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Rounds Logging

Condition-based maintenance implies the use of high-tech monitoring systems such as vibration analysis, infrared thermography, or oil analysis by specialized maintenance technicians or contractors. However, several companies are now using hand held Personal Digital Assistants (PDA's) to capture equipment condition information from human sight, sound, touch and smell as a critical part of their reliability effort. For example, in a paper by Eastman Chemical Company engineers, the use of handheld PDA's by machine operators is cited as one of the most proactive elements in their effort to mitigate equipment failures.

1) Operations and maintenance personnel using PDA's for gauge readings and inspections, and integrating results with problems found through "higher-tech' condition monitoring.

2) Thermographers using PDA's to guide IR routes and ensure compliance with standard operating procedures.

3) Oilers using PDA's to guide and document lube routes and inspections.

Tango™ Rounds Logging is an economical way to involve operators and mechanics in a plant's reliability program. In the initial setup, inspections and gauge readings are defined for each asset or component in the functional location tree, including the alarms values for problem conditions. Numeric readings can be set for low and high alarm levels.

Get Operations Involved in Reliability with Handheld PDA's and Tango™

Once these definitions are in place, routes are created to specify tasks to be covered time interval between each data collection. Tango™ Web Service makes it easy to manage the route collection activity by communicating which routes are overdue, being collected, or scheduled for a future date.

The technician downloads a route from a PC workstation list to the PDA, and the PDA screen walks them through each data collection step. For inspection tasks, the technician selects an observation from a predefined list; when an alarm condition is selected, the PDA prompts them for additional comments on the problem.

For a gauge reading the technician enters a numeric value. If that value is above or below the listed range, the PDA again prompts for additional comments.

As soon as the route is uploaded, two items are updated in the database:

1) The route's next due date

2) A summary route report

The summary report is coded for easy review and shows which items are 'OK', which are in alarm and which items were missed.

Alarm items also appear on a "Condition Entry Request" list, for review by someone who will determine if maintenance action should be taken. When a Rounds Logging item is elevated to a Condition Entry, it is integrated with issues coming from 'higher-tech' condition monitoring sources. Thy dynamic status report allows a large plant audience to keep track of current problems along with what's being done to resolve them.

Compared to traditional handwritten check-lists, PDA-based data collection and web-browser distribution of results through Tango™ Rounds Logging offers several advantages:

- The web-hosted database provides consistent scheduling and management of Rounds Logging tasks;

- PDA's enforce the use of standardized equipment definitions, data entry and alarm reporting;

- Integrated results are efficiently distributed to a wide plant audience via web browser.

According to the Eastman Chemicals paper, this kind of feedback encourages operators and mechanics who collected data to take greater ownership of equipment reliability.

Manage IR Thermography Surveys with Tango™ Web Service and PDA's

IR thermography is a primary condition monitoring technology for finding electrical problems. It is also a scanning technology rather than a point technology. Scanning technologies often do not include a capability for identifying specific assets to be monitored during a survey. That makes it difficult to know whether each asset has been successfully monitored on an expected timetable. Tango Web Service, in conjunction with handheld PDA's, can provide well-defined management along with an audit trail for problems found and assets not monitored. In addition, since Tango Web Service uses a web-hosted database on a server and bypass the plant's IT firewall, IR service contractors can use the systems and fall under this plant survey management.

Here's how it works: The Tango database includes a tree for all functioning locations in the plant, including electrical assets. Tasks are defined for IR then entered into surveys, specifying which assets are to be scanned on what interval and which thermographer is assigned to the job. Tango Web Service then generates a list of tasks that are to be due in the near future.

A broad audience of authorized plant personnel can view the status of these IR thermography tasks through their Tango Web Browser, without having to install any special software. They can see when umcoming surveys are due or overdue and who has been assigned. If problems have been found on previous surveys or if an asset was not scanned, the system generates 'reassignments' to make sure those assts are revisited.

The service contractor downloads a survey task into his handheld PDA, then follows the PDA screen through the sequence of panels to be scanned. A bar code scan ensures that the IR information ins being entered for the correct asset. he confirms the asset is sufficiently loaded for a good scan, then enters the results of that scan: - Measureed, No Problem Found - Measured, Condition Entry - Not Measured For problems requiring a condition entry, the contractor references the IR and visual images captured by infrared system. Once the survey is complete, the information is uploaded from the PDA to Tango. condition entries are completed for problems found, and those results are integrated with problems found by other condition monitoring technologies. Authorized Tango web Service users can now view the updated Integrated Condition Status through their web browser.
	A plant or corporate reliability engineer can monitor the quality and completeness of the contractor's IR work, through the task summary report. This audits each assignment and shows how many assets were scanned, which were not scanned and what problems are being found.

Tango Web Service plus handheld PDA's offer the following benefits for managing scanning technoliges such as IR Thermography: - Web browser distribution makes it easy for a large audience of plant stakeholders to see the status of IR thermography coverage, - Standardization of procedures (asset naming, severity codes, fault descriptions) enforces standard operating procedures on service contractors and plant technicians, - Automated reassessments make sure missed assets don't get overlooked, and also provide a mechanism for verifying the quality of the repair work, - Integrating IR thermography results with those from other condition monitoring technologies, in a single database, builds a source for reliability metrics.

Manage Lubrication Activities with Tango™ Web Service and PDA's
The use of PDA's and Tango enhances lubrication management and will provide: - Schedule management of lubrication tasks such as oiler and grease routes, oil sampling and oil changes. - Trending of makeup volumes, including alarms for excessive amounts. - Management of proper lubrication for different applications. - Integration of lubrication problems with results from other PDM technologies. First, the appropriate lubrication activities are defined for the asset locations in the plant tree. Behind the text description for the activity are detailed instructions such as type of lubricant to be used, amount to be applied, or procedure to follow. Once the lubrication activities are defined, they are organized into a series of scheduled tasks; these tasks can be managed by plant area, by frequency, or by both. Tango Web Service presents the scheduling status based on the scheduled frequency and last date of completion.
	After a task is downloaded to the PDA, the technician is guided through each activity. For example, the first activity in this task requires greasing a motor bearing. The screen shows the equipment location, then the type and maximum quantity of grease to be applied. A pick list allows the technician to note that he did or did not add grease; if he selects an item that represents a problem condition, he will be prompted to add information about the problem. The reference code is used when the technician marks the problem item with a tag to make sure follow up work is done on the correct item. If the technician adds grease (or oil), he is prompted to enter the quantity. If the quantity exceeds the maximum for that location, he is notified that this is over the limit and then prompted to enter a comment about any problem that lead to the overgreasing. The same process applies to checking reservoir levels and adding make-up oil.
After all items in the route are completed and then uploaded to Tango Web Service, a summary report shows which items were completed successfully, which had problem notations, and any that were missed. Problem items in a lubrication route trigger a "Request for Condition Entry" = this allows items such as the crushed oil fitting to be integrated with results from condition monitoring technologies such as vibration or oil analysis. Trend plots are available for numeric inputs such as make-up volumes; trend analysis can help spot consistent over-lubrication or high oil leakage problems. The process for collecting oil samples and filtering or changing reservoir lubricant follows similar steps in the PDA - confirming the location and activity, displaying instructions to be followed, presenting an appropriate pick list of actions, and prompting entry of a comment if a problem condition is selected.