Condition Monitoring for Vertical Mixers

The efficiency and safety of vertical mixers depend largely on regular condition monitoring and maintenance of the mixers' gearboxes and bearings.

Vibration monitoring of gears and bearings should form part of any vertical mixer condition monitoring program to reduce machine downtime and ensure an optimal, reliable, and continuous production process.

PCH Cloud - IoT condition monitoring solution for vertical mixers

Prevent damage to your vertical mixer with vibration monitoring

By monitoring the vibration levels in your vertical mixer, you can detect early signs of wear and prevent damage to your machinery.

With the cloud-based vibration monitoring solution from PCH Engineering, PCH Cloud, you get the added benefit of collecting and storing data in the cloud for further trend analysis, which can be used in a predictive maintenance strategy.

Visit iot.pch-engineering.dk to learn more about the PCH Cloud condition monitoring solution.

Or contact us to learn how we can help you protect the gearboxes and bearings of your machinery:

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Customer story: Novozymes prevented breakdown with PCH's IoT solution

Danish enzyme giant Novozymes prevented a serious breakdown of critical machinery, reduced the amount of machine downtime and ensured a more reliable and continuous production by retro-fitting their vertical mixers with IoT vibration monitors from PCH Engineering.

Project

Novozymes, a serious player in the chemical industry with factories in multiple countries, came to PCH Engineering for an IIoT vibration monitoring solution. The aim was to prevent unscheduled production stops and breakdowns of the gearboxes and bearings of their vertical mixers.

The client needed compact 8-channel vibration monitoring equipment capable of providing instant overall values, monitoring the RPMs and delivering time waveforms from the vertical mixers to the client’s own cloud solution.

Solution: Vibration Monitoring Kit for Vertical Mixers

PCH Engineering provided Novozymes with vibration monitoring equipment for a number of vertical mixers in various locations worldwide as well as remote installation guidance and support.

The vibration monitoring equipment consisted of installation kits for each vertical mixer including:

2 PCH 1420 4-Channel Vibration Monitors with speed input
1 PCH EtherBridge IoT module
8 100 mV/g accelerometers
8 30 meter accelerometer cables, shielded, twisted and paired

The products were delivered within five weeks and installed by the client during scheduled maintenance breaks in the production with the help of instruction from PCH Engineering's specialists.

As soon as the system had internet access, Novozymes could begin monitoring and comparing the amplitudes of various mixers.

The IIoT solution enabled the client to receive time waveform data in a structured way for a deeper analysis of the wear on the machinery during the mixing process. A speed sensor provides an RPM status of each mixer, which is used for order tracking in the FFT and for the evaluation of scalar value measurements.

This data forms part of the client’s overall condition monitoring program to prevent machine damage and downtime and ensure a reliable and continuous production.

The PCH equipment also sends immediate trend scalar values of the main gearbox frequencies, from the electrical motor and main mixer bearing, to the client’s cloud storage for further analysis.

The processed data from the PCH 1420 vibration monitors can be used to set off a direct alarm or temporarily shut down the mixer in question in the event of a fault being detected.

Benefits

Just 6 months into operation, the IoT solution from PCH Engineering proved its worth. In an article in the Danish magazine Automatik og Proces, Jesper Haugaard, Vice president, EMA operations at Novozymes, explains how the vibration monitoring equipment warned them of an impending machine breakdown:

"We successfully prevented a breakdown as we noticed escalating damage to the production equipment. We managed to correct the fault, and the production went ahead as scheduled."

Read the full story here (in Danish):

Read the full article on Novozymes's use of PCH Cloud:

In English (translation):

In Danish (original article published in Automatik og Proces):

Succes med dansk IoT løsning hos Novozymes