Oil Sample
The modern industrial world is powered by a wealth of high speed industrial equipment that requires constant lubrication to keep it running. This machinery also requires constant maintenance to ensure that maximum up time is achieved. Any time the equipment is down due to mechanical failure the company is losing money for every hour that it is out of service. For this reason many companies send an oil sample to a testing facility to ensure that the internal parts are not wearing out. When an oil sample is tested the laboratory can see what type of metal residue is in the oil, which they can then report back to the submitting factory. As machinery wears it leaves tell tale traces of metals in the oil. As long as the quantity of metals in the sample is relatively low this is taken as a sign of overall good mechanical health for the machinery. When excessive metal particles are detected, they are a sign that one or more parts of the equipment is beginning to show signs of wear that are beyond acceptable limits.
A detailed analysis of the oil sample can show exactly what metals are present along with how much of each metal is in the sample. Since modern machinery contains bearings and other moving parts made from a variety of metals this can help the maintenance department determine what area of the machine is beginning to show signs of excessive wear. This information can help reduce the amount of down time and the cost of tearing the entire assembly down to replace a part that is at one end and could have been easily accessed. This same concept can be applied to performing routine preventative maintenance, as many major manufacturing corporations include having an oil sample analyzed in their PM program. This can help them to isolate a problem during an early phase of breakdown, long before it gets to the point of complete failure. This will allow them to plan ahead and arrange scheduled down time to make the repairs instead of having the equipment fail in the middle of a production run.
Proper analysis of an oil sample can tell the equipment and maintenance team a wealth of information about the overall health of the machinery. This equipment can cost hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars and the more effort that is taken to ensure that it is maintained in optimum condition the longer it will last.
If you are part of the maintenance department in your facility, you know how important it is to keep all of the equipment up and running. By having Analysts Inc. perform a complete spectrum analysis on an oil sample from each piece of equipment, you will have a much better idea of their internal condition. This simple test can be used to help you adjust preventative maintenance time periods, prevent breakdowns and maximize the uptime of all of your machinery. This will help your company to continue to operate at full speed and enjoy continued profitability.
