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InfraRed
Imaging Solutions Inc. (IRIS) has helped hundreds of customers improve
their safety, maximize productivity and equipment reliability, improve energy
consumptions, and increase profitability through the reliable and professional
services it delivers and the equipments it sells.
InfraRed Imaging Solutions
Inc. provides consulting services for manufacturing plants across the country.
At a food manufacturing plant in
Burlington,
Ontario, vibration data is collected and analyzed every 90 days on 65 critical
motors and pumps using the DLI Watchman DCX diagnostic data collector and field
analyzer. Analysis of a 250 h.p. motor/pump combination showed that the shaft
bearings on both the pump end and motor end were improperly sized. Repair costs
were $2200. If production would have continued, it would have resulted in
complete mechanical failure and a replacement cost exceeding $17,000. The
overall cost for lost production would have been $85,000 per day.
A Windsor,
Ontario auto parts manufacturing plant was experiencing compressed air problems.
The facility’s two compressors were running for an inordinate amount of time.
The engineering/maintenance department assumed a third compressor was needed at
a cost of $75,000. Instead, they elected to invest $1600 plus travel expenses to
contract the services of InfraRed Imaging Solutions Inc. to provide them with an
airborne ultrasonic inspection.
During the two day
inspection, the certified ultrasound technician/millwright detected 78
compressed air leaks accounting for an estimated total air loss of 295.5 cfm
(cubic feet per minute)—amounting to 25.7% of total system capacity. Considering
it costs approximately $50,014 per year (calculated at $.04/kilowatt/hour) to
operate the two compressors at a total of 1,120 cfm, correcting the air loss
saved the plant $13,000 per year. The plant also avoided spending the $75,000 on
a new compressor, due to the fact that after all leaks were repaired, the
existing compressors were adequate to supply demand.
In March 2003, InfraRed
Imaging Solutions Inc. was contracted by a Northern Ontario utility. Several
severe anomalies were detected during the infrared thermographic inspection. One
of these was a #2A Bank 220/66kv transformer feeding several hundred customers.
The infrared inspection detected no oil flow through the radiator fins. This was
diagnosed due to the thermal variance between radiators. If the transformer had
overheated, the station would have tripped. Furthermore, the transformer was
designed to provide 20-25 years of service. Operating at 110 centigrade over
design would have reduced the transformer life by 6-8 months.
Potential losses:
Loss of revenue to
utility $6,000 - $7,000 per/day
Loss of customer good
will: Priceless
Loss to customers’
businesses $5,000 - $10,000 per/day
Labor and
repair
$30,000 - $40,000
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