Industrial pump systems are essential for keeping operations running smoothly, yet excessive failures can lead to costly downtime as well as higher than necessary maintenance costs. Instead of waiting for failures to begin and relying on overhauls to keep operation, there are proactive strategies you can implement to keep your pumps running efficiently without increasing your workload. In this guide, we break down three practical steps to achieve this.
1. Identifying Early Warning Signs of Failure
Most pump failures don’t happen suddenly. They lead with clues—vibrations, abnormal power consumption, or pressure fluctuations—that indicate potential issues before damage even begins. The secret? Push your data harder than you thought possible, not just “alarm” to let you know an issue has begun.
Key Metrics to Monitor:
Flow Rate Deviation: Pumps operating outside their best efficiency point (BEP) can have a reduced life. Regularly check flow rates against historical performance as well as comparison to pump-specific metrics set for the highest reliability. Traditional historic comparison methods may not consider what is best for reliability that pump-specific metrics can identify.
Energy Consumption Trends: Increases in energy consumption often occur gradually over time rather than suddenly. Conducting a like-for-like comparison requires pump-specific metrics that adjust for natural variations in parameters such as specific gravity, viscosity, or production demand.
Vibration Analysis: While vibration monitoring is common, integrating it with other metrics such as flow and power consumption provides a more comprehensive picture.
By digitizing daily observations and using pump-specific metrics, you can make adjustments to operate at a more reliable, productive, and efficient condition, rather than solely comparing against expected conditions.
2. Using Analytics to Optimize Performance
Data is often the most underutilized asset in industrial operations. At Reliabix Analytics, we believe that unlocking hidden data can revolutionize how you maintain pumps.
How Analytics Helps:
Trend Analysis: Identify how a pump’s performance trend deviates from the most reliable operating condition. Normal behavior may not necessarily be the most reliable or efficient, so analyzing trends against optimal reliability metrics is essential to take corrective actions.
Predictive Maintenance: Use trend data to predict when maintenance is needed, rather than relying on time-based schedules. Not just using runtime, rather a combination of runtime and asset load. For example, two similar pumps in different operations may require different schedules even with the same runtime, one may operate closer to the BEP, the other further from the BEP. Exactly where it operates has an impact on when an overhaul is really needed.
Root Cause Identification: Analytics can reveal underlying issues such as system imbalances, which can prevent seal failures and reduce energy consumption. Instead of conducting the RCA (Root Cause Analysis) after an event, with digital data analytics, you can be conducting the RCA continuously upfront. This then easily leads to actionable insights.
For example, one of our clients in the mining industry reduced maintenance costs by $350,000 annually by identifying a multipump system imbalance and optimizing the control strategy.
3. Extending Equipment Lifespan Without Increasing Workload
Preventive measures and condition monitoring are essential to extend the lifespan of your pumps. Here’s how to achieve this without burdening your maintenance team.
Practical Tips:
Maintain Pumps at BEP: Ensuring pumps operate at their BEP can extend mean time between failures (MTBF). Operating away from BEP causes excessive wear on components. Fully reviewing historic data then determines the actionable insight necessary to achieve this.
Regular Data Reviews: Continuously review key metrics such as flow, pressure, and vibration to not only adjust maintenance plans, but also consider adjustments to operations. Reviewing the past needs, and future requirements, use these insights to plan modifications during the next overhaul to provide long-term benefits.
Automated Alerts: Implement automated systems to flag deviations in performance so that your team can focus on corrective actions and planning rather than continuous monitoring.
Real-World Success Stories
Reliabix Analytics has helped various industries prevent downtime by leveraging existing data:
Petrochemical Plant: Prevented 16 hours of unplanned downtime per failure by identifying seal failure risks from low-flow conditions.
Municipal Water Utility: Saved $220,000 in repair costs by detecting bearing faults early and scheduling proactive maintenance.
Fuel Terminal: Reduced oil spills and high vibration alarms by identifying dead-heading issues through pressure gauge reviews.
Why Wait for Failures? Act Now
Preventing pump downtime doesn’t require costly overhauls. By identifying early warning signs, using data analytics, and adopting simple preventive measures, you can optimize pump performance and extend equipment life. At Reliabix Analytics, we specialize in transforming your hidden data into powerful insights that prevent downtime and improve operational efficiency.
Start your journey to zero unplanned downtime today by unlocking the full potential of your pump data!
NOTE: The comments in this article are general in nature, but don’t worry, we can get specific to your application and tailor a solution to your needs. Please feel free to reach out to support@reliabixanalytics.com or jump straight onto a call with us now, book for a 45min call here.
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