Human senses augment condition monitoring
An
AV Technology product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team
Jan 21, 2008
An engineer's keen eye spotted a loose holding bolt on the compressor that could have soon resulted in thousands of pounds worth of damage and lost production for Shell.
AV Technology Condition Monitoring Engineer Emlyn Hughes has received a special recognition award for his outstanding efforts at Shell's Stanlow Refinery.
This award, given by Shell's Reliability Team Engineer Alex Jones and authorised by the Refinery Manager, recognises Hughes' attention to detail in the early detection of a fault on a flare gas compressor.
AVT is contracted to carry out a range of condition monitoring activities at the Stanlow Refinery, and the potential problem was spotted during routine vibration monitoring on the compressor, mounted at the base of the flare stack.
Although the vibration results showed nothing untoward, Hughes' keen eye noticed a loose holding bolt on the compressor.
There is no doubt that if this had this gone undetected, it could have soon resulted in thousands of pounds worth of damage and lost production.
This is second time within a few months that Hughes has noticed potential problems, having earlier identified loose fixings on a chemical injection pump in the gas plant.
However, Hughes is modest about the award and as he explains: "AVT engineers instinctively know that condition monitoring is far more than just using instruments to check operational integrity of equipment".
"Experience has shown that, as part of the overall checking procedure, it is vitally important to complement instrument data with data from the standard human senses of sight, touch and hearing".
"In this case, failure could have occurred well before the next routine checks were due to be carried out".
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