Understanding the basic concept of manufacturing equipment Predictive Maintenance

Predictive Maintenance aims in detecting potential failures in equipment with the aid of specialized instruments. Maintenance is based on the condition of the equipment which differentiates it from Preventive Maintenance.

To further illustrate the meaning of Predictive Maintenance, a person is gifted with five senses (touch, smell, taste, hear and sight). He can use these senses to detect problems on the equipment. Predictive Maintenance is also called Condition-based monitoring which checks the condition of equipment through the use of sophisticated measuring instruments with precision accuracy. Therefore Predictive Maintenance instruments are a higher form of human senses.

In Predictive Maintenance, it takes into consideration the actual condition of the equipment when deciding whether maintenance is necessary. It requires a regular monitoring of critical equipment and predicts problems before they occur. Therefore, since all failures can be predicted, the user can establish a prognosis for the fault. The most important information here is to determine how rapidly the fault or failure is progressing, when it is likely to stop the machine from fulfilling its design function and what are the consequences of the failure itself.
According to Mirriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary, Predictive means to declare or indicate in advance, especially foretell on the basis of observation, experience or scientific reason. It is from Latin word pre (before) and dictionm also from Latin word dicare (to proclaim).

Predictive Maintenance is a maintenance activity geared to indicating where a piece of equipment is on the critical wear curve and predicting its useful life. This is done with the aid of specilized diagnostic instruments. Predictive Maintenance aids us in determining the potential failure or symptoms that an equipment is in the process of failing. Changes or increase in the following can denote a potential failure.

Specialized diagnostic instruments can aid in detecting the following :

1.Changes in the heat or temperature of the equipment
2.Vibration of machines over time
3.For machine’s electrical system, we have changes in resistance, changes in conductivity and changes in dielectric strength
4.Increase in equipment’s noise
5.Change in the pressure input or output
6.Change in the machine’s flow rate
7.Lubricant contamination
8.Wall thickness decrement
9.Rate of corrosion
10.Leak detection
11.Crack detection

Our goal in maintenance is to keep our physical assets in an existing estate. Prediction is a declaration in advance that something is going to happen and from the dictionary, Predictive Maintenance is a proclamation or declaration in advance based on observation to preserve (something) from failure or sustain it against danger.