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In many industrial applications, maintenance is the single
most costly controllable expense. In recent years the emphasis
in maintenance has shifted from scheduled or preventive
maintenance to using emerging technology for measuring machinery
condition and predicting maintenance requirements or predictive
maintenance. By taking predictive maintenance one step further,
and attempting to maximize the life of equipment by identifying
and removing sources of failure, the new field of reliability
based maintenance is evolving.
One of the primary technologies used in identifying and
predicting machinery problems is the use of acoustics and
vibration monitoring. The early identification and correction
of potential machinery problems using predictive maintenance
methods aboard a submarine is essential to maintaining shipboard
readiness and mission effectiveness. DDL OMNI has been heavily
involved in these areas for many years through our involvement
in U.S. Navy submarine sound silencing and acoustic data
collection programs. The predictive maintenance methods
used in the submarine programs include periodic vibration
spectrum analysis on all rotating mechanical equipment;
on-line, continuous vibration spectrum analysis on critical
rotating equipment; motor current signature analysis; airborne
ultrasonics; pulse echo ultrasonics for measuring wall thickness,
and oil and wear particle analysis for identifying premature
wear on critical components. The primary method used in
predictive maintenance is vibration based machinery monitoring.
DDL OMNI has extensive experience in this type of analysis
through its involvement in the AN/BQH-9 Signal Data Recording
Set developed for the U.S. Navy.
DDL OMNI currently provides design engineering support,
performance and maintenance data analysis, maintenance engineering
services, hardware and software upgrade development support,
systems engineering support, system IV&V support, and
installation and testing support to the U.S. Navy's Total
Ship Monitoring System (TSMS).
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