2S11: Case Study: Setting up a Vibration Analysis Program in Coal Processing Plants

Priyan Perera, Reliability Engineering Specialist, HVL Group

Description

This presentation will share the experience of setting up a successful vibration analysis data base to capture defects at different coal processing plants on a variety of equipment that includes conveyor pulley bearings, centrifuges, pumps, gearboxes, screen exciter gearboxes and magnetic separators. One site, a brand new 1400 ton/hr capacity plant, has been successfully using condition monitoring for 8 years since commissioning. At another 20M ton/year plant, there have been many defect pick ups. The presentation will also include case findings and explain the related vibration data and parameter settings.

The success at picking up defects in conveyor bearings are 100% to date. On pumps, gear boxes and centrifuges, the fault pick up rate is over 95%. Co-relating data of other CM technologies (thermal imaging and oil analysis) is used for some applications with findings be shared in the presentation. Once the defect found, further investigations were carried out by doing internal inspection, bearing strip out and failure study.

​Similar experience at a second processing plant will be included. Further, in setting up the program I used the ISO defined steps. Available ISO standards for CM program will be explained.

Bio

Priyan Perera holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, MBA, VA Cat IV certificate and Masters of Reliability and Maintenance Engineering from Monash University, Australia. For over 18 years, he has been working in Maintenance, Lubrication and Reliability Engineering fields and has worked for Chevron lubricants – Sri Lanka doing industrial consultancy and lubrication training to Cement, Construction, marine and power generation Industry. His past certifications also include IR Level II, PG Diploma in Electrical Engineering. Since 2010, Priyan has been working as a Reliability Specialist in HVL Group – Hunter Valley, Australia working to coal mining and processing industry. Plant Reliability engineering, Machine Condition Monitoring and Root Cause Failure analysis continue to be integral elements of his daily business.