually anyone can simply pick it up and scan for air leaks, or use an accompanying sensor to listen to motor bearings, gearboxes or steam traps.

Sound Collectors, Can You Hear Me Now?

I received an email from a reliability engineer and loyal subscriber to Uptime Magazine and the "Ultrasonic War Stories" newsletter. As an advocate of sound technologies, he knew I would be interested in some pictures regarding "sound collectors" that he found on the Internet titled, "Before Radar."

Sound collectors, such as sound mirrors and acoustic horns, were once used as an early warning system to detect approaching enemy aircraft. The mirrors were not parabolic, but actually spherical. Some were made of concrete, others spherical carvings cut from the side of a cliff or rock wall to collect sound. In Figure 1 (left to right), you have a rectangular 200-foot curved mirror, a 20-foot sound mirror and a 30-foot sound mirror. Note a vertical pole that held a microphone in the center of the sound mirror.

Sustainability Through Ultrasonic Energy Conservation

by Allan Rienstra

In 2008, there arose a broad selection of solution providers specializing in helping the community of maintenance and reliability professionals to 'Go Green'. It is unlikely that the original mandate of most of these companies was to "help save the environment", but it does show how nimble entrepreneurialism adjusts to accommodate the demands of corporate social responsibility.

 

The Many Uses of Contact Ultrasound

by Thomas J. Murphy, Eng.

The use of ultrasound as a predictive tool has been with us for over 35 years.  Yet, despite its vintage, the use – and, indeed the understanding – of this technology is still not widespread.  This article continues an exploration of airborne ultrasound applications that we started in the June/July issue.  In this article, I will explain how, just by changing from an airborne sensor to a contact probe, we can use ultrasonic inspection in a myriad of mechanical applications.

The Synergy of Ultrasound and Vibration Analysis

by Liane Harris

Today's airborne ultrasound is a far more versatile technology than most people think. We can use ultrasound, together with vibration analysis and infrared thermography, to deepen our understanding of our machinery's condition. This article, which touches upon the use of airborne ultrasound and vibration, is the second of a three part series, in which we look at ultrasound, ultrasound/vibration and ultrasound/infrared.

 

The Ultimate in Bearing Maintenance Programs

By Chuck Petersen

Greasing bearings with Ultrasound Detection is very fast becoming the way to go. We can actually tell by Ultrasound Detection when bearings need greased and then when they have enough grease. We listen to the bearing and when it sounds smooth like air escaping then it is properly lubricated. When it sounds like popcorn popping or gravel in a bucket it needs greased. We then have the maintenance man grease the bearing ½ stroke at a time while we listen to the bearing with the Ultraprobe 10000, we can actually hear the grease enter the bearing and the sound quickly goes to the smooth air escaping sound. At that point we stop the greasing.

 

Ultrasonic Condition Monitoring

In today's environment, generating revenues for any industry is important. Profit margins are shrinking and often the difference between a profit and a loss can be as simple as preventing loss and improving efficiencies. Locating sources of energy waste, identifying failure conditions in electrical and mechanical systems all contribute to helping improve the bottom line.

This is why many industries around the world have incorporated some form of condition monitoring.  As opposed to the other forms of maintenance such as reactive in which a failure condition has occurred and maintenance personnel must “react” to the problem; or preventive where maintenance activities are performed on a set schedule, condition monitoring is used to check the health or “condition” of operating equipment.  Any change in monitored fields can alert maintenance personnel of potential failure and allow the repair to be performed on a scheduled, controlled, basis.

Ultrasonic Inspections on Ball Screws, Gearboxes, and Transfers

In the Automotive Manufacturing environment maintenance is faced with many challenges in completing PM's. We are often expected to check equipment that is running 24/7, which means the machine must be shutdown to do the necessary maintenance. As costs increase and sales decrease in the automotive industry, downtime is no longer acceptable under any circumstance.

Ultrasonics: A Sound Concept

by Steve Johnson
Computational Systems, Inc

Today's cost-sensitive maintenance environment dictates an effective, simple-to-use, high payback technology where materials cost and personnel training are concerned. Ultrasonic monitoring is such a technology. Most plant systems and equipment generate operational noise of some sort and during failure modes the noise characteristics can change dramatically. Detecting this change and fixing the problem before failure can result in higher quality production output, reduced downtime, reduced maintenance overtime, and greatly reduced costs.

 

Ultrasound Worth It’s Weight in Gold

By Jim Hall and Roger Collard

Recently, I traveled to Lihir Gold PNG, Ltd. (now Newcrest Gold), a mining operation on Lihir Island,to deliver my Ultrasound for Predictive Maintenance Level I Certification Class.

Using Ultrasound for Effective Inspection of Slow Speed Bearings

by Thomas J Murphy, Eng

Measuring the condition of bearings rotating at speeds below 60rpm using vibration is fraught with difficulty. This article describes using a portable ultrasound system as an "intelligent sensor" in association with a normal vibration data collector to overcome this problem. It includes results of measurements taken on a group of rotary crushing machines where this combined approach reduced the measurement time from 21 minutes per measurement to less than a minute per reading.

 

Vibration & Ultrasound Technologies: A Possible Integrated Inspection Tool?

by Stuart Courtney, Senior Applications Engineer, SKF Reliability Systems

Introduction

The purpose of this paper is to introduce condition monitoring and reliability engineers to the principles of using ultrasound for the assessment of machine condition. Ultrasound can be a complimentary technology to vibration, thermography and lubrication monitoring. It must be emphasized that it is rarely successful as a stand alone technology for effective machine condition assessment and subsequent required maintenance planning. This paper concentrates on the use of airborne ultrasound as a complementary technique particularly for machinery that may be inaccessible due to guards or hazardous locations.

When Decibels Aren’t Enough

Part 1

Jim Hall

For years, I have preached about trending motor bearing readings when using ultrasound. The most common practice is to acquire a baseline (db reading) and then follow-up at 90-, 60-, or 30-day intervals. I still recommend that you continue to trend your decibels on motor bearings.

Why Do Steam Traps Fail?

Properly functioning steam traps open to release condensate and automatically close when steam is present. Failed traps waste fuel, reduce efficiency, increase production costs and compromise the overall integrity of the steam and condensate systems. Traps should be tested on a regular basis -- or the neglect may be quite costly.Failed Steam Traps Negatively Impact the Entire Steam System

• Waste Energy
• Adversely Affect Production
• Increase Maintenance Costs
• Create Safety Issues

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