Identifying potential faults in cement plants is crucial to enable smooth and stable operation. Condition monitoring is a powerful approach that can also lead to reduced downtime and increased production rates...
Global Cement (GC): What does DALOG Diagnosesysteme do?
Dr Franz Muschaweck (FM): DALOG provides solutions for cement plant condition monitoring. This supports cement producers with both their predictive and proactive maintenance efforts. The main goal is to avoid unplanned stoppages and downtime, which cost cement plants dearly. Condition monitoring also improves the lifespan of the equipment that it is monitoring.
We do this by taking a host of measurements from the cement plant equipment, kilns, mills, drives and so on. Most typically the parameters we monitor are temperatures and vibrations. These are crucial for failure detection in rotating equipment for example. We also measure torque on rotating shafts, strain on structures, or in the case of the Mechanical Kiln Monitoring System, we can help to avoid permament kiln shell deformation.
GC: What do your systems do with that data?
FM: Our systems look for the earliest possible indications that a piece of equipment is likely to fail. The goal is always to provide an early warning that inspections, maintenance and / or replacement parts are needed.
Besides detecting the failure our job is to evaluate its criticality. Sometimes a piece of equipment can be used for a period after the fault is first detected, without deterioration. Sometimes it needs to be used at partial load and sometimes it has to be stopped immediately. Producers always need to know how long production can continue before the detected fault becomes serious.
With load measurements, for example torque measurements, we can detect critical overloads and load variations experienced by the gearbox. By correlating this information with the machine operating parameter, we find the root cause of high load peaks. In the case of cement mills, we often find that an inadequate feed causes high stress on the gearbox. In such cases, steps can be taken to even out the feed rate to provide better stability for the mill drive. This is an example of condition monitoring used to extend the lifespan of a piece of equipment, often with relatively low capital expenditure.
Also, when we eliminate overloads, we can also provide the stable, low-vibration conditions that are necessary for plant operators to increase the production rate. This is another benefit of this kind of system.
GC: How are the systems configured?
FM: The system consists of several parts. Firstly DALOG supplies and installs the sensors, the eyes and ears of the system, and the data logging system, which is the memory. The processed data contains valuable information for operators, engineers and management. Process and condition indicators are sent in real time to the plant’s main control room. The operator is the first to see if there is a problem with the plant. They are then able to take appropriate steps to avoid damagine machine operation.
However, DALOG’s systems can also be linked to the main plant office / plant manager to provide a general overview of plant health. This helps with the planning of maintenance and can provide in-depth analysis over periods of weeks, months or years.
The system is also linked to our service centre in Germany. Our experts will provide analysis on the condition of the equipment and may offer advice to the plant engineers with regards to best practice. They have a lot of experience in looking at this kind of data and can transfer knowledge to the benefit of our client base.
GC: Do you see a future in which those experts are made redundant by artificial intelligence?
FM: I think that artificial intelligence has the potential to add value to condition monitoring and may help with even earlier detection of failures. However, in the near to medium term, the experience of our experts will still be necessary to ‘make the call’ on, for example, whether or not to keep a kiln running. This is a major decision for a cement plant and it’s not taken lightly. Often there are good cases for and against. I think that artificial intelligence has quite a long way to go before plant managers will be happy handing over that kind of decision. For the forseable future, the analysis has to go beyond just the data. There needs to be space for experience.
GC: Where in the world is DALOG seeing the most enquiries from at present?
FM: At the moment our biggest markets are Latin America and South East Asia. Our systems are not necessarily demanded by those building new capacity but rather by those looking to optimise their processes and save on their maintenance costs. We are seeing growing acceptance of this kind of technology in many such markets. Our systems provide producers with the ability to operate in all types of markets, even ones with sluggish demand.
GC: Thank you for your time today.
FM: You are very welcome indeed!