Wireless sensors identify defects in difficult-to-access trippers

Dynamox, the wireless sensor monitoring solution specialist, along with Klabin, Brazil’s largest producer and exporter of packaging paper, presents another success case in conveyor belting.

In this case, the tripper of a belt conveyor that is difficult to access and crucial to production processes is monitored by Dynamox’s TcAg wireless sensors. Monitoring the asset using wired solutions or manual collections is unfeasible, due to the operating characteristics of the asset and the restrictions of working at height. However, with Dynamox’s wireless and automated collection technology, predictive monitoring is possible even in complex and difficult-to-access assets.

The detection of the asset’s abnormality occurred after the A1 and A2 alerts were signaled on the Web Platform. The figure below shows the history of RMS velocity data captured using the TcAg wireless sensor.

It is possible to notice the normal behavior of the asset until the middle of the 15th. Around 7 pm on the same day, the first A1 (Warning) alerts were triggered. In the following hours, after an abrupt evolution in vibration levels, the A2 (Critical) alerts were triggered. Once the inspector had seen the alerts and quickly noticed an anomaly, a field inspection was carried out, where the equipment failure was confirmed.

So, while inspecting the asset, the bearing bushing was found to be broken, as can be observed in the image below. As this was a critical fault and taking advantage of a downtime opportunity, the maintenance team replaced the component on the same day as the inspection. The resolution of the case can be confirmed by a normalization of vibration levels in the period highlighted in green, after the intervention of the equipment on the 18th.

TcAg performs Temperature, Velocity, and RMS Acceleration monitoring, enabling minute-by-minute data acquisition. Combined with the alert setting, it enables assertive and continuous monitoring of the equipment’s health. That offers the best cost-benefit ratio when there is exclusive interest in monitoring the asset’s RMS vibration.

In this case, it is worth emphasizing that the set of actions from the first recognition of alterations with A1 and A2 alerts using the wireless vibration and temperature sensors and the web platform, allied to efficient work from Otacílio Costa’s Klabin monitoring and maintenance team, were fundamental in resolving this case.

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