reliability engineering for maintenance

The RELIABILITY Conference - 50:51 
by Wekianos Hailu, Clark County Water Reclamation District

Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) as a maintenance philosophy has evolved in response to the needs of the speedy growth and diversification of technology and the demands dictated by organizational management and overall economic expectations. Traditional “fix it when it broke” mentality has been shown to be ineffective as a primary mode of maintenance and it is giving way to Condition Based Maintenance (CBM).

CBM is incorporated in the much wider concept of Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM). RCM, as a maintenance philosophy, is an integrated process in which factors including design, operation and maintenance aspects of an asset are evaluated towards optimum output and/ or maximum economic gain.

As a result multitude of organizations have embarked on CBM and RCM II and a lot more are on their way to implementing the philosophy. Implementation of CBM and transition to RCM, in general, require careful planning, training of necessary personnel and acquisition of condition monitoring tools together with the blessing of upper management.

The presentation will cover important aspects of RCM II such as, Failure, Failure Mode and Effects Analysis, the Consequences of Failure. As an indication of how simple it is to start the implementation of CBM, experience at Clark County Water reclamation District, more specifically, a case of an 800 HP electric motor will be presented. The experience will be used to introduce and explain RCM principles indicated above, and other important tools such as Root Cause Analysis.

The parts that comprise the Uptime Elements will be introduced with emphasis on Asset Condition Monitoring tools and elements that relate to the case of the 800 HP.

IMC-2016 Learning Session - 26:56 
by Chase Sasser, UE Systems and Sean Hollis, Jacobs/Kennedy Space Center

Kennedy Space Center is the home to 166 manned and hundreds of scientific spacecraft launches, starting with the Saturn V in 1966, to Shuttle and the International Space Station, and currently KSC is evolving with the Space Launch System as well as supporting commercial companies to become the premier spaceport. As the Kennedy Space Center shifts from a focus on flight and facilities to ground support, the need for cost-effective and reliable systems becomes paramount. KSC is accomplishing this by conducting efficient maintenance embracing Reliability Centered Maintenance processes supported with Predictive Testing and Inspection technologies. Building on the work that was started two decades ago, the Jacobs TOSC Team has utilized State of the Art PT&I technologies to assess the current condition of the assets they manage. Specifically, the Asset Management department leveraged the benefits of ultrasound technology to quantify a motor issue in the Liquid Oxygen Storage Area, and troubleshoot the sources prior to loading the tank to perform V&V activities. This technology was cheap and easy to implement, and provided system engineers with data on a possible source of the problem. In situations where legacy motors are exhibiting unexpected noises, it may seem easier to remove and refurbish the motor and replace the bearings because that solution resolves most of the common causes of the noise. However, that solution would have involved unnecessary spending and may not have solved issues stemming from the foundation, if those existed. By utilizing the ultrasound equipment provided by UE Systems, the Jacobs TOSC Team was able to determine from the sound profiles that the issue resembled a faulty bearing. After replacing the bearing, the unexpected noise ceased. This was the first time portable ultrasound equipment was used to determine maintenance actions for the LOX motors, and the equipment provided the information necessary to make a data driven decision that ultimately achieved the most cost-effective solution. As technology evolves, sharing information and keeping an open mind with new technology provides the users with the opportunity to conduct their operations more easily and more efficiently.

IMC-2016 Focused Forum - 32:41 
by David Hippie and Igor Maslennikov, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

The National Ignition Facility (NIF) at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is the world's most powerful laser and it is used for experiments at extreme pressures, temperature, and densities. This laser has 192 laser beams delivering 1.8 megajoules (500 terawatts) of energy onto targets for inertial confinement fusion research which supports national security, frontier science, and sustainable energy missions. Due to the highly stringent physics and operational requirements of the NIF, the supporting facility systems must be maintained and operated in a highly reliable manner. The NIF Facilities and Infrastructure Systems group is using various Uptime Elements™ to reduce unplanned repairs and improve the efficiency of maintenance activities. This presentation will provide specific examples of how we are using those Uptime Elements™.