Utilizing Vibration Monitoring as a Planning Tool for a Predictive Maintenance Program

When San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) company decided to utilize its vibration monitoring program as a planning tool for its predictive maintenance program, we knew three elements would be the key to success:

1. Skilled vibration analysts and engineers
2. Easy to use automated vibration instrumentation
3. Supportive plant managers and maintenance personnel

We have established a vibration monitoring program to trend machine condition. The program was successful in preventing catastrophic failures and reducing our forced outage rate. 

We expanded our efforts by starting a predictive maintenance (PM) program. Vibration monitoring is used as a planning tool to determine when machinery should be overhauled, and to ascertain whether equipment can be operated beyond regularly scheduled maintenance shutdowns. When needless machine overhauls can be avoided, there is a significant financial impact from reduced maintenance cost for parts and labor, as well as increased machine availability. 

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