Using the right condition monitoring tools doesn’t have to be hard.

Many years ago, I worked as a shift mechanic in a large manufacturing plant. One of my duties was to conduct the shift walk around. This entailed going to each section of the plant and examining equipment to see that it was in a safe working condition. This meant that if I went into the tank farm where we had a lot of chemical pumps, I would make sure that there were no leaks, no puddles on the floor, and no strange noises. Another area of the plant was called the fan room, and in it were four high speed fans, the largest being five foot in diameter. They were an overhung fan design assembly, and the shaft was supported by two large pillow block bearings. The shaft would have been at least six inches in diameter. As a result of a serious breakdown in the past, we checked these fans by putting our hands on the bearings cover to see if it was running hot or not.

This was a very primitive way of checking, but it was many years ago, and not many plants had any measurement equipment, especially for temperature. Later, upon becoming a foreman in the same plant, I bought a temperature gun, so we could take a quantifiable measurement. This changed the shift walk around. Now I could see a temperature range that the bearing would be in. We also used it for many more applications.

If you think about checked it with our hands, it was a little crazy, as one of these bearings exploded during an earlier breakdown. If you have ever seen a large high-speed fan wreck itself in a small, confined space, it is not pretty.

Buying a simple temperature gun now is a no brainer. The fact that it will give you a quantifiable measurement is invaluable. Why? Because to control a process you have to measure it. In maintenance, we have been proving that to be true. A simple temperature gun should be in every toolbox in the shop.

Still keeping it simple, Figure 1 is an Infrared image of a motor that is online (in operation). The image was taken by a display unit that is part of a laser shaft alignment system. It is a tool that tradespeople can use to take a simple temperature reading, but also can determine if thermal growth must be compensated for. They can use it as a before and after measurement that can be added to the report and history file. Yes, temperature measurements and how they are taken has changed a lot.

If I ask the question “When a tradesperson installs a pump and motor machine unit, how do they know if the work has been done correctly”? The common answer is that the alignment results from the laser shaft alignment system will indicate that the shafts are aligned (collinear). However, that’s only the shaft alignment portion of the installation.

You would also expect a detailed report on what was measured. Below is a list of what you should expect to be measured from the “AMERICAN NATIONAL STANDARD Shaft Alignment Methodology, Part 1: General Principles, Methods, Practices, and Tolerances,” and it states:

The final shaft orientations shall be documented as a permanent record. The documentation shall be in the report form and include recommendations as listed below. As alignment work may be conducted for new installation, as part of repair work, or during preventative maintenance work, not all, of these items are always applicable. All items that are measured shall be reported in addition to any items observed that may affect the machine operability or reliability.