Tools & Monitoring

Running an efficient factory is a major competitive advantage in manufacturing. Tools and monitoring equipment is the backbone of that efficiency.

Monitoring systems can provide predictive maintenance, due to the use of technology and the IoT sensors. You can identify maintenance issues in live – allows machine owners to perform cost-effective maintenance and determine it ahead of time before the machinery fails or gets damaged.

Smart sensors are devices, which generate the data and allow further functionality from self-monitoring and self-configuration to condition monitoring of complex processes. With the capability of wireless communication, they reduce installation effort to a great extent and help realize a dense array of sensors. The importance of sensors, measurement science, and smart evaluation for Industry 4.0 has been recognized and acknowledged by various experts and has already led to the statement “Industry 4.0: nothing goes without sensor systems.”

Industry 4.0

The Fourth Industrial Revolution (or Industry 4.0) is the ongoing transformation of traditional manufacturing and industrial practices combined with the latest smart technology. This primarily focuses on the use of large-scale machine to machine communication (M2M) and Internet of Things (IoT) deployments to provide increased automation, improved communication and self-monitoring, as well as smart machines that can analyze and diagnose issues without the need for human intervention.

The fourth industrial revolution fosters what has been called a “smart factory”. Within modular structured smart factories, cyber-physical systems monitor physical processes, create a virtual copy of the physical world and make decentralized decisions. Over the Internet of Things, cyber-physical systems communicate and cooperate with each other and with humans in synchronic time both internally and across organizational services offered and used by participants of the value chain.

Mounting and Dismounting

Mounting is critical to a bearing’s life cycle. If a bearing is not mounted properly using the appropriate method and tools, its lifetime will be reduced. Approximately 16% of all premature bearing failures is caused by poor fitting or due to incorrect mounting techniques.

When a bearing reaches its end of service life, it is extremely important to dismount correctly so that the service life of the replacement bearing is not compromised. Proper tools and dismounting techniques will help prevent damage to other machine components, such as the shaft and housing, which are often re–used. Incorrect/unsafe dismounting techniques can also be dangerous to the operator.

Lubrication

Lubrication is absolutely essential to the proper operation of ball and roller bearings. A proper lubricant will reduce friction between the internal sliding surfaces of the bearings components and reduce or prevent metal-to-metal contact of the rolling elements with their raceways. Proper lubrication reduces wear and prevents corrosion, ensuring long service lives for bearings.

Alignment

Bearing misalignment is the second most common cause of premature bearing failure, after lack-of lubrication. Rolling element bearings are misaligned when the faces of the inner ring and the outer ring are not parallel. The inner ring can be crooked on the shaft, or the outer ring can be crooked in the housing. This can be caused by dirt at the precision metal interface, metal burrs, metal galling during mounting interference fits, or sledge-hammer installation. Pillow-block bearings can be misaligned if the support plate is not flat.

We carry tools that can help with ensuring that your bearings are always aligned.

Condition Monitoring

Condition monitoring (or, colloquially, CM) is the process of monitoring a parameter of condition in machinery (vibration, temperature etc.), in order to identify a significant change which is indicative of a developing fault. It is a major component of predictive maintenance. The use of condition monitoring allows maintenance to be scheduled, or other actions to be taken to prevent consequential damages and avoid its consequences. Condition monitoring has a unique benefit in that conditions that would shorten normal lifespan can be addressed before they develop into a major failure.