How intelligent are your maintenance systems? Whether they track usage or calculate data, having a maintenance system is key. This Technical Tuesday feature article highlights how intelligent digital maintenance systems can perform predictive maintenance analysis, putting you in a better position to meet challenges on the ground.
Tony Busch, sales application engineer at Control Concepts, Inc., wrote this Original Content article for Heat Treat Today. Reach out to editor@heattreattoday.com if you have an article that you’d like to write for the web or for print
Sales Application Engineer
Control Concepts, Inc.
Digital power controllers can calculate resistance and provide precise power control. Predictive maintenance is achieved by knowing when an element has reached its useful life. Intelligent power control includes embedded algorithms with teach function to calculate data and predict what is likely to happen next in the life of a heating element. This capability can determine partial load loss, resistance change, and complete load loss. As a result, it can help reduce energy cost.
The ability to measure resistance in a furnace can provide information regarding the overall condition of an element. Utilizing “Teach” functions — a power controller with embedded algorithms for calculating data — digital power controllers can constantly predict what is likely to happen next in the life of a heating element. Knowing the life of the element allows you, the heat treater, to predict when they should be changed and allows for a structured shut down preventing expensive unscheduled downtime. Conditions, such as partial load failure, are determined and appropriate alarms are activated.
Knowing the life of the element is also very useful for the heat treater when determining other conditions of the furnace, such as furnace insulation problems. Heat loss due to poor insulation can cause the elements to work harder to maintain temperature and shorten element life. Furthermore, lost heat increases energy consumption and higher electric bills. Understanding the condition of the furnace elements and the overall life of the element can be key in determining if the furnace is in proper operating condition to meet the next AMS2750 audit.
Intelligent controllers have a Kilovolt-ampere hour meter (KVAh Consumption). The KVAh Consumption value is the apparent power (KVA), revealing to the operator the actual energy costs in a particular product run. Understanding plant loading and KVAh Consumption are key factors in determining if load shedding and load sharing are appropriate. Determining the aging process of a variable resistive load provides information that is very useful in determining when transformer taps should be tapped up or down. Operating on the proper tap can help eliminate costly utility penalties by improving system power factor.
IoT is becoming a reality. Digital connectivity by various bus networks allows this data to be readily accessible and power conversion equipment is just one smart device that will be to connect it all together. Predictive maintenance, and proper energy use, are just a couple of the many things that will result from improved plant productivity.
About the Author: Tony Busch, sales application engineer at Control Concepts, Inc., started as a test technician at the company 10 years ago before transitioning into field service and repairs, followed by his current position of 6 years.
